Park, Mungo, 1771–1806, British explorer in Africa, b. Selkirk, Scotland. After serving as a surgeon with the East India Company, he was employed by the African Association to explore the course of the Niger River. Traveling NE from the Gambia River, he reached the Niger at Segu and proceeded 300 mi (483 km) upstream to Bamako. On his return to England he published Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa (1799). He was sent (1805) by the government to trace the Niger to its mouth, but at Bussa he and his party were attacked in their canoes and Park was drowned.

Bibliography

See J. Thomson, Mungo Park and the River Niger (1890, repr. 1970).

Park, Mungo

(born Sept. 10, 1771, Fowlshiels, Selkirk, Scot.—died c. January 1806, near Bussa on the Niger River) Scottish explorer of the Niger River. A trained surgeon, Park had traveled to the East Indies before being chosen by the African Association to head an expedition to find the source of the Niger River (1795–97). He lost most of his crew and supplies, was imprisoned and tortured for four months by hostile Arabs, and suffered severe illness, reaching Ségou (now in Mali) but not the river's source. His Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa (1797) became a great popular success. On a second expedition (1805–06) he reached Bamako, but he was killed on the return trip.