author
Alexandre Alberto da Rocha de Serpa Pinto
1846–1900
A Portuguese explorer and colonial administrator, he became famous for a hard overland journey across southern Africa in the late 1870s and for the travel writing that grew out of it.
2 Audiobooks
Como eu atravessei Àfrica do Atlantico ao mar Indico, volume primeiro
by Alexandre Alberto da Rocha de Serpa Pinto
Como eu atravessei Àfrica do Atlantico ao mar Indico, volume segundo
by Alexandre Alberto da Rocha de Serpa Pinto
About the author
Born in Portugal in 1846, Serpa Pinto entered the army as a young man and later served in Mozambique. He gained lasting attention after crossing large stretches of southern and central Africa, a demanding expedition that helped map regions little known to Europeans at the time.
His best-known book, How I Crossed Africa, introduced many readers to that journey and helped secure his reputation far beyond Portugal. Alongside exploration, he also held colonial administrative posts, so his life sits at the meeting point of travel narrative, imperial ambition, and nineteenth-century African history.
He died in Lisbon in 1900. Today he is remembered chiefly as one of Portugal's prominent African explorers, though his career is also closely tied to the colonial politics of his era.