author
John Hanning Speke
1827–1864
Drawn by the mystery of the Nile, this Victorian explorer became famous for reaching Lake Victoria and arguing that it was a major source of the river. His journeys helped shape European ideas about East Africa, even as his claims sparked fierce debate in his own lifetime.
2 Audiobooks
What Led to the Discovery of the Source of the Nile
by John Hanning Speke
The Discovery of the Source of the Nile
by John Hanning Speke
About the author
An English explorer and army officer, John Hanning Speke was born in 1827 and served for a time in the British Indian Army before turning to exploration. He is best known for his expeditions in East Africa during the great nineteenth-century search for the source of the Nile.
Speke traveled first with Richard Francis Burton and later with James Augustus Grant. On these journeys he became the first European known to reach Lake Victoria, and he argued that the lake was the long-sought source of the White Nile. That claim made him famous, though it also led to a bitter public dispute with Burton.
He published accounts of his travels that brought African exploration to a wide reading audience. Speke died in 1864, before a planned debate with Burton could take place, leaving behind a life remembered for endurance, controversy, and one of the most famous geographical quests of his era.