author

William Desborough Cooley

d. 1883

An Irish geographer and travel writer, he became known for ambitious attempts to reinterpret the geography of Africa from historical sources and explorers’ reports. His work stirred real debate in 19th-century geographical circles, even when later discoveries challenged some of his strongest ideas.

1 Audiobook

The Negroland of the Arabs examined and explained : or, an inquiry into the early history and geography of Central Africa

The Negroland of the Arabs examined and explained : or, an inquiry into the early history and geography of Central Africa

by William Desborough Cooley

About the author

Born around 1795, William Desborough Cooley was an Irish geographer who spent much of his career writing about exploration, historical geography, and travel. He became a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1830 and was later made an honorary free member, showing the respect he earned in geographical circles.

Cooley wrote on voyages, discovery, and the geography of Africa, including books such as The History of Maritime and Inland Discovery and Inner Africa Laid Open. He developed forceful theories about Central African geography from close reading of earlier accounts and Arabic sources, and he was known as a confident, sometimes combative scholar.

Later European exploration overturned a number of the views he defended most strongly, but that has also helped keep him interesting as a historical figure: he represents a moment when geography was being argued out in print as much as mapped in the field. He died in 1883.