Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 407 pages
• Published by: Duke University Press September 2000
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0822325373
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0822325376
• Book Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1 inches
• Weighs: 1.4 pounds

Product Review
“[An] very perceptive glimpse of the common life of the African before European imperialism. . . . This edition is well analyzed, with a lengthy introduction and voluminous footnotes that significantly add to an understanding of the original document.”
--Library Journal

“[A] welcome republication . . . . [of a] harrowing sequence of theft, violence, and starvation . . . .”
--Jonathan Lamb, Studies in English Literature

“[T]ruly fascinating . . . . Kate Ferguson Marster’s great edition of Park’s narrative makes available to us—finally—the full text of the second edition, the instructions given to Park by the African Association, the original illustrations, the ‘Negro Song,’ Park’s vocabulary phrase list, Major James Rennell’s essay on geography and his soon-to-be authoritative map of North Africa, and the list of the volume’s subscribers. Praise is due to Marsters for her extremely valuable introduction, lively and informative throughout, and her helpful annotated bibliography at the end of the volume. Marsters does a fine job situating the work in its historical and literary contexts . . . . This edition will prove to be a valuable teaching text, as well as an authoritative and inspirational source for more scholarly work on Mungo Park.
--Linda E. Merians, The East-Central Intelligencer

“Duke University Press and editor Kate Marsters deserve praise for the publication of this attractive edition of Mungo Park’s travels . . . . The introduction gives a good account of Park’s life and the status of his book as a contemporary bestseller that has earned Park respect as a writer and observer ever since.”
--James Searing, International Journal of African Historical Studies

"[A] classic in exploration and travel literature. . . ."
--Roy Bridges, Cartographica

"Marsters presents a balanced perspective on Mungo Park's writings. . . . Many who have lived and traveled in Africa and other traditional societies can also appreciate Mungo Park's experiences. They provide glimpses into a world that today is almost gone."
--Tobias J. Lanz, Journal of Third World Studies

"If Travels was a film it would be gripping. As a testament to courage and commitment in the field, it provides value for college courses."

--John Gill, Anthropology Review Database

Product Description
Mungo Park’s Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa has long been regarded as a classic of African travel literature. In fulfilling his mission to find the Niger River and in documenting its potential as an inland waterway for trade, Park was significant in opening Africa to European economic interests. His modest, low-key heroism made it possible for the British public to imagine themselves as a welcomed force in Africa. As a tale of adventure and survival, it has inspired the imaginations of readers since its first publication in 1799 and writers from Wordsworth and Melville to Conrad, Hemingway, and T. Coreghessan Boyle have acknowledged the influence of Park’s narrative on their work.
Unlike the large expeditions that followed him, Park traveled only with native guides or alone. Without much of an idea of where he was going, he relied entirely on local people for food, shelter, and directions throughout his eventful eighteen month journey. While his warm reaction to the people he met made him famous as a sentimental traveler, his chronicle also provides a rare written record of the lives of ordinary people in West Africa before European intervention. His accounts of war, politics, and the spread of Islam, as well as his constant confrontations with Slavery as practiced in eighteenth-century West Africa, are as valuable today as they were in 1799. In preparing this new edition, editor Kate Ferguson Marsters presents the complete text and includes reproductions of all the original maps and illustrations.
Park’s narrative serves as a crucial text in relation to scholarship on the history of slavery, colonial enterprise, and nineteenth-century imperialism. The availability of this full edition will give a new generation of readers access to a travel narrative that has inspired other readers and writers over two centuries and will enliven scholarly discussion in many fields.


Reader Reviews
Kate Ferguson Marsters' edition of Mungo Park's TRAVELS is an excellent example of the travel narrative - easily comparable with the Journals of Lewis & Clark or Francis Parkman's OREGON TRAIL. The book is broken into three parts: Park's travel narrative , Marsters' Introduction & Major Rennell's Geographical Illustrations Of Mr. Park's Journey (which is rather dry and dated). The main work is a narrative of Park's travels from Barra, on the West African coast, to the town of Silla, just west of Jenne and his return to the western coast. Park provides many interesting details and asides, including that of Mumbo Jumbo (also mentioned by Francis Moore) for disciplining wayward wives. Park also spends a fair amount of time explaining local governments and social norms. Throughout, the account attempts some degree of neutrality while noting acts of kindness and avarice by various individuals and rulers; although, not surprisingly, he explicitly criticizes the Moors who continually interfered with his progress and those who robbed and stripped him. Perhaps his most disturbing account is of the female slave who becomes too sick to continue traveling with the coffle. The entire work puts black slaves and their families in a very sympathetic light and shows the slave trade at its worst; although, due to the continuing conditions of slavery and internal conquest pre-dating major European involvement in the trade, Park stated that the termination of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade would not provide as great a benefit to the populace in Africa as many hoped. The Introduction is important in providing the history of Park's early years, the important role of the African Association and its leader, Sir Joseph Banks. More importantly the Introduction deals with the Bryan Edwards controversy. Richard Burton and Orlando Patterson's criticisms have held that internal African slavery and slave trading was not nearly so prevalent as suggested by Park. In light of this, Marsters' statement that Joseph Banks, a critic of slavery, had to approve every piece of Edward's editing becomes extremely important. In addition, it is made clear that the reason for the stylistic differences is that the original TRAVELS was a book derived from Park's notes whereas the published work of his second, ill-fated journey was merely a compilation of those notes retrieved from the dead man's party! All-in-all, an excellent and informative read!