Explorers of the Nile by Tim Jeal

The book Explorers of the Nile is a scholarly account of the exploration of Africa during the 19th century and is centered specifically on the search of the Nile River’s source that took place during this era. The book is written by Tim Jeal a novelist whom has previously written biographies on famous explorers of Africa, such as David Livingstone and Dr. Henry Morton Stanley. The book itself focuses around the explorers whom during this time tried to find the source of the Nile River and examines each one highlighting their journeys, their goals, their morals, their views, and their relationships with other explorers, and the people who travelled alongside these explorers. The book ultimately showcases not just the explorers but also the incredible amount of effort these men and some women made and the ever-present danger that they all faced, whether it was diseases like malaria, exhaustion, wild animals or hostile natives that lived in these areas. This paper will compare the book with an academic source on British exploration during the 19th century written by Robert A. Stafford from the book The Oxford History of the British Empire. Vol 3, The Nineteenth Century and a review of Jeal’s book found in the New York Times. Through the comparison between these two sources and highlighting the differences between the two, it can be observed that Jeal’s book is a useful, detailed and valid source of information when examining British exploration of Africa and the explorers responsible for many discoveries made in Africa during the 19th century.

One of the most notable differences between these two pieces is what area of British exploration during the 19th century the authors discuss. In Stafford’s writing he focuses on a much more g...

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...a large amount of information in the reader by emphasizing individual explorers during this time and using accounts and even some illustrations provided by these men allowing the reader to observe both a modern perspective of the exploration of the Nile and the perspective of the explorers of the time.

Works Cited

1.Robert A. Stafford, “Scientific Exploration and Empire,” in Andrew Porter, ed., The Oxford History of the British Empire, vol. 111, The Nineteenth Century (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), pp. 300

2. ”The Risks and Rewards of Exploring the Nile,” New York Times, accessed November, 20, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/11/books/review/explorers-of-the-nile-the-triumph-and-tragedy-of-a-great-victorian-adventure-by-tim-jeal-book-review.html?pagewanted=2&_r=0

3. Tim Jeal, Explorers of the Nile (Newhaven & London: Yale University Press, 2011),