Mary Kingsley

Mary Henrietta Kingsley (October 13rd, 1862 – June 3rd, 1900) was exploring a English and a writer who influenced much the Europe in his manner of considering the Africa and African.

Mary Kingsley was born with Islington. It is the girl of George Kingsley (writer of account of voyage him also) and of Mary Bailey. It is the niece of Charles Kingsley. His/her father works as doctor with the service of George Herbert, 13th count de Pembroke. His/her mother is invalid so that Mary must remain at the house and deal with it. Mary does not follow a long schooling but it has access on the other hand to the very provided library of her father and adores to listen to it to tell him stories of remote countries.

His/her father dies in February 1892. His/her mother dies also five weeks later. Released from its family obligations, and having an income of 500 £ per annum, Mary can finally travel. She decides to discover Africa and to bring back the essential material to finish a work which his/her father had started to write on certain populations of this continent.

Mary unloads in Angola with Luanda in August 1893. She lives among the local tribes which teach him all that she must know to survive in the Jungle, and she only ventures in dangerous regions.

She returns to Africa in 1895 in order to study tribes cannibals. She moves in Canoë on the river Ogooué where she discovers unknown fish species. After its meeting with the Fangs it climbing 4100 m of the Mount Cameroun by an unknown route to Europeans.

News of its adventures reaches England and on its return in October 1895 it is accommodated by a crowd of journalists ready with all to interview it. She is from now on famous and in the three years which follow she gives conferences in all the country on its African experiments.

Mary Kingsley wrote two books on its experiment of Africa: Travels in West Africa (1897), which was immediately a Best-seller, and West African Studies (1899). Here how it summarizes its course in Africa: I can say that there are really only two things in my life of which I would be proud: first is to be congratulated by Dr. Günther for my collection on fish; and second is learn howto have learned how to handle a boat adouma (...).

During the second War of Boers, Mary Kingsley goes voluntary as nurse. She dies of the Typhoïde in the town of Simon, where she looked after Boers prisoners. According to its last wills its funeral takes place at sea.

Works

a African odyssey , Phébus, 1992,432 pages

External bonds

Royal The Africa Society a short supplemented biography of a bibliography.
Project Gutenberg text of Travels in West Africa

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