Speke’s map of East Africa chronicling his journeys in search of the source for the Nile, through modern Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and South Sudan.

This is the map Speke compiled to illustrate his search for the source of the Nile. It was first issued in 1863 after Speke and Grant’s return as Speke triumphantly declared that he had proved his theory that the Nile had its source in Lake Victoria. He had been contracted by William Blackwood and Sons, the publisher, to write an account of his epic journey. The publishers wanted to take advantage of his fame, hence the rather hurried and schematic nature of the map. It has little detail with the exception of Speke and Grant’s route in red, together with the details of the settlements where they stopped.

A small note below the title briefly mentions Speke’s earlier 1858 journey from the settlement of Kaze (modern Tabora) to Lake Tanganyika, which he made with Sir Richard Burton. Not mentioned is another side trip which Speke made in his 1858 expedition, again from Tabora to Muanza (modern Mwanza) on the southern shores of Lake Victoria. It was this side trip that inspired Speke with his conviction that Lake Victoria was the source of the Nile and which drove him to organize a second expedition, this time with James Grant, to prove his theory.

The route is seen as finishing in Gondokoro, South Sudan. The map was expertly engraved by one of the foremost cartographic firms of their day, W. and A.K. Johnston of Edinburgh.

This example is the first American edition published by Harper Brothers in 1864.

Original colour. [AFR6259]