The Search for the Source of the Nile: Solving Geography's Last Great Riddle (opens in new tab)

The search for the source of the Nile River was one of the last great geographical mysteries of 19th-century European exploration. Men like Livingstone, Burton, Speke, and Stanley launched multiple expeditions to reach the rumoured Great Lakes of East Africa to discover where exactly the Nile waters came from. Not only an endeavour that filled a blank on the map, navigating the upper reaches of the Nile was seen as essential if trade, missionary work, and, ultimately, colonisation were to fol...