Hidden treasures in African Plants
June 27th, 2007 by Deirdre Ryan, Production Manager
Students and scholars of African history may not at first glance realize the hidden treasures awaiting them inside the wonderful world of African Plants. In addition to the over 200,000 images of African type specimens, the database also holds archival materials from early European explorations which are now held at botanical gardens around the world.
One such collection, “Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: African Expeditions” contains the personal correspondence of the Scottish physician and naturalist Sir John Kirk (1832-1922). Kirk was appointed to the role of physician for David Livingston’s second Zambesi Expedition and eventually accompanied Livingston on most of his travels in Africa. One of the gems of this collection is a map drawn by Kirk in 1860 during the Zambesi Expedition featuring the lakes of Nyassa and Shirwa as well as the surrounding landscape. It features numerous names of villages, rivers, hills and mountains. Kirk’s personal letters also contain his observations on the slave trade, particularly how it affected the local people.
This collection is also comprised of letters, news clippings, specimen lists, and notes from various botanists and explorers including Thomas Baines, Sir William Hooker, H. H Johnston, David Livingstone, and Cornelius Alfred Moloney.
Come explore the hidden treasures of African Plants in Aluka.
June 28th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
Another fantastic map from the African Plants collection which many individuals in Heritage have commented upon is this map of the Masai region created during an expedition to Kiliminjaro in the 1880’s. It is also part of the materials digitized from the archive at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew. >
June 28th, 2007 at 2:43 pm
Another interesting map from the RBG, Kew archive is this map of “Masai Country” that was created in the 1880’s by an expedition to Kilimanjaro. See:http://www.aluka.org/action/showMetadata?doi=10.5555/AL.AP.VISUAL.KAEX0126&pgs=
This map has been of interest to a few historians and anthropologists that focus on stone settlements near Lake Victoria as well as those interested in how the names of various places have evolved over time.