Mungo Park
(1771-1806)

Explorer

Trained botanist and physician who first explored the African interior, sailing up the Gambia River, in 1795. His trip was a catalogue of disasters, but his account of it was a huge success. Despite his attempts to settle in the Borders, he set off once more in 1805 for Africa on a fateful trip whose participants were decimated by malaria and native attacks; neither Park nor his journals were ever found again.