The Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa (kinachojulikana kama Chama cha Afrika), kilichoanzishwa London mnamo 9 Juni 1788, kilikuwa kilabu cha Uingereza kilichojitolea kwa uchunguzi wa Afrika Magharibi, na dhamira ya kugundua asili na mkondo wa Mto Niger na eneo la Timbuktu, "mji uliopotea" wa dhahabu. Kuundwa kwa kikundi hiki ilikuwa "mwanzo wa umri wa uchunguzi wa Kiafrika". Geo. Cawthorn, The Modern Traveller Vol. II, Travels of Ledyard, Lucas, and Sonnini, London: British Library, 1800. Frank T. Kryza, The Race for Timbuktu: In Search of Africa’s City of Gold, New York: HarperCollins, 2006, uk. 11. Kryza uk. 12.