We are not afraid of you, because of the words you have spoken. But with this European we have nothing to do. Listen to historian Abdul Sherif introduce Tippu Tip's autobiography followed by a BBC dramatisation of the slave trader's own writing. Every European explorer owed his life to experienced African travelers. Stanley was grudging in his appreciation of Tippu Tip.
Higher praise is impossible.
He answered insults with flattery, sufficiently tinged with sarcasm not to be mistaken for fear. Although best remembered as the first black Anglican Bishop, Samuel Crowther did an immense amount of travelling in the course of his work as a missionary. His passion for exploring was already evident in 1830 in Sierra Leone where he worked as a school teacher, but he devoted his spare time to visiting Temne villages. Through his missionary work he travelled up the Niger every year, for over twenty years of his life, only stopping when he was 84. His achievement as a traveler, linguist and student of different cultures was recognised by The Royal Geographical Society which rewarded him with a gold watch.