page_title: Frederick Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard
section_title: Exploration of East Africa
hierarchical_section_title: Frederick Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard / Exploration of East Africa
caption_attribution_description: Men of the Day No.0639: Caricature of Capt FJD Lugard DSO CB. Caption reads: "An earnest African"
context_page_description: Frederick John Dealtry Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard, GCMG, CB, DSO, PC, known as Sir Frederick Lugard between 1901 and 1928, was a British soldier, mercenary, explorer of Africa and colonial administrator. He was Governor of Hong Kong, the last Governor of the Southern Nigeria Protectorate, the first High Commissioner and last Governor of the Northern Nigeria Protectorate and the first Governor-General of Nigeria.
context_section_description: After leaving Nyasaland in April 1889, Lugard accepted a position with the Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEAC) and arrived in Mombasa on the coast of east Africa that December. A year earlier in 1888, the IBEAC had been granted a royal charter by Queen Victoria to exploit the 'British sphere of influence' between Zanzibar and Uganda and were keen to open a trading route between Lake Victoria in Uganda and the coastal port of Mombasa. Their first interior trading post was established at Machakos 240 miles in from the coast. But the established traditional route to Machakos was a treacherous journey through the large Taru Desert—93 miles of scorching dust bowl.
  Lugard's first mission was to determine the feasibility of a route from Mombasa to Machakos that would bypass the Taru Desert. He explored the Sabaki River and the neighbouring region, in addition to elaborating a scheme for the emancipation of the slaves held by Arabs in the Zanzibar mainland.
  In August 1890, Lugard departed on foot from Mombasa for Uganda to secure British predominance over German influence in the area and put an end to the civil disturbances between factions in the kingdom of Buganda.
  En route, Lugard was instructed to enter into treaties with local tribes and build forts in order to secure safe passage for future IBEAC expeditions. The IBEAC employed official treaty documents that were signed by their administrator and the local leaders but Lugard preferred the more equitable blood brotherhood ceremony and entered into several brotherhood partnerships with leaders who inhabited the areas between Mombasa and Uganda. One of his famed blood partnerships was sealed in October 1890 during his journey to Uganda when he stopped at Dagoretti in Kikuyu territory and entered into an alliance with Waiyaki wa Hinga.
  Lugard was Military Administrator of Uganda from 26 December 1890 to May 1892. While administering Uganda, he journeyed round the Rwenzori Mountains to Lake Edward, mapping a large area of the country. He also visited Lake Albert and brought away some thousands of Sudanese who had been left there by Emin Pasha and H. M. Stanley during the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition.
  When Lugard returned to England in 1892, he successfully dissuaded Prime Minister William Gladstone from allowing the IBEAC to abandon Uganda.
caption: Lugard caricatured by Spy for Vanity Fair, 1895
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