Travels in West Africa
Subtitle: Congo français, Corisco and Cameroons
By: Mary H. Kingsley ; with a new introduction by John E. Flint
Contributors: Flint, John E.
Edition: 3d ed.
Publisher: F. Cass
Published: 1965
Place of publication: [London]
Language: eng
Number of pages: 743
Subjects: Travel; Description and travel; Ethnology; Women travelers; Women ethnologists; Biography; Religion; Folklore
Description: Mary Henrietta Kingsley was an English ethnographic and scientific writer and explorer whose travels throughout West Africa and resulting work helped shape European perceptions of African cultures and British imperialism. After a preliminary visit to the Canary Islands, Kingsley decided to travel to the west coast of Africa. The only non-African women who regularly embarked on (often dangerous) journeys to Africa were usually the wives of missionaries, government officials, or explorers. Exploration and adventure were not seen as fitting roles for women in the Victorian era. Yet, when Mary Kingsley's invalid parents died within six weeks of each other, she followed in her explorer father's footsteps and traveled to Africa against her society's every convention. Here is her lively and witty account of that journey, an immediate bestseller when it first came out in 1897 and every bit as gripping today.
Notes: Originally published in 1897.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

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