First Footsteps in East Africa

Sir Richard Francis Burton was a British adventurer, author, Orientalist scholar, and soldier. He was well-known for his travels and excursions in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, as well as his extensive knowledge of languages and cultures. According to one count, Burton spoke 29 languages. His publications and letters were heavily critical of the British Empire's colonial practices, to the detriment of his career. Despite abandoning his academic education, he became a prolific and intelligent author, writing books and scholarly papers on topics such as human behavior, travel, falconry, fencing, sexual behaviors, and ethnography. His publications are distinguished by their extensive footnotes and appendices, which contain exceptional observations and information. Burton served as a captain in the East India Company army, first in India and then briefly in the Crimean War. Following that, the Royal Geographical Society hired him to explore Africa's east coast, where he led a local-guided expedition and was the first European to discover Lake Tanganyika. In later life, he was the British consul in Fernando Po (now Bioko, Equatorial Guinea), Santos in Brazil, Damascus (now Syria), and finally Trieste (now Italy). He was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and received a knighthood in 1886.