European exploration of Africa 1840s, so that around the midpoint of the 19th century and the beginning of the colonial Scramble for Africa, the unexplored parts were now limited to what would turn out to be the Congo Basin and the African Great Lakes. This "Heart of Africa" remained one of the last remaining "blank spots" on world maps of the later 19th century (alongside the Arctic, Antarctic and the interior of the Amazon basin). It was left for 19th-century European explorers, including those searching for the famed sources of the Nile, notably John Hanning Speke, Sir Richard Burton, David Livingstone and Henry Morton
David Hume (explorer) David Hume (explorer) David Hume (1796 Berwick, Scotland - 1 February 1864 Grahamstown) was a South African explorer and big-game hunter. David Hume was born in Berwick, Scotland and went to South Africa with Benjamin Moodie's Scottish settlers in 1817. He became a pioneer trader, explorer and renowned big-game hunter. Starting in 1829 when he accompanied Robert Moffat, he arranged trips into Mzilikazi's territory and was one of the first Europeans to meet this chief of the Matabele. In 1830 he explored the region north of the Limpopo River searching for gold. He was also the first recorded European to