Travel
Africa
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River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile
The harrowing story of one of the great feats of exploration of all time and its complicated legacy-from the New York Times bestselling author of The River of Doubt and Destiny of the Republic
For millennia the location of the Nile River's headwaters was shrouded in mystery. In the 19th century, there was a frenzy of interest in ancient Egypt. At the same time, European powers sent off waves of explorations intended to map the unknown corners of the globe – and extend their colonial empires.
Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke were sent by the Royal Geographical Society to claim the prize for England. Burton spoke twenty-nine languages, and was a decorated soldier. He was also mercurial, subtle, and an iconoclastic atheist. Speke was a young aristocrat and Army officer determined to make his mark, passionate about hunting, Burton's opposite in temperament and beliefs.
From the start the two men clashed. They would endure tremendous hardships, illness, and constant setbacks. Two years in, deep in the African interior, Burton became too sick to press on, but Speke did, and claimed he found the source in a great lake that he christened Lake Victoria. When they returned to England, Speke rushed to take credit, disparaging Burton. Burton disputed his claim, and Speke launched another expedition to Africa to prove it. The two became venomous enemies, with the public siding with the more charismatic Burton, to Speke's great envy. The day before they were to publicly debate,Speke shot himself.
Yet there was a third man on both expeditions, his name obscured by imperial annals, whose exploits were even more extraordinary. This was Sidi Mubarak Bombay, who was enslaved and shipped from his home village in East Africa to India. When the man who purchased him died, he made his way into the local Sultan's army, and eventually traveled back to Africa, where he used his resourcefulness, linguistic prowess and raw courage to forge a living as a guide. Without Bombay and men like him, who led, carried, and protected the expedition, neither Englishman would have come close to the headwaters of the Nile, or perhaps even survived.
In River of the Gods Candice Millard has written another peerless story of courage and adventure, set against the backdrop of the race to exploit Africa by the colonial powers.
For millennia the location of the Nile River's headwaters was shrouded in mystery. In the 19th century, there was a frenzy of interest in ancient Egypt. At the same time, European powers sent off waves of explorations intended to map the unknown corners of the globe – and extend their colonial empires.
Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke were sent by the Royal Geographical Society to claim the prize for England. Burton spoke twenty-nine languages, and was a decorated soldier. He was also mercurial, subtle, and an iconoclastic atheist. Speke was a young aristocrat and Army officer determined to make his mark, passionate about hunting, Burton's opposite in temperament and beliefs.
From the start the two men clashed. They would endure tremendous hardships, illness, and constant setbacks. Two years in, deep in the African interior, Burton became too sick to press on, but Speke did, and claimed he found the source in a great lake that he christened Lake Victoria. When they returned to England, Speke rushed to take credit, disparaging Burton. Burton disputed his claim, and Speke launched another expedition to Africa to prove it. The two became venomous enemies, with the public siding with the more charismatic Burton, to Speke's great envy. The day before they were to publicly debate,Speke shot himself.
Yet there was a third man on both expeditions, his name obscured by imperial annals, whose exploits were even more extraordinary. This was Sidi Mubarak Bombay, who was enslaved and shipped from his home village in East Africa to India. When the man who purchased him died, he made his way into the local Sultan's army, and eventually traveled back to Africa, where he used his resourcefulness, linguistic prowess and raw courage to forge a living as a guide. Without Bombay and men like him, who led, carried, and protected the expedition, neither Englishman would have come close to the headwaters of the Nile, or perhaps even survived.
In River of the Gods Candice Millard has written another peerless story of courage and adventure, set against the backdrop of the race to exploit Africa by the colonial powers.
Editorial Reviews
"River of the Gods is a lean, fast-paced account of the almost absurdly dangerous quest by [Richard Burton and John Speke] to solve the geographic riddle of their era. . . Candice Millard has earned her legions of admirers. She is a graceful writer and a careful researcher, and she knows how to navigate a tangled tale."
- The New York Times Book Review
"Millard's research and very readable storytelling are admirable. . . Ultimately, the identity of the person who first discovered the source of the White Nile may be a trivial matter. Ms. Millard conscientiously investigates the issue, of course, but River of the Gods is compelling because she does justice to the psyches and behavior of Burton and Speke-keenly flawed but enthralling, sometimes marvelous people."
- Wall Street Journal
"When it comes to narrative nonfiction, she's the best… I love her books. She has this way of finding a really fresh way of telling an old story."
- Erik Larson, New York Times bestselling author of The Splendid and the Vile
"Bestseller Millard (Hero of the Empire) recounts one of the greatest 19th-century British colonial explorations in this fascinating history. In 1854, the Royal Geographical Society chose Richard Francis Burton to lead an expedition to locate the source of the White Nile, the longest branch of the Nile River. After one member of his original team died before the journey, Burton hired Lt. John Hanning Speke of the Bengal Native Infantry, an avid hunter and member of the British aristocracy. Tensions between the two strong-willed men quickly surfaced, but Burton was more fortunate in his hiring of Sidi Mubarak Bombay, a formerly enslaved East African, as head gun carrier. While Burton recuperated from an illness, Speke and Bombay reached Lake Nyanza (also known as Lake Victoria), which Speke claimed as the Nile's source. Burton maintained that Speke had failed to settle the question, but before the two men could publicly debate the issue in 1864, Speke died in a hunting accident. Subsequent explorations, in which Bombay took part, proved Speke's theory. Millard's lushly detailed adventure story keeps a steady eye on the racial power dynamics involved in this imperialist ende...
- The New York Times Book Review
"Millard's research and very readable storytelling are admirable. . . Ultimately, the identity of the person who first discovered the source of the White Nile may be a trivial matter. Ms. Millard conscientiously investigates the issue, of course, but River of the Gods is compelling because she does justice to the psyches and behavior of Burton and Speke-keenly flawed but enthralling, sometimes marvelous people."
- Wall Street Journal
"When it comes to narrative nonfiction, she's the best… I love her books. She has this way of finding a really fresh way of telling an old story."
- Erik Larson, New York Times bestselling author of The Splendid and the Vile
"Bestseller Millard (Hero of the Empire) recounts one of the greatest 19th-century British colonial explorations in this fascinating history. In 1854, the Royal Geographical Society chose Richard Francis Burton to lead an expedition to locate the source of the White Nile, the longest branch of the Nile River. After one member of his original team died before the journey, Burton hired Lt. John Hanning Speke of the Bengal Native Infantry, an avid hunter and member of the British aristocracy. Tensions between the two strong-willed men quickly surfaced, but Burton was more fortunate in his hiring of Sidi Mubarak Bombay, a formerly enslaved East African, as head gun carrier. While Burton recuperated from an illness, Speke and Bombay reached Lake Nyanza (also known as Lake Victoria), which Speke claimed as the Nile's source. Burton maintained that Speke had failed to settle the question, but before the two men could publicly debate the issue in 1864, Speke died in a hunting accident. Subsequent explorations, in which Bombay took part, proved Speke's theory. Millard's lushly detailed adventure story keeps a steady eye on the racial power dynamics involved in this imperialist ende...
Readers Top Reviews
Steven KRM
Millard's River of Doubt was so engrossing that I reread it five years or more after the first reading and found it just as fascinating the second time. I expected that River of the Gods would be equal to its predecessor in its details of the landscape and terrors of the animal life and deprivations that must have befallen the explorers on their quest to discover the source of the White Nile. Instead, Millard spent the bulk of this new work on the personalities of Burton and Speke and Bombay, along with other players in the drama, and relied to excess on quotes from diaries, which often mounted to little more than redundant, filler material. I wanted to enjoy this book as much as I did River of Doubt and Destiny of the Republic, but I couldn't; it was a disappointment.
William de Rham
“River of the Gods” is a well-researched, well-written history of explorer Richard Burton’s quest to find the source of the Nile River during the 1850’s. (As author Candace Millard explains, one could not reach the source simply by sailing upriver. Instead, one had to trek in from the east coast.) It’s a history that centers on East Africa and details the civilizations and the beauties and dangers of places like Zanzibar, Somaliland, and the African Great Lakes (e.g., Lakes Victoria and Tanganyika). This is something of a departure for Ms. Millard. Her past works have had as their subjects Presidents and Prime Ministers (Garfield, Theodore Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill). River of the Gods focuses on individuals I’d never heard of: soldier/polyglot/explorer/adventurer/diplomat/author Richard Burton, an independent-minded, courageous, swashbuckling, character; and his subordinate the aristocratic, big-game hunting Johnathon Speakes. While these two would search for the source of the Nile together, and even fight battles and suffer grievous wounds together, they would never be friends, engaging as they did in a prolonged and public quarrel about who deserved credit for what. Like “River of Doubt” (Millard’s previous work about Teddy Roosevelt’s expedition to the Amazon), “River of the Gods” is a story filled with the romance, danger, illness, and hardships attending exploration of the remote and unknown. It is also one that imparts a great deal of information about the region, including its involvement in slavery. Those interested in the history/geography/culture of eastern Africa in the 1850s, exploration during the Victorian era, or Ricard Burton and Johnathon Speakes, would do well to add “River of Gods” to their libraries
BM
This is a truly fascinating tale. The main part of the story revolves around explorer Richard Burton and his expeditions to discover the source of the Nile River, but the scope of the book goes well beyond just Burton and his rival John Speke. The East India Company gets a good deal of attention as does Burton's wife Isabel who thanks to her diaries we get a wonderful window into the upper crust world of 19th century Britain. This gives the book a great sense of context as we explore Burton's fascinating life. What stands out in this book is besides the wonderful writing style is how well this book was researched. We read about little things like how Burton gets shafted on a language exam for the East India Company. We learn how he's viewed by his contemporaries. All of this leads to a very immersive reading experience and should be a real treat for anyone interested in the history of the 19th century.
