Gustav Nachtigal (
February 23,
1834 –
April 20,
1885) was a
German explorer in
Central Africa.Nachtigal, the son of a
Lutheran pastor, was born at
Eichstädt in the
Province of Brandenburg. After medical study at the universities of
Halle,
Würzburg and
Greifswald, he practised for a few years as a military surgeon. Finding the climate of his native country injurious to his health, he went to
Algiers and
Tunis, and took part, as a surgeon, in several expeditions into the interior. Commissioned by the
king of Prussia to carry gifts to the
sultan of
Bornu in acknowledgment of kindness shown to German travellers, he set out in 1869 from
Tripoli, and succeeded after two years journeyings in accomplishing his mission. During this period he visited
Tibesti and
Borku, regions of the central
Sahara not previously known to Europeans. From Bornu he went to Bagirmi, and, proceeding by way of
Wadai and
Kordofan, emerged from darkest Africa, after having been given up for lost, at
Khartum in the winter of 1874. His journey, graphically described in his Sahara und Sudan (3 vols., 1879-1889), placed the intrepid explorer in the front rank of discoverers. On the establishment of a protectorate over Tunisia by France, Nachtigal was sent thither as consul-general for the
German empire, and remained there until 1884, when he was despatched by Prince
Otto von Bismarck to West Africa as special commissioner, ostensibly to inquire into the condition of German commerce, but really to annex territories to the German flag, before the British did. As the result of his mission
Togoland and
Kamerun were added to the German empire. On his return voyage he died at sea off
Cape Palmas on
April 20,
1885, and was buried at
Grand Bassam.
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