Hugh Clapperton

Clapperton, Hugh (1788–1827). Scottish explorer of west Africa, Clapperton revealed the Fulani empire and tried to solve the problem of the Niger's course and termination. After an adventurous early career in the Royal Navy, Clapperton was retired on half-pay when in 1822 W. Oudney invited him and Denham to join an official expedition from Tripoli across the Sahara to the middle Niger region. Clapperton alone visited Kano and Sokoto in the newly created Fulani empire of Uthman dan Fodio and his son Mohamed Bello in 1824. On his return to Britain, the colonial secretary asked him immediately to go back to Sokoto to make treaties. With Lander, he penetrated from the Guinea coast in the south, but Bello's disputes with neighbouring Bornu hampered Clapperton, who died of dysentery in April 1827 without solving the Niger problem. But three years later Lander showed that the Niger terminated in the Gulf of Guinea.

Roy C. Bridges

Hugh Clapperton 1788-1827, British explorer, b. Annan, Scotland. After serving with the British navy in East India and Canada he made two journeys to W Africa. On the initial journey (1822-25) he was one of the first Europeans to reach Lake Chad (Feb. 4, 1823). He traveled through the Hausa states and collected much information about Kano and Sokoto. Clapperton's second expedition sought to discover the mouth of the Niger River. Before he could accomplish this task he died near Sokoto on Apr. 13, 1827. His servant, R. L. Lander, returned to England with his records, which were published (1829) as the Journal of a Second Expedition into the Interior of Africa.

Bibliography: See H. Williams, Quest beyond the Sahara (1965).