ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the scope to a constellation of expeditionary works that all take up the representation of encounters in the same non-western location, the Congolese village of Nyangwe. It argues that in such cases the scale of the impact can match the depth, and so the influence of intercultural dynamics can extend to overarching elements of colonial representation. The chapter discusses the argument by examining relevant documentation – including field diaries, letters, scientific lectures and articles, maps, and popular travel narratives – while pursuing several objectives. It explores the newly enhanced interpretive model to examine Victorian explorer representations of the Wagenya, an African ethnic group inhabiting the Lualaba River in the vicinity of Nyangwe, and to consider the broader role of this group in the development of Victorian colonial representations of Africa as a whole. In the mid-nineteenth century, Nyangwe was a settlement at the edge of several empires and cultures.
