ABSTRACT
Major Houghton, a British military officer, arrived in the Faleme River Valley in southwestern Mali in 1791. He explored the ancient gold fields of the Bambouk and later died at Nioro, failing to reach his goal, Timbuctoo. Mungo Park was a Scottish physician who made two extensive trips through Mali. His first voyage began in 1795 in the Gambia, from there traveling to the Senegal River and into the Bambara kingdom of Kaarta. Heinrich Barth a German explorer working under British patronage, undertook a remarkable journey into eastern Mali, coming down from Tripoli in 1850. He traveled through what is northern Nigeria and Cameroon, moved westward into Mali, crossed the Niger River, and made his way to Timbuctoo, arriving in 1853. The initial architect of French conquest of Mali was the French general, Louis Leon Cesar Faidherbe. His two terms as the governor in St. Louis, Senegal, 1854-1861 and 1863-1865, were decisive for French imperial interests.
