Daniel Houghton

Daniel Francis Houghton (* about 1740 in Ireland; † July 1791 in South Africa) was an English major and the third African traveler on behalf of the African Association.

Major Houghton, son of Captain William Houghton and grandson of Sir William Houghton, had been in Morocco in 1772 and 1779 to 1783 commander of the fort on Gorée. On December 20, 1783, he married in London Philippa Evelyn (* 1760 in London, † October 27, 1824 ), the daughter of Charles Evelyn and Philadelphia ( Philippa ) Wright. The couple had two sons, Frederick Hugh Evelyn Houghton ( born July 4, 1783), Charles Evelyn Daniel Francis poplet Houghton ( born September 20, 1784) and daughter Philippa.

Unlike the previous two travelers Simon Lucas and John Ledyard Houghton tried to go to Niger to explore the course and adjoining cities and states from the Gambia. His successor at the Association, Mungo Park, chose the same path. Houghton launched in 1790 from Plymouth and could send important information to London. In particular, that the Niger flowed north to Timbuktu and then made a turn to the East. This has certainly contributed to the theories that the Niger opening into the Nile or verebbe in the Sahara in Wangara in a lake or swamp. Over the course of the Niger, which flowed down the river to the southeast, he could, however, gain any information because he near Nioro du Sahel, west of Timbuktu, died. The reasons of his death were never fully explained. According to Mungo Park later information which came to him during his journey to hearing, Houghton was robbed and then starved destitute (Lit.: Sattin, 2003, p 123).