John Lander (explorer)

Lander, who had learned the craft of book printer, was the younger brother of the African explorer Richard Lemon Lander. This 1830-1831 he accompanied on his second expedition to West Africa, which should complete the research Hugh Clapperton and clarify the course of the Niger.

On March 22, 1830 landed in Badagry, Nigeria, and followed the Niger from Bussa to the Gulf of Guinea, then traveled - following the River - 160 km far inland into it and finally explored the Benue and the Niger Delta. Thus the course of the Niger was finally discovered and the age-old myths that had formed because of the crescent shape of the river, put an end to. 1831 returned the travelers back to England. The two brothers were charged by the British King William IV for an audience to Windsor Castle and Truro erected in their honor, a large memorial column.

John Lander returned, in contrast to his brother Richard, never again to Africa. He took a job at the customs and died in 1839 from the effects of infection he had contracted during the expedition to the Niger.

• African explorer
• Discoverer (19th Century )
• Printer
• Briton
• English
• Born in 1806
• Died in 1839
• Man