John Ledyard

John Ledyard (* November 1751 in Groton, Connecticut, USA, † January 10, 1789 in Cairo, Egypt) was the second African traveler of the African Association.

Ledyard, son of John Ledyard and Abigail Hempstead was indeed contacted by the Association by Simon Lucas to explore Africa, but broke up before this. On June 30, 1788, he went to Egypt. From there, he wanted to travel under the protection of a caravan south to Nubia and then west through Africa. However, he died after he took an overdose of vitriolic acid end of 1788 to treat stomach ailments. Recognizing his mistake he drank tartar emetic in the hope to vomit, but his internal bleeding was too much already. He died in January 1789. His merit was to teach the African Association of the existence of trade routes from Cairo to Timbuktu.