Mountains of Kong

The Kong Mountains (English Mountains of Kong) are a fictional mountain, that was until the early 20th century, located in almost all maps of Africa.

Origin of science fraud

The British geographer James Rennell (1742-1830) took over in 1798 by Mungo Park geographical data based on its discoveries. However, he falsified Parks data by near the 10th degree of latitude he included a mountain range called the Mountains of Kong ( " Kong Mountains "). He did so apparently to support his thesis over the course of the Niger. Subsequent geographers took over the Kong mountains in their own cards. The Kong Mountains was presented as a watershed between the Niger River in the north and the Gulf of Guinea. It should have a length of about 1000 km and run parallel to the 10th degree of latitude. To the mountains even some legends have been built up over time. So " snow-capped peaks " and gold deposits have been described and it has been claimed the mountain as " insurmountable natural barrier " did not allow for trading of the population between coast and hinterland.

The Kong Mountains were first shown in 1802 in Aaron Arrowsmith's London erschienenem factory Africa and drawn last 1905 in Tramp Jewellers Mittelschulatlas (Vienna). Also held in the world literature, the Kong Mountains catchment. In Jules Verne's work Robur the Conqueror (1886 ) says in chapter 12: On the horizon, where already in indistinct line the Kong mountains of the Kingdom of Dahomey.

In the fourth edition of Meyers Lexicon of 1880, the Kong Mountains are among others as " unexplored mountains, which north of the coast of Upper Guinea for a distance of 800-1000 km between the 7th and 9th latitude by 1. ° west longitude of Gr. drags " described. At the east end of the city lie " Kong, which still unknown to Europeans, but to be the largest market in these areas according to the statement of the natives and manufacture of cotton fabrics, which are in reputation in the Sudan. "

Resolution

The French officer and explorer Louis- Gustave Binger traveled in the years 1887/88 and reached Africa on 20 February 1888, the city of Kong. He found that registered on the cards Kong mountains were not there.