This meticulously researched and fascinating historical work provides unique insights into the period of colonial expansion in Africa. The narrative focuses on a single lake on the border of present-day Kenya and Ethiopia -- Lake Rudolph, AKA Lake Turkana. In Quest for the Jade Sea , we follow the lives and get caught up in the aspirations of one explorer after another, as they move closer and closer to this particular lake, correcting with their direct observations errors in geography that had been based on rumor and speculation. They come from England, Austria-Hungary, Italy, America, and Russia. They risk their lives and fortunes for a wide variety of reasons: the fame of being the "first" to make an important discovery in Africa, for adventure, for the joy of slaughtering wild animals, for the money to be made from selling ivory, and to advance the colonial aspirations of the countries they represent.
The explorers and adventurers that you have heard of before -- Burton, Gordon, Stanley, Livingstone, and Baker -- are mentioned in passing as part of the general historical context. But the "heroes" of this story are much less well known: Count Samuel Teleki, Arthur Donaldson Smith, Johann Ludwig Krapf, Joseph Thompson, William Astor Chanler, Arthur Henry Neumann, Captain Vittorio Bottego, and Alexander Xavieryevich Bulatovich. As the blank spaces on the map of Africa get filled in, less and less territory is available to be "discovered," and the exploration becomes a frantic race among individuals seeking notoriety and wealth rather than a scientific or even a political endeavor. Once the territory has been thoroughly explored and the once abundant herds of big game hunted to scarcity, the lake drops back into obscurity, of no great interest in and of itself.
Along the way, the author, who spent a number of years serving as a doctor in Africa, uses his medical knowledge to illuminate the physical challenges and risks faced by these explorers. (Today he is Distinguished Service Professor and Chair of the Deparment of Preventive Medicine and Community Health at SUNY Health Science Center, Brooklyn, NY.)
For me, the chapter dealing with Russian explorers in Ethiopia in the 1890s ("An Orthodox Partnership") was particularly valuable. In it the author helps make sense of this bizarre and puzzling historical interlude, with insight into the motivations of Russian officers such as Count Nicholas Leontiev and Lieutenant Alexander Bulatovich, and their dealings with the Ethiopian emperor, Menelik II, who sought to carve out an African empire in competition with France, England, and Italy. In particular, he puts Bulatovich's scientific accomplishments and writings into context. (NB -- my own book Ethiopia thru Russian Eyes, a translation of Bulatovich's books about Ethiopia will soon be published by Red Sea Press. The full text of it is available at my Web site at www.samizdat.com/#ethiopia)
Other book reviews by Richard Seltzer
Published by B&R Samizdat Express, PO Box 320-161, West Roxbury, MA 02132-002. 617-469-2269 seltzer@samizdat.com
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