Samuel White Sir Baker

Sir Samuel W. Baker was an English explorer who, along with John Hanning Speke, contributed to the discovery of the Nile River's headwaters (born June 8, 1821, London, England-died December 30, 1893, Sanford Orleigh, Devon). Sir Samuel W. Baker, a merchant's son, spent time in Ceylon (1846-55) and Mauritius (1843-45) before journeying across the Middle East (1856-60). Together with Florence von Sass, who would later become his second wife, he traveled to Africa in 1861 and spent nearly a year...See more

Sir Samuel W. Baker was an English explorer who, along with John Hanning Speke, contributed to the discovery of the Nile River's headwaters (born June 8, 1821, London, England-died December 30, 1893, Sanford Orleigh, Devon). Sir Samuel W. Baker, a merchant's son, spent time in Ceylon (1846-55) and Mauritius (1843-45) before journeying across the Middle East (1856-60). Together with Florence von Sass, who would later become his second wife, he traveled to Africa in 1861 and spent nearly a year studying the tributaries of the Nile near the boundary between Ethiopia and Sudan. The Baker expedition started out in February 1863 in search of the Nile's source using maps provided by Speke. Baker discovered the spring in March 1864, and he named lake Albert Nyanza (Lake Albert), which was located between contemporary Uganda and Congo (Kinshasa). After returning to England, he was knighted in 1866. Isml Pasha, the Ottoman viceroy of Egypt, requested Baker to lead a military expedition to the equatorial parts of the Nile in 1869. The explorer seized territory there and assisted in ending the slave trade before being named governor-general for four years. The Rifle and the Hound in Ceylon (1854) and The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia are two of his publications (1867). See less