Name: River of the Gods
Author: Candice Millard

Do you like adventure, exploration and mystery stories? Interested in learning the story of one of humanitys greatest feats and its complicated legacy? If so, I recommend the book River of the Gods (River of the Gods) by Candice Millard, a non-fiction work that chronicles the expeditions of Richard Burton and John Speke, two British explorers who were sent to find the source of the river. Nile.

The Nile River is the longest in the world and its source was an enigma for millennia. In the 19th century, there was a fever of interest in ancient Egypt and its cultural treasures, as well as mapping the unknown regions of the globe and expanding colonial empires. Burton and Speke were chosen by the Royal Geographical Society to claim the prize for England. Burton was an army lieutenant in the British East India Company, an adventurer, a linguist, and a cultural scholar. He too was fickle, subtle, and an iconoclastic atheist. Speke was a young aristocrat and army officer determined to make a name for himself, with a passion for hunting, the opposite of Burton in temperament and beliefs. From the start, the two men clashed.

They had to endure tremendous hardship, illness, and constant setbacks. Two years later, deep in the African interior, Burton became too ill to continue, but Speke did, claiming to have found the source in a large lake which he named Lake Victoria. When they returned to England, Speke was quick to take the credit, scorning Burton. Burton contested his claim, and Speke launched another expedition to Africa to prove it. The two became poisonous enemies, with the public rooting for the more charismatic Burton, much to Spekes envy. The day before they publicly debated, Speke shot himself.

However, there was a third man on both expeditions, whose name was obscured by Imperial annals, whose feats were even more extraordinary. This was Sidi Mubarak Bombay, who was enslaved and shipped from his native village in East Africa to India. When the man who bought it died, he fought his way into the local sultans army and eventually returned to Africa, where he used his wits, language skills, and bravery to carve out a life as a guide. Without Bombay and men like him, who led, loaded and protected the expedition, none of the English would have approached the headwaters of the Nile or perhaps even survived.

In River of the Gods, Candice Millard has written another unparalleled story of courage and adventure set against the backdrop of the race to exploit Africa by the colonial powers. It is a book that will captivate you from the first page to the last with its agile and fascinating narrative. Do not miss it if you want to know more about this epic search for the river of the gods.

River of the Gods

Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile

Candice Millard

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