Author(s): Csibi László / Language(s): English
Issue: XVII/2019
At the end of the 19th century, a Transylvanian nobleman organized an expedition in several regions of East Africa. Count Sámuel Teleki’s expedition resulted in several geographical discoveries, such as the Rudolph and Stephanie lakesor the Teleki Volcano. In this paper, we focus on the anthropological and historical dimensions of the Transylvanian explorer’s journeys. After studying a number of unpublished documents related to the count’s African voyages – his diary and some of his private letters – we draw a “portrait” of the three main groups of native populations that he encountered along the way: Arabs, East-Africans, and indigenous.Obviously, his descriptions cannot be considered “ethnographic” accounts, as Count Teleki lacked scientific training in this field; to the contemporary scholar, his diary notes and spontaneous remarks are filled with a sense of racism and superiority of the“civilised white man”, and this is somehow understandable given the place and the historical period in which Count Teleki lived and was educated. However, we believe that these descriptions are important today not as an objective depiction of 19th century African populations, but as an account of the encounter between a representative of Central European nobility and the native populations of East Africa inthe late period of the great expansions of the colonial powers in Africa. At the end of the 19th century, a Transylvanian nobleman organized an expedition in several regions of East Africa. Count Sámuel Teleki’s expedition resulted in several geographical discoveries, such as the Rudolph and Stephanie lakes or the Teleki Volcano. In this paper, we focus on the anthropological and historical dimensions of the Transylvanian explorer’s journeys. After studying a number of unpublished documents related to the count’s African voyages – his diary and some of his private letters – we draw a “portrait” of the three main groups of native populations that he encountered along the way: Arabs, East-Africans, and indigenous. Obviously, his descriptions cannot be considered “ethnographic” accounts, as Count Teleki lacked scientific training in this field; to the contemporary scholar, his diary notes and spontaneous remarks are filled with a sense of racism and superiority of the “civilised white man”, and this is somehow understandable given the place and the historical period in which Count Teleki lived and was educated. However, we believe that these descriptions are important today not as an objective depiction of 19th century African populations, but as an account of the encounter between a representative of Central European nobility and the native populations of East Africa in the late period of the great expansions of the colonial powers in Africa.
More...