Challenging the narrative that Mungo Park ‘discovered’ the Niger River brings to the fore the complex legacy of European explorations in Africa. It underscores the urgent need for a shift towards comprehensive history education and cultural engineering to cultivate a well-informed society.
At a recent online event in November 2023, scholars and opinion leaders from Nigeria discussed the role of misinformation and disinformation in fuelling the insurgency. Panellists discussed topics such as history education and collective memory. These discussions inevitably led me to reflect on how certain historical narratives have persisted. In West Africa, the Niger River is particularly significant. A longstanding narrative about this river is its ‘discovery’ by a Scottish explorer, Mungo Park. However, a closer examination of this narrative reveals a complex interplay of myths and realities...
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