Miniature of Mungo Park. After an engraving by H. Eldridge. Mungo Park, (1771-1806), was a British explorer in Africa, born in Selkirk, Scotland. After serving as a surgeon with the East India Company, he was employed by the African Association to explore the course of the Niger River. Travelling North East from the Gambia River, he reached the Niger at Segu and proceeded 300 miles (483 km) upstream to Bamako. On his return to England he published Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa (1799). In 1805 he was sent by the government to trace the Niger to its mouth. At Bussa he and his party were attacked in their canoes and Park was drowned. The African Adventure - A History of Africa's Explorers by Timothy Severin, page 97.