{"id":20,"date":"2026-04-06T17:20:50","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T16:20:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/word\/?p=20"},"modified":"2026-04-06T17:20:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T16:20:50","slug":"in-march-1861-i-commenced-an-expedition-to-discover-the-sources-of-the-nile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/in-march-1861-i-commenced-an-expedition-to-discover-the-sources-of-the-nile\/","title":{"rendered":"In March, 1861, I commenced an expedition to discover the sources of the Nile"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In March, 1861, I commenced an expedition to discover the sources of the Nile, with the hope of meeting the East African expedition of Captains Speke and Grant, that had been sent by the English Government from the South via Zanzibar, for the same object. I had not the presumption to publish my intention, as the sources of the Nile had hitherto defied all explorers, but I had inwardly determined to accomplish this difficult task or to die in the attempt. From my youth I had been inured to hardships and endurance in wild sports in tropical climates, and when I gazed upon the map of Africa I had a wild hope, mingled with humility, that, even as the insignificant worm bores through the hardest oak, I might by perseverance reach the heart of Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In March, 1861, I commenced an expedition to discover the sources of the Nile, with the hope of meeting the East African expedition of Captains Speke and Grant, that had been sent by the English Government from the South via&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[4],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v18.4.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>In March, 1861, I commenced an expedition to discover the sources of the Nile - Samuel White Baker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/in-march-1861-i-commenced-an-expedition-to-discover-the-sources-of-the-nile\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In March, 1861, I commenced an expedition to discover the sources of the Nile - Samuel White Baker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In March, 1861, I commenced an expedition to discover the sources of the Nile, with the hope of meeting the East African expedition of Captains Speke and Grant, that had been sent by the English Government from the South via&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/in-march-1861-i-commenced-an-expedition-to-discover-the-sources-of-the-nile\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Samuel White Baker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-06T16:20:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"melyn\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/\",\"name\":\"Samuel White Baker\",\"description\":\"Victorian explorer &amp; 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