Mungo Park
Park, Mungo (1771–1806), a Scottish explorer. Leading two West African expeditions, 1795–97 and 1805–06, Park became the first to explore the Niger River in modern times. On the second trip he traveled more than 1,000 miles (1,600 km) downstream, but was drowned in the rapids at Busa, Nigeria. Park attended the University of Edinburgh and was a surgeon. He wrote Travels in the Interior of Africa (1799) and the uncompleted Journal of a Mission to the Interior of Africa (1815).