lander black continent

landor

Truro at this time was a booming stannary town, its port bustling with the trade of copper and tin.

However, rather than remaining in the county of his birth, at the age of 9 Lander embarked on an extraordinary journey which began with a walk of more than 200 miles to London.

Adventurer

Richard Lander was the son of a Truro innkeeper, born in the Daniell Arms, which is still to be   found just opposite this Column with Lander's statue atop. He is credited with exploring the lower course of the Nile.  
the pub where lander was born

The interior had two room that i saw. The bar room is entered by the main doors in the left hand building. The room is U-shaped around the serving bar. The decor is a mix of mustard walls, with some kind of cork, with a mustard and beam ceiling and a snazzy patterned carpet. There is a pool table. The walls are awash with old photos, prints and ephemera and there are some books. The seating is blue perimter seat and general chairs and tables. The TV here was not on at my visit. To the right and down a few stairs is a second room, also with a pool table. This room is mainly in wood panel, with mustard and beam ceiling and snazzy carpet. The same Victoriana is on the walls and the same seating is present. There is also a nice little fireplace. There is a TV here also, which also wasn't on. The music was general and at a decent level. The service was very friendly, as were the couple of locals that were in who chatted to us regarding Truro City.

Beer; usual tap stuff with a very good Skinner's Betty Stoggs on handpull

Stopped off here en route to the Truro v Dorchester game and found it not only friendly, but the one real ale was in top form. I would return. Lander went with the Scot Hugh Clapperton on an expedition to Western Africa in 1825. Clapperton died in April 1827 near Sokoto   leaving Lander in charge. . Lander returned to West Africa in 1830, with his brother John. They landed at Badagri on 22 March, 1830 They followed the lower River Niger for about 160 kms, and also explored the River Benue   and Niger Delta, Oil fouls everything in southern Nigeria. It spills from the pipelines, poisoning soil and water. It stains the hands of politicians and generals, who siphon off its profits. It taints the ambitions of the young, who will try anything to scoop up a share of the liquid riches—fire a gun, sabotage a pipeline, kidnap a foreigner.

Nigeria had all the makings of an uplifting tale: poor African nation blessed with enormous sudden wealth. Visions of prosperity rose with the same force as the oil that first gushed from the Niger Delta's marshy ground in 1956. The world market craved delta crude, a "sweet," low-sulfur liquid called Bonny Light, easily refined into gasoline and diesel. By the mid-1970s, Nigeria had joined OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries), and the government's budget bulged with petrodollars.Everything looked possible—but everything went wrong.Dense, garbage-heaped slums stretch for miles. Choking black smoke from an open-air slaughterhouse rolls over housetops. Streets are cratered with potholes and ruts. Vicious gangs roam school grounds. Peddlers and beggars rush up to vehicles stalled in gas lines. This is Port Harcourt, Nigeria's oil hub, capital of Rivers state, smack-dab in the middle of oil reserves bigger than the United States' and Mexico's combined. Port Harcourt should gleam; instead, it rots.  returning to Britain in 1831.

In 1832, he returned to Africa as leader of an expedition sponsored by Liverpool merchants, with the aim of founding a trading settlement at the junction of the Niger and Benue rivers. The expedition suffered badly from fever and failed to reach its objective, with many of its members dieing. Whilst travelling in a canoe, Lander himself was attacked and wounded with a musket shot some say a spear wound though. He managed to return to the coast, but died there of his injuries.

This Monument to his memory in his home-town of Truro is by Cornish sculptor Neville Northey Burnard is a superb  tribute to him.With no parents to guide and support him, his siblings farmed out to relatives across Cornwall, he made his way to the capital to meet the adventurer Captain Hugh Clapperton above and below. Young Lander had written to the African explorer asking to accompany him as a servant and learn all he could during his travels.

Following several voyages working as a servant with wealthy families during his teens, Lander finally accompanied Clapperton on a trip to Africa in 1825.

Sadly, during the dangerous exploration of the west African interior his master died and Lander was forced to return home alone.

Undeterred by the arduous African journey, Lander returned in 1830 on a government expedition to find the source of the River Niger – a trip that would see him canoe hundreds of miles along the mighty stretch of water accompanied by his brother John.

Two years later, aged 30, Lander was attacked by tribesmen and fatally wounded in his leg during an exploration of the Niger and Benue Rivers, a trip funded by Liverpudlian one of the most beautiful british statues and one of the least known, i only decided to write this post after driving past this statue

merchants keen to establish trading posts in the area.

He died from his wounds but in the same year was awarded the first gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society.

He left his mark in Africa, naming Truro Island along the Niger River and giving a hill along its riverbank the name Cornwall Mountain.
To mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Richard Lander and celebrate the Lander brothers’ remarkable achievements an 'Expedition of Goodwill' was sent in November 2004 to retrace their historic river journey.