Speke served in the British Indian Army in Tibet, the Punjab and in the Himalayas. He joined the Burton party in 1855, which attempted to explore Somalia and was wounded in an attack by locals. He rejoined Burton in 1856 and together they explored the coast of East Africa and travelled inland to be the first Europeans to reach Lake Tanganyika in 1858. Speke left the expedition and headed north and eventually reached Lake Victoria, which he concluded was the source of the Nile. This theory was disputed in England by many, including Burton himself. In 1860, Speke, together with James Grant, mapped part of Lake Victoria. In 1862, found Ripon Falls, a Nile exit from the lake. He also provided Samuel White Baker with information that helped him to discover Lake Albert Nyanza in 1863. His Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile was published in 1863. Speke died in a hunting accident in 1864. |
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