Hugh Clapperton, who was he?
Hugh Clapperton, a Scottish explorer and naval officer, was the first European to return to the Hausaland or northern Nigeria region with a firsthand and authentic account.
In December 1823, he was also the first European to consume Miyan Kuka at Kuka (now Kukawa), the capital of the Borno Empire. A type of Nigerian dish from the north of Nigeria is Miyan Kuka, also known as Luru soup.
According to Denham Dixon’s “Narrative of Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa in Years 1822, 1823, and 1824,” Hugh Clapperton revealed how he ate the baobab tree’s fruit and the soup made from its leaves.
Clapperton crossed the Sahara from Tripoli with explorers Dixon Denham and Dr. Walter Oudney to discover Northern Nigeria, which was then known as the far end of Central Soudan. Clapperton carried on with the expedition on his own, making stops in Kano, Katsina, Zaria, and Sokoto after a disagreement with fellow traveler Dehman and the death of Dr. Oudney at Murmur near Katagum. On June 1, 1825, he returned to England as a hero.
Richard Lander, Hugh Clapperton’s servant, and Hugh Clapperton returned to Africa in December 1825, this time by sea. In order to travel by land to Sokoto, he landed in Badagry, Benin’s Bight. Because of the war between Sokoto and Borno, Sultan Bello denied him permission to leave Sokoto for Kuka, the capital of Borno, to rekindle ties with Shehu El-Kanemi after he had been there for more than a year.
Hugh Clapperton passed away on April 13, 1827, in Sokoto, from malaria and dysentery. His servant Lander was the only one who survived the expedition. Lander went back to the coast and met Dixon Denham, Clapperton’s former rival, at Fernando Po. Denham told London about Clapperton’s death.
Clapperton Road, a street in Sokoto, was given his name. In 1828, he published his account of his travels and discoveries in northern and central Africa in the years 1822–1823 and 1824. In 1830, Lander published the Records of Captain Clapperton’s Last African Expedition.