The 19th century was a century of many discoveries and innovations in Europe. Technological innovations led to the industrial revolution that consumed more and more raw materials. The colonial powers such as Great Britain, France and Germany competed with each other for control of Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The colonial expansion was accompanied by the expansion of the railways, the improvement of the roads and the means of transportation by sea and land.
David ben Tzur
The 19th century was a century of many discoveries and innovations in Europe. Technological innovations led to the industrial revolution that consumed more and more raw materials. The colonial powers such as Great Britain, France and Germany competed with each other for control of Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The colonial expansion was accompanied by the expansion of the railways, the improvement of the roads and the means of transportation by sea and land.
This spread depended on the information about those areas and the mapping of parts unknown to the European man. Adventurous explorers, geographers, and military officers were sent under academic or military auspices to provide the information. Such was the role of the two researchers Richard Burton and John Henning Speke, who were sent in 1855 to search for the sources of the Nile. The expedition was funded by the British Geographical Society. The daring journey almost resulted in the death of the two explorers and they returned there again in 1857 and after eight months reached Lake Tanganyika. Burton at this point was no longer fit to continue the journey and Spiek continued alone to Lake Victoria and determined that it was the source of the Nile (an assertion that was proven later). Burton disagreed with him and a fierce rivalry emerged between the two. The debate reached the British Geographical Society and provoked many echoes that of course also reached the press, especially after the tragic death of Speake in a hunting accident the day before the confrontation with Burton.
The story also excited a young and unknown French writer, Jules Verne. Until then, Vern had written short stories and plays that were not very successful. Most likely, inspired by the story of Burton and Speke, he wrote the book "Five Weeks in a Hot Air Balloon" which published Vern and subsequently he wrote other adventure and travel books.
Warren had a friend who invited him to fly in a hot air balloon. The short flight experience prompted Vern to write a book about a journey in Africa, from east to west, but by air. The heroes of the story leave in a hot air balloon from the island of Zanzibar off the coast of Tanzania and finish the daring journey in Senegal in West Africa. The book beautifully reflects the way in which Africa was perceived by Europeans towards the end of the 19th century - dark, mysterious, attractive and above all dangerous.
Verne himself did not travel in the black Africa described in the book. When asked where he got the knowledge and terms in his books, he said that he got most of his knowledge from dictionaries and encyclopedias. The second book Vern wrote was "Journey to the Underbelly of the Earth", the first part of which takes place in Iceland, which, although it is part of Europe, only in the 19th century did systematic geographical research begin to take place there.
To this day I went on a second journey following these two books by Verne. In Iceland, I recreated most of the route taken by the heroes of the book "Journey to the Underbelly of the Earth" from Reykjavík, along Peksa Bay and the Snapepelsens peninsula to the Snapeflökl volcano. Verne's accuracy in the book is admirable, especially the descriptions of Icelandic society in the 19th century, and the description of the area of the villages of Bodir and Ernstfi on the Snaiplesens peninsula. When you stand in front of the basalt arches and cliffs near Ernesti and compare writing in a book, it's hard not to marvel at Vern's talent, especially since he's never visited Iceland.
In 1999, I led a journey that resulted in the production of a film called "Journey to the Sources of the Nile" starring Gidi Gov and the people of the magazine "Another Journey". The journey from Zanzibar to Lake Victoria followed the journey of the two researchers Barton and Speke and the plot of the book "Five Weeks in a Hot Air Balloon". For the production of the film, we flew in a hot air balloon from the Serengeti to Lake Victoria, a flight path that we were probably the first to do.
One can understand Verne's enthusiasm for this innocent and clumsy aircraft. The beauty of flying is the lack of control over the direction of the flight and the uncertainty of the landing place. It is hard to believe that it is possible to fly from Zanzibar to Senegal in a normal hot air balloon, certainly not with the means of flight and navigation that Joey and his friends, the heroes of the book, had. But this is an imaginative idea. The very fact that we were able to land near Lake Victoria is already an aviation achievement in itself. When the pilot, Colin, was asked if he could fly us to Senegal, he said: "Yes, it is possible, if you can pay me."
David Ben Tzur, Tayl
