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Thomas Baines
(John) Thomas Baines (27 November 1820 – 8 May 1875) was an English artist and explorer of British colonial southern Africa and Australia. Life and work Born in King's Lynn, Norfolk, on 27 November 1820, Baines was apprenticed to a coach painter at the age of 16. When he was 22 he left England for South Africa aboard the "Olivia" (captained by a family friend William Roome) and worked for a while in Cape Town as a scenic and portrait artist, and as official war artist during the so-called Eighth Frontier War for the British Army. In 1855 Baines joined Augustus Gregory's 1855–1857 Royal Geographical Society sponsored expedition across northern Australia as official artist and storekeeper. The expedition's purpose was to explore the Victoria River district in the north-west and to evaluate the entire northern area of Australia in terms of its suitability for colonial settlement. His association with the North Australian Expedition was the highpoint of his career, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Library Of Australia
The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "maintaining and developing a national collection of library material, including a comprehensive collection of library material relating to Australia and the Australians, Australian people", thus functioning as a national library. It is located in Parkes, Australian Capital Territory, Parkes, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, ACT. Created in 1960 by the ''National Library Act'', by the end of June 2019 its collection contained 7,717,579 items, with its manuscript material occupying of shelf space. The NLA also hosts and manages the renowned Trove cultural heritage discovery service, which includes access to the Australian Web Archive and National edeposit (NED), a large collection of digitisation, digitised newspapers, official documents, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baines River
Baines is a surname of English, Scottish or Welsh origin. It shares many of the same roots with the British surname Bains.Reaney, P.H. ''A Dictionary of British Surnames'' Routledge & Kegan Paul, 2nd edition (1976)Hanks, P. & Hodges, F. ''A Dictionary of Surnames'' Oxford University Press (1988) It shares some roots with the British surname Bain. Derivation and variants Baines has a number of different sources, several of them nicknames and another based on an occupation. In Scotland and the north of England the Old English word ''bān'' ('bone') became Middle English ''bān'' and ''bain''. It may have become a nickname in the plural, meaning 'bones' or ' ong-egs' (''cf.'' modern German ''Bein'', also meaning both "bone" and "leg"). The Middle English ''bayn'', ''beyn'' and the Old Norse ''beinn'' meant 'straight' or 'direct', which may have become a nickname. The Middle English ''bayne'' (and French ''bain'') meant 'bath'. This may have become an occupational surname for an a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lobengula
Lobengula Khumalo (c. 1845 – presumed January 1894) was the second and last official king of the Northern Ndebele people (historically called Matabele in English). Both names in the Ndebele language mean "the men of the long shields", a reference to the Ndebele warriors' use of the Nguni shield. Background The Matabele were descendants of a faction of the Zulu people who fled north during the reign of Shaka following the '' mfecane'' ("the crushing") or ''difaqane'' ("the scattering"). Shaka's general, Mzilikazi led his followers away from Zulu territory after a falling-out. In the late 1830s, they settled in what is now called Matabeleland in western Zimbabwe, but they claimed sovereignty over a much wider area. Members of the tribe had a privileged position against outsiders whose lives were subject to the will of the king. In return for their privileges, however, the Ndebele people both men and women had to submit to a strict discipline and status within the hierarch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gweru
Gweru is a city in central Zimbabwe. Near the geographical centre of the country. It is on the centre of Midlands Province. Originally an area known to the Ndebele as "The Steep Place" because of the Gweru River's high banks, in 1894 it became the site of a military outpost established by Leander Starr Jameson. In 1914 it attained municipal status, and in 1971 it became a city. The city has a population of 158,200 as of the 2022 census. Gweru is known for farming activities in beef cattle, crop farming, and commercial gardening of crops for the export market. It is also home to a number of colleges and universities, most prominently Midlands State University and Mkoba Teachers College. The city was nicknamed City of Progress. History Gweru used to be named Gwelo. Matabele settlement was named iKwelo (“The Steep Place”), after the river’s high banks. The modern town, founded in 1894 as a military outpost, developed as an agricultural centre and became a municipali ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Malay Archipelago
''The Malay Archipelago'' is a book by the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace which chronicles his scientific exploration, during the eight-year period 1854 to 1862, of the southern portion of the Malay Archipelago including Malaysia, Singapore, the islands of Indonesia, then known as the Dutch East Indies, and the island of New Guinea. It was published in two volumes in 1869, delayed by Wallace's ill health and the work needed to describe the many specimens he brought home. The book went through ten editions in the nineteenth century; it has been reprinted many times since, and has been translated into at least twelve languages. The book describes each island that he visited in turn, giving a detailed account of its physical and human geography, its volcanoes, and the variety of animals and plants that he found and collected. At the same time, he describes his experiences, the difficulties of travel, and the help he received from the different peoples that he met. The p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alfred Russel Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) was a British natural history, naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator. He is best known for independently conceiving the theory of evolution through natural selection. His 1858 paper on the subject was published that year On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection, alongside extracts from Charles Darwin's earlier writings on the topic. It spurred Darwin to set aside the Natural Selection (manuscript), "big species book" he was drafting, and quickly write an Abstract (summary), abstract of it, published in 1859 as ''On the Origin of Species''. Wallace did extensive fieldwork, first in the Amazon River basin. He then did fieldwork in the Malay Archipelago, where he identified the faunal divide now termed the Wallace Line, which separates the Indonesian archipelago into two distinct parts: a western port ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South West Africa
South West Africa ( af, Suidwes-Afrika; german: Südwestafrika; nl, Zuidwest-Afrika) was a territory under South African administration from 1915 to 1990, after which it became modern-day Namibia. It bordered Angola (Portuguese colony before 1975), Botswana ( Bechuanaland before 1966), South Africa, and Zambia (Northern Rhodesia before 1964). Previously the German colony of South West Africa from 1884–1915, it was made a League of Nations mandate of the Union of South Africa following Germany's defeat in the First World War. Although the mandate was abolished by the United Nations in 1966, South African control over the territory continued despite its illegality under international law. The territory was administered directly by the South African government from 1915 to 1978, when the Turnhalle Constitutional Conference laid the groundwork for semi-autonomous rule. During an interim period between 1978 and 1985, South Africa gradually granted South West Africa a limited f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Chapman (explorer)
James Chapman (27 December 1831, Cape Town – 4 February 1872, Kimberley), was an explorer, hunter, trader and photographer from the Cape Colony. A son of James Chapman and Elizabeth Greeff of Malmesbury and brother to Henry Samuel Chapman, he was educated in Cape Town and left for Durban when 14 years old. He was appointed as chief clerk in the Native Affairs Department in 1848. A year later he settled in Potchefstroom where he became one of the first storekeepers. Shortly after, in 1852, he ventured across the Limpopo River and into Bamangwato country. He became friendly with Khama, one of the sons of Sekgoma, the Bamangwato chief, enlisting his aid in reaching the Chobe River. Early the following year found him on the Zambesi River which he explored to within of the Victoria Falls, almost beating David Livingstone to their discovery. By 1854 he had teamed up with Samuel H. Edwards, another explorer, and launched an expedition to Lake Ngami after which he trekked through th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhodesia
Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of Southern Rhodesia, which had been self-governing since achieving responsible government in 1923. A landlocked nation, Rhodesia was bordered by South Africa to the south, Bechuanaland (later Botswana) to the southwest, Zambia (formerly Northern Rhodesia) to the northwest, and Mozambique ( a Portuguese province until 1975) to the east. From 1965 to 1979, Rhodesia was one of two independent states on the African continent governed by a white minority of European descent and culture, the other being South Africa. In the late 19th century, the territory north of the Transvaal was chartered to the British South Africa Company, led by Cecil Rhodes. Rhodes and his Pioneer Column marched north in 1890, acquiring a huge block of territory that the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mashonaland
Mashonaland is a region in northern Zimbabwe. Currently, Mashonaland is divided into four provinces, * Mashonaland West * Mashonaland Central * Mashonaland East * Harare The Zimbabwean capital of Harare, a province unto itself, lies entirely in Mashonaland. Provincial history It was originally one of the regions that the country was divided into following occupation by the Pioneer Column in 1890 and designated the extent of territory under administration of the British South Africa Company as distinct from the remainder of the territory that was directly under the control of the Matabele king, Lobengula, which was named Matabeleland when it was occupied in 1893. The two had separate administrations for part of the BSA Company colonial period. Revolt broke out against the British South Africa Company in 1896, led by priests of the Mwari religion. The British prevailed, executed some leaders, and tried to reform the system. In 1923, the territory became part of the self-go ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gold Prospecting
Gold prospecting is the act of searching for new gold deposits. Methods used vary with the type of deposit sought and the resources of the prospector. Although traditionally a commercial activity, in some developed countries placer gold prospecting has also become a popular outdoor recreation. Prospecting for placer gold Prospecting for placer gold is normally done with a gold pan or similar instrument to wash free gold particles from loose surface sediment. The use of gold pans is centuries old, but is still common among prospectors and miners with little financial backing. Deeper placer deposits may be sampled by trenching or drilling. Geophysical methods such as seismic, gravity or magnetics may be used to locate buried river channels that are likely locations for placer gold. Sampling and assaying a placer gold deposit to determine its economic viability is subject to many pitfalls. Once placer gold is discovered, the gold pan is usually replaced by sluices or mechan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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