Richard Jobson (

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

1620–1623) was an English

explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

of West Africa. He is only known from his writings on his 1620–1621 voyage to the

Gambia River The Gambia River (formerly known as the River Gambra, French language, French: ''Fleuve Gambie'', Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''Rio Gâmbia'') is a major river in West Africa, running from the Fouta Djallon plateau in north Guinea westward ...

Life

He was appointed in 1620 to command an expedition to explore the

River Gambia The Gambia River (formerly known as the River Gambra, French: ''Fleuve Gambie'', Portuguese: ''Rio Gâmbia'') is a major river in West Africa, running from the Fouta Djallon plateau in north Guinea westward through Senegal and The Gambia to t ...

, for a group of adventurers. Former attempts in 1618 and 1619 had been failure, because of consequence of the hostility of the Portuguese and health problems. Jobson, sailing from England on 25 October 1620, and arriving at the mouth of the Gambia on 17 November, went up the river beyond the Barrakunda Falls, to an area he called Tenda, meaning river crossing in

Mandinka Mandinka, Mandika, Mandinkha, Mandinko, or Mandingo may refer to: Media * Mandingo (novel), ''Mandingo'' (novel), a bestselling novel published in 1957 * Mandingo (film), ''Mandingo'' (film), a 1975 film based on the eponymous 1957 novel * ''Man ...

. Jobson visited several places recognizable in modern places names including Wuli, Kantora, and Sutukoba. He did not find the gold he sought. Somewhere in Gambia, Jobson refused to purchase some female slaves, stating that "We were a people, who did not deal in any such commodities, neither did wee buy or sell one another, or any that had our owne shapes;"

Works

After his return to England in 1621, Jobson published ''The Golden Trade''.''The Golden Trade, or a Discovery of the River Gambra and the Golden Trade of the Æthiopians; also the Commerce with a great blacke merchant called Buckor Sano, and his report of the houses covered with gold, and other strange observations for the good of our owne countrey, set downe as they were collected in travelling part of the yeares 1620 and 1621; by Richard Jobson, gentleman'', 1623. He gives accounts of the Africans, then largely unknown to the English, though they had overland trade to the north coast.

Notes

External links

Online version of Jobson's ''The Golden Trade''
;Attribution British explorers of Africa 17th-century English writers 17th-century English male writers English explorers English travel writers Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown {{UK-explorer-stub