Simon Lucas (

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 ...

c.1766–1799) was an English diplomat and explorer for the

African Association The Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa (commonly known as the African Association), founded in London on 9 June 1788, was a British club dedicated to the exploration of West Africa, with the mission of discov ...

Life

The son of a vintner in

Greyfriars, London In London, the Greyfriars was a Conventual Franciscan friary that existed from 1225 to 1538 on a site at the North-West of the City of London by Newgate in the parish of St Nicholas Shambles, St Nicholas in the Shambles. It was the second Fran ...

, who was admitted to St. Paul's School, he was sent to Cadiz while still young, to be trained in commerce. He was captured on his return voyage by a Sallee rover, and enslaved in

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

. After three years' captivity Lucas went to

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

Edward Cornwallis Edward Cornwallis ( – 14 January 1776) was a British career military officer and member of the aristocratic Cornwallis family, who reached the rank of Lieutenant General. After Cornwallis fought in Scotland, putting down the Jacobite r ...

, Gibraltar's governor, sent him back to Morocco as a vice-consul. He spent 16 years there. In 1785 Lucas returned to England, and was appointed oriental interpreter at court. He undertook a journey in Africa for the Association for Promoting African Exploration, set up in 1788. He left England in August 1788 with the intention of crossing the desert from

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis (from , meaning "three cities") may refer to: Places Greece *Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in the Pelasgiotis district, Thessaly, near Larissa ...

Fezzan Fezzan ( , ; ; ; ) is the southwestern region of modern Libya. It is largely desert, but broken by mountains, uplands, and dry river valleys (wadis) in the north, where oases enable ancient towns and villages to survive deep in the otherwise in ...

, in what is now

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

. The plan was to collect information in Fezzan, and from traders, on the interior, and to return home by way of

The Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...

or the Guinea coast. At the end of October 1788, Lucas landed at Tripoli, and was received by Ali I Pasha. A revolt on the intended route delayed his journey, but two

sharif Sharīf or Sherif (, 'noble', 'highborn'), also spelled shareef, feminine sharīfa (), plural ashrāf (), shurafāʾ (), or (in the Maghreb) shurfāʾ, is a title used to designate a person descended, or claiming to be descended, from the fami ...

s offered him safe conduct. Lucas started off on a mule, in an armed company with 18 others persons, in February 1789. They reached the ruins of Lebida, and then within a week "Menrata" (apparently Mesurata, i.e.

Misrata Misrata ( ; , Libyan Arabic: ; also spelled Misratah and known by the Italian spelling Misurata) is a city in northwestern Libya located in the Misrata District, situated to the east of Tripoli on the Mediterranean coast near Cape Misrata. ...

). Adverse conditions meant the journey planned by Lucas had to be scaled back. He obtained information from one of the sharifs, who had travelled as factor in the slave-trade for the king of Fezzan, by trading a copy of a map of Africa for accounts of Fezzan, the Bornou empire, and Nigritia. Lucas turned back ar Memoon on 20 March 1789, reaching Tripoli on 6 April, and England on 26 July. He was succeeded in his African Association position by

Daniel Houghton Daniel Houghton (1740–1791) was an Irish people, Irish explorer and one of the earliest Europeans to travel through the interior of West Africa. Early life and family After he retired from the army he married and started a family. He married P ...

, and became consul in Tripoli in 1793.

Works

Lucas's account of Africa was published in the ''Reports'' of the African Association.

Notes

External links

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Lucas, Simon British diplomats Moroccan slaves 18th-century English explorers British explorers of Africa 18th-century slaves Slaves of the Barbary Coast