Barth, Heinrich 1821-1865. German geographer
and explorer who in explorations of N Africa
between 1844 and 1855 established the exact
course of the river Niger. He studied the
coast of N Africa from Tunis to Egypt
1844-45, travelled in the Middle East
1845-47, crossed the Sahara from Tripoli
1850, and then spent five years exploring the
country between Lake Chad and Cameroon which
he described in the five-volume Travels and
Discoveries in Central Africa 1857-58.