Bowdich

Bowdich, Thomas Edward (1790-1824), English traveller in Africa. Born at Bristol, in 1814 he went to see a relative - Hope Smith - governor of the Cape Coast, who charged him in 1816 with a mission to Guinea, to establish commercial relations. He penetrated as far as Coomassie, and succeeded in his mission. He then returned to Europe, and went to Paris for the purpose of scientific study. In 1822 he with his wife undertook a new journey to Africa, and explored the mouth of the Gambia. Here he died of malignant fever. He wrote several works. His Embassy to the Country of the Ashantis gave Europe its first knowledge of that country. Among other things he wrote a treatise on finding the longitude at sea by observation of lunar eclipses.