Mary Kingsley spent eighteen months

Mary Kingsley spent eighteen months between 1893 and 1895 exploring West Africa. The two books she wrote and the lectures she gave back in England about her travels helped to change the way Europeans thought about their African colonies. Kingsley also helped to start anthropology, the study of people’s customs and lives, of Africa. We must understand something about English life at that time in order to understand how amazing this was.
Mary Kingsley was born near London in 1862 and grew up while Victoria was queen of England. At that time, women were expected to stay at home, take care of their husband and behave like ladies.


Mary’s father was a doctor, and her mother was his cook. The parents got married only 4 days before Mary was born. Her father spent most his time traveling in far-off countries, and he hardly ever came home. Her mother was never well, and she spent her life in her bedroom with all curtains closed. Of course, Mary had to take care of her, so Mary never married. She never went to school either; she had to educate herself.


When both her parents died in 1892, Mary took the money they left her and went to visit Canary Island off the coast of West Africa. She met traders there, Europeans who brought rubber, elephant ivory, and other products from Africans and sold them things from Europe. She returned to England and studied to do useful scientific work in West Africa. During her first trip of 6 months back to West Africa and her second one of more than a year, she collected fish for the British Museum. Much more important, she gathered information about African customs, law, and religion.


European men had been exploring Africa for years. Each explorer took large amounts of equipment, food, and other supplies and needed many Africans to carry them. The Europeans had guns and used them when there was trouble. Kingsley traveled with only six Africans to help her. She slept in village houses and ate what the Africans ate. She had gun, but she never shot anyone. She always wore a white cotton blouse and a long wool skirt. She was able to ask them all kind of questions about their lives, and later she wrote detailed scientific descriptions of African customs. She also wrote beautiful descriptions of the slow moving rivers, the sounds of the African night, and the beauty of the African forest.


At that time, there were three groups of Europeans in Africa. These were the traders, the people working for the colonial governments, and the missionaries who went to Africa to teach Christianity. They all believed that Europeans were superior to other people. They believed either that Africans were wild or that they were childlike. The English missionaries believed Africans and Europeans were brothers because they were all God's children,but they also believed that Africans were inferior because they were not Christians. The missionaries thought that the Africans’ false religion made them live inferior lives.


They thought that if Africans started wearing European clothes, learned English, forgot their old way and became Christians, they could become better people. The other Europeans believed that Africans were inferior and less intelligent than white people

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As Mary Kingsley gathered information about African customs, she learned that their religion was the center of their lives. Their religion and customs, even the ones that seemed very strange to Europeans, all fit together in a logical way. She believed that if Europeans tried to change Africans’ lives , or any of their customs, the Africans’ lives would be worse than before. However she also believed that Africans could not learn technology and could never move into the modern world. As she wrote and lectured about her ideas, the people working in the colonial governments learned from her, and the governments became better.


When Kingsley reached a village, she usually said, “It’s only me.” She said it so often that villagers started calling her “ Only Me” because they thought it was her name. She was European, so the Africans treated her like a European and not like a woman. She had much more freedom than she had when she was at home in England.
In 1900 Kingsley went to South Africa to help in the hospitals during the Boer War, but she planned to return to West Africa. However , in a short time, she became sick and died at the age of thirty-seven. She was buried at sea.


Mary Kingsley was a Victorian woman. She became an explorer, geographer, anthropologist, and author. Today it is not easy for anyone to be even one of these things. In Kingsley’s time, it was almost impossible, especially for a woman, but she was all of them. Her books started a change in West African history because they helped change the attitudes of the Europeans toward the African customs helped start the anthropological study of Africa. She was an amazing person.

Kết quả (Việt) 1:

Mary Kingsley trải qua mười tám tháng giữa 1893 và 1895 khám phá Tây Phi. Hai cuốn sách cô đã viết và các bài giảng mà cô đã trở lại tại Anh về chuyến du lịch của cô đã giúp để thay đổi cách người châu Âu nghĩ về Châu Phi thuộc địa của họ. Kingsley cũng đã giúp để bắt đầu nhân chủng học, nghiên cứu của người dân Hải quan và cuộc sống, Châu Phi. Chúng ta phải hiểu điều gì đó về cuộc sống tiếng Anh tại thời điểm đó để hiểu điều này là tuyệt vời như thế nào.Mary Kingsley được sinh ra gần London vào năm 1862 và lớn lên trong khi Victoria là nữ hoàng Anh. Tại thời điểm đó, phụ nữ đã được dự kiến sẽ ở nhà, chăm sóc chồng của họ và hành xử như phụ nữ. Mary's cha là một bác sĩ, và mẹ của cô là nấu ăn của mình. Các bậc cha mẹ đã lập gia đình chỉ 4 ngày trước khi Mary được sinh ra. Cha cô đã dành đặt có thời gian của mình, đi du lịch tại far-off quốc gia, và ông hầu như không bao giờ trở về nhà. Mẹ không bao giờ được tốt, và cô đã dành cuộc sống của cô trong phòng ngủ với tất cả các màn cửa đóng cửa. Tất nhiên, Mary phải chăm sóc của bà, do đó, Mary không bao giờ kết hôn. Cô ấy không bao giờ đi đến trường hoặc; cô đã có để giáo dục mình.When both her parents died in 1892, Mary took the money they left her and went to visit Canary Island off the coast of West Africa. She met traders there, Europeans who brought rubber, elephant ivory, and other products from Africans and sold them things from Europe. She returned to England and studied to do useful scientific work in West Africa. During her first trip of 6 months back to West Africa and her second one of more than a year, she collected fish for the British Museum. Much more important, she gathered information about African customs, law, and religion.European men had been exploring Africa for years. Each explorer took large amounts of equipment, food, and other supplies and needed many Africans to carry them. The Europeans had guns and used them when there was trouble. Kingsley traveled with only six Africans to help her. She slept in village houses and ate what the Africans ate. She had gun, but she never shot anyone. She always wore a white cotton blouse and a long wool skirt. She was able to ask them all kind of questions about their lives, and later she wrote detailed scientific descriptions of African customs. She also wrote beautiful descriptions of the slow moving rivers, the sounds of the African night, and the beauty of the African forest.At that time, there were three groups of Europeans in Africa. These were the traders, the people working for the colonial governments, and the missionaries who went to Africa to teach Christianity. They all believed that Europeans were superior to other people. They believed either that Africans were wild or that they were childlike. The English missionaries believed Africans and Europeans were brothers because they were all God's children,but they also believed that Africans were inferior because they were not Christians. The missionaries thought that the Africans’ false religion made them live inferior lives.They thought that if Africans started wearing European clothes, learned English, forgot their old way and became Christians, they could become better people. The other Europeans believed that Africans were inferior and less intelligent than white people.As Mary Kingsley gathered information about African customs, she learned that their religion was the center of their lives. Their religion and customs, even the ones that seemed very strange to Europeans, all fit together in a logical way. She believed that if Europeans tried to change Africans’ lives , or any of their customs, the Africans’ lives would be worse than before. However she also believed that Africans could not learn technology and could never move into the modern world. As she wrote and lectured about her ideas, the people working in the colonial governments learned from her, and the governments became better.When Kingsley reached a village, she usually said, “It’s only me.” She said it so often that villagers started calling her “ Only Me” because they thought it was her name. She was European, so the Africans treated her like a European and not like a woman. She had much more freedom than she had when she was at home in England.In 1900 Kingsley went to South Africa to help in the hospitals during the Boer War, but she planned to return to West Africa. However , in a short time, she became sick and died at the age of thirty-seven. She was buried at sea.Mary Kingsley was a Victorian woman. She became an explorer, geographer, anthropologist, and author. Today it is not easy for anyone to be even one of these things. In Kingsley’s time, it was almost impossible, especially for a woman, but she was all of them. Her books started a change in West African history because they helped change the attitudes of the Europeans toward the African customs helped start the anthropological study of Africa. She was an amazing person.