"Travels in the Interior of Africa" provided Europeans with one of the first detailed descriptions of the geography and peoples of the African continent. The story of his remarkable journey is told with extraordinary modesty and clarity and it remains as vivid and readable today as when he first wrote it. Park returned to West Africa on a second journey in 1805, but he failed to return. In his last letter he declared his intent 'to discover the termination of the Niger or perish in the attempt'. He drowned in the Niger attempting to escape an attack by natives.
