James Richardson (explorer)

James Richardson (3 November 1809 in Boston, Lincolnshire – 4 March 1851 in Ngurutua near Kukawa, Bornu) was a British explorer known for his expeditions into the Sahel region of the Saharan desert.

His early training and enterprising temper produced in adult life an ambition to propagate Christianity and suppress the slave trade in Africa.

He attached himself to the British Anti-Slavery Society, and under its auspices he went out to Malta, where he took part in the editing of a newspaper and also engaged in the study of the Arabic language and of geography, with a view to systematic exploration.

London 1849), he succeeded in convincing the British government to equip an expedition into Sudan and to Lake Chad.

In March 1850, Richardson went for the second time to Ghat accompanied by Heinrich Barth and Adolf Overweg.