Mortality Disparities Among Groups Participating in an East Africa Surveying Expedition: The Herbert Henry Austin Expedition of 1900–1901

Abstract

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a number of European expeditions traveled to the region of Lake Rudolf, now largely in northern Kenya. Although diverse in intent, many of these were undertaken in the interests of furthering colonial territorial claims. In 1900-1901, Major Herbert Henry Austin led a British expedition down to the lake from Khartoum in the north. Of the 62 African, Arab, and European members of this expedition, only 18 (29%) arrived at its final destination at Lake Baringo in Kenya. Because of a confluence of adverse climatic, social, and political conditions, the expedition ran short of food supplies when it arrived at the northern end of the lake in April 1901. For the next 4months, the members of the expedition struggled down the west side of the lake and beyond. The greatest mortality (91%) occurred among the 32 African transport drivers who were the most marginally nourished at the outset of the trip. The lowest mortality among the Africans on the expedition (15%) occurred among the members of the Tenth Sudanese Rifles Battalion, who had an excellent nutritional status at the start of the expedition. Major Austin himself suffered from severe scurvy with retinal hemorrhages which left him partially blind in his right eye. An analysis of the mortality rates among the groups that participated in this expedition was undertaken. This revealed that poor nutritional status at the start of the trip was predictive of death from starvation.