On the South African Frontier - William Harvey Brown

Condition: Good. DJ is good apart from some handling marks and light edge wear. Book is clean and tight with some foxing on end pages.
Format: Hardcover with DJ
Published: 1970 (Books of Africa)
Pages: 457
ISBN:

This work was chosen for reprinting at this time to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the arrival of the 1890 Pioneer Column, the establishment of Salisbury and the founding of Rhodesia. It is also a tribute to the parts played by the author, William Harvey Brown, and his fellow Americans in bringing Western civilisation to this part of Africa. A naturalist of the Smithsonian Institution, the author served with Rhodes Pioneer Corps and settled in Rhodesia, becoming Mayor of Salisbury in 1910.

He describes in interesting detail the march of the Column and the adventurous first eight years of white settlement. On the disbandment of the Column, he continued collecting specimens for American museums and prospected for gold. He later farmed at Arlington, site of the present Salisbury Airport. His work is one of the most out-standing of the period and throws fascinating sidelights on pioneer life in Rhodesia. It is particularly valuable for the authors observations on race problems arising from the transition of the indigenous tribes from barbarism to civilization.

He discusses the prospects for mining, agriculture, commerce and immigration. His Mayoral Minute of 1910, published as an Appendix, provides an illuminating yardstick by which to measure Salisburys progress over its 80-year life-span.