To the Heart of the Nile: Lady Florence Baker and the Exploration of Central Africa

by Pat Shipman

Overview

In 1859, at age fourteen, Florence Szász stood before a room full of men and waited to be auctioned to the highest bidder. But slavery and submission were not to be her destiny: Sam Baker, a wealthy English gentleman and eminent adventurer, was moved by compassion and an immediate, overpowering empathy for the young woman, and braved extraordinary perils to help her escape. Together, Florence and Sam -- whose love would remain passionate and constant throughout their lives -- forged into literally uncharted territory in a glorious attempt to unravel a mysterious and magnificent enigma called Africa.

A stunning achievement, To the Heart of the Nile is an unforgettable portrait of an unforgettable woman: a story of discovery, bravery, determination, and love, meticulously reconstructed through journals, documents, and private papers, and told in the inimitable narrative style that has already won Pat Shipman resounding international acclaim.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061849855
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	06/11/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	460
Sales rank:	910,291
File size:	732 KB

About the Author

Pat Shipman is the author of eight previous books, including The Man Who Found the Missing Link and Taking Wing, which won the Phi Beta Kappa Prize for science and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award and named a New York Times Notable Book for 1998. Her numerous awards and honors include the 1996 Rhone-Poulenc Prize for The Wisdom of the Bones (written with Alan Walker). Her most recent book is To the Heart of the Nile: Lady Florence Baker and the Exploration of Central Africa. She is currently an adjunct professor of anthropology at Pennsylvania State University and lives in State College, Pennsylvania.

Read an Excerpt

To the Heart of the Nile
Lady Florence Baker and the Exploration of Central Africa

Chapter One

I Am Not A Slave

The nubile girls would be sold in January 1859. It was the wish of the matriarch of the Finjanjian family, Finjanjian Hanim. She was one of Viddin's top licensed dealers in white slaves and prided herself on her merchandise. Finjanjian Hanim had an uncanny ability to spot a promising girl at a very early age, train her for the harem, and then sell her at puberty for a top price.

Admittedly, Viddin was not the site of a major trade in white slaves, even within the Ottoman Empire in Europe. Men who were sent to Viddin as pasha, or governor, were being punished for some misdeed. The hanim had not the stature of the members of the Slave Traders Guild in Constantinople or Cairo, who might manage to place a girl in the Imperial Harem. Viddin had no equivalent of the incredible Topkapi Palace with its extensive harem. However, Finjanjian Hanim had succeeded in producing some girls of excellent quality who had gone into large and prestigious harems, enhancing the wealth and social standing of the Finjanjian family. They had climbed far from the days when they were simple porcelain sellers, the trade that gave them their family name.

January was the usual time for selling the most attractive girls, and the hanim now had a girl of exceptional quality to sell: Florenz. A young blond beauty, Florenz had been raised and trained most carefully for ten years. She took lessons in mathematics, reading and writing, geography, music, and all the womanly arts alongside the hanim's own granddaughters in the harem. Finjanjian Hanim had taken great care to see that Florenz retained her knowledge of Hungarian and German, the languages of her natal family, as well as learning Arabic, the lingua franca of the harem. Knowing European languages was a highly prized accomplishment in girls these days. Watching the girl with a critical eye in the hamman, the baths, the hanim was sure Florenz had reached puberty and the height of her attractiveness. It was time for her to put on the veil in public.

Another year might put a fuller bosom and a more womanly shape on the girl, but Finjanjian Hanim had another reason for deciding to sell Florenz now. A new immigration law had been passed in Constantinople, which offered highly favorable terms to those who would immigrate to the Ottoman Empire. As long as the immigrants pledged their loyalty to the empire, they would even be permitted to practice their own religions freely. Finjanjian Hanim feared that this opportunity would tempt a flood of immigrants from Circassia and Georgia, where ethnic Russians were harassing the natives and trying to drive them out.

As concubines, Circassian and Georgian girls were always much sought after because of their fair coloring and beauty. Sometimes they were kidnapped for the harem trade, abducted in raids, or taken as trophies of war. Circassian or Georgian girls were also sold by their parents, which carried no dishonor. A life in the harem was much easier and more luxurious than the ceaseless work that awaited girls as the wives of poor farmers. And if such families came into the province in numbers, what better way was there for them to raise cash for a new start than to offer a fair daughter to a slave trader? The market in white slave girls could be ruined by an influx of Circassians and Georgians; better to sell Florenz now than wait.

She notified the other members of the Slave Traders Guild first of all, in case they wanted to enter girls of their own into the sale. A number of girls of lesser quality would fatten the audience and make Florenz look better by comparison. Discreet notices were placed in the newspapers in Constantinople, Sofia, Viddin, and Vienna. Brochures were sent to potential buyers, and gossip carried the news farther into Europe. Finjanjian Hanim fantasized happily about the possible attendees and the money she would make.

As the mother of the master of the household, Finjanjian Hanim ruled over the haremlik, the secluded part of the house where all the women and children lived in cloistered isolation. Her title in the harem was Sultana Validé, and she was esteemed more highly than anyone else, even the master's first wife. A favorite Turkish proverb said "A man has but one mother but might have many wives." She decided who would be sold and when. She decided who lived where in the haremlik and who got an extra supplement to her pasmalik, or "slipper money." Now she thought that Florenz should be allowed the great privilege of new and expensive clothes for the auction.

Florenz did not know why she was being so favored, but some of the other girls of the harem were given clothes too. Her friend, the Sultana Validé's granddaughter, had been given beautiful new garments only a few weeks earlier before she received a visit from a goruçu, one of the older women who acted as marriage brokers. Florenz wondered if she too would soon receive a visit from a goruçu. She did not much like the idea, but she had to marry, she supposed, and that was how it was done. Her only hope was that the husband the Finjanjians found for her would be a kind and lovable man. The Sultana Validé, a woman of some perception, never mentioned the upcoming sale to Florenz, thinking the girl might make trouble.

As soon as the date of the sale was announced, the kitchen slaves began working extra hours, preparing pastries and other delicacies, squeezing fruits for juice and sherbet concoctions. The finest coffee sets were taken out of storage and cleaned meticulously, the supply of delicately embroidered silk napkins refreshed. Silver utensils were polished to a high shine. Musicians practiced frantically, as they would be stationed discreetly in the main reception room of the selamlik, the public area of the household where men might go, to fill the room with music ...

To the Heart of the Nile
Lady Florence Baker and the Exploration of Central Africa. Copyright © by Pat Shipman. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgments	ix
	Author's Note	xiii
	Timeline	xv
1.	I Am Not a Slave	1
2.	Shots, Knives, Yells, Corpses, and Fire	18
3.	Like a Hawk After a Mouse	37
4.	A Girl from the Harem	48
5.	So Absurd an Errand	69
6.	Heart of a Lion	88
7.	Sitt, I Be Your Boy	105
8.	A Perfect Hell	125
9.	Are the Men Willing to March?	144
10.	A Gorilla in London	162
11.	Tock-tock-tock	179
12.	The Water Cabbages Are Moving	189
13.	My Legs Are But Useless Things	200
14.	Life So Uncertain Here	214
15.	A Courageous Lady	233
16.	Supreme and Absolute Power	247
17.	My Lady and I Shall Proceed Alone	275
18.	Not a Gentleman in the Whole of Africa	295
19.	The Legendary Reputation for Amazonian Qualities	318
20.	That Disgraceful Outrage	335
21.	You Promised You Would Never Return Without Me	343
22.	How Can I Live?	360
23.	March 11, 1916	373
	Notes	377
	Bibliography	405
	A Note on Archives	411
	Illustration Credits	413
	Index	417

What People are Saying About This

Stanley Weintraub

“An extraordinary achievement of research and imagination.”

Shawn Carlson

“A brilliant history and an engrossing tale.”

Editorial Reviews

Shipman (The Man Who Found the Missing Link, etc.) recounts the courageous, adventurous life of Lady Florence Baker (1845-1916). Born in Transylvania and orphaned after the Hungarian revolution in 1848-1849, "Barbara" was taken to an Ottoman harem where her name was changed to "Florenz," and she lived "like an innocent flower blossoming in the sun." When she reached puberty, however, she was sold at slave auction to the pasha of Viddin in the Balkans and later abducted by the second-highest bidder, a wealthy middle-aged English adventurer named Samuel Baker, who renamed her "Florence." Independent, cultured and beautiful, Sam's 15-year-old acquisition possessed a fiery spirit and worldly curiosity that rivaled his own. So, in 1861, the unlikely couple set out for Africa to search for two English explorers who were on a quest to discover the Nile's source and to continue their soulful romance, free of the scrutiny Florence attracted for her "extreme youth and somewhat shadowy past." During their four years in Africa, the Bakers dealt with life-threatening illness, deception by tribal chiefs and mutiny-and witnessed some truly horrifying acts of human cruelty and degradation. But despite the hardships, including a return trip to attempt to dismantle the African slave trade, their love was unshaken. Combining journals, letters and photographs, Shipman's account shines with historical clarity and narrative fluency, although at times the invented dialogue between the couple rings a saccharine note. Overall, this portrait of bravery, altruism and stamina in the wilds of uncharted Africa is a reverent and careful tribute. 66 b&w illus. (Feb.) Forecast: National review attention, a 15-city NPR campaign, author appearances in New England and the Midwest and lecture tie-ins could stir up interest in this ambitious biography. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

With his conversational writing style, Shipman breathes life into the story of harem girl-turned-explorer Florence Baker and her much older adventurer husband, Sam. During their first trip to Africa (1861-65), they explored the Nile and its tributaries, confirmed that Lake Albert was a source of the Nile, and discovered Murchison Falls while enduring drought, floods, malaria, warring natives, and starvation. On their second trip (1869-73), Sam was appointed pasha of Equatoria and charged with abolishing the slave trade, annexing parts of the Sudan, and establishing trading posts on the river. For all of these details, however, Florence's life before she met Sam is poorly documented, and Shipman's account of how they met contradicts past reports. Richard Hall's Lovers on the Nile (1980) claims that Sam bought her at a harem slave auction in Viddin, while Shipman claims that Sam kidnapped her, drawing conclusions from research into the Hungarian Revolution of 1848-49 and the lives of women in the Ottoman Empire. Readers who enjoyed Shipman's biography of Eugene Dubois, The Man Who Found the Missing Link, will be pleased with this offering. However, because the bulk of the biography rests on invented dialog, it is appropriate for public libraries only.-Margaret Atwater-Singer, Univ. of Evansville Libs., IN Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Harem girl to renowned explorer to Edwardian dowager: the improbable life of "a lady of mystery." Barbara Maria Szasz, a Hungarian Transylvanian, was born around 1845. Whether out of financial need or some other reason, her parents placed her in a Turkish harem at the age of four. No dark fate that: as Shipman (The Man Who Found the Missing Link, 2001, etc.) writes, channeling the voice of African explorer Sam Baker, "Growing up in a harem was rather like attending a convent school." Ten years later, now renamed Florenz, our young heroine was put up for sale in an "elite white slave auction," where Sam Baker and his faithful Sikh companion Duleep Singh happened to be passing by when the harem-keeper Ali put her on the block. Happily, Ali accepted Baker's bid against that of the local boss: writes Shipman, now in Ali's voice, "I cannot send you to the pasha. . . . He is a wicked man, selfish and cruel, and you would hate him. You are going with the Englishman." Morally opposed to slavery but apparently not opposed to romancing a 14-year-old, Baker took Florence, for so she was now called, off to exotic venues such as Bucharest and Alexandria, where "they drank and ate and laughed their way through the night." The venues got less romantic when Sam resumed his long passion for African exploration, and then Florence's knowledge of Arabic and her fearlessness came in handy as they combed the African Great Lakes for secondary sources of the Nile. A good story, but the narrative suffers from cuteness: Shipman's habit of dramatizing the undramatic with invented dialogue ("Sam has brought me the only freedom, the greatest love, and the most lasting contentment of my life. . . . There is no pointin living if he is gone") makes for often tedious reading. Of some interest to exploration buffs, though less so than Martin Dugard's recent Into Africa (p. 202).

Kirkus Reviews

A terrific love story . . . fascinating and historically interesting . . . [a] highly readable book.” — San Jose Mercury News

“I found myself caught up in the narrative . . . convincing.” — Grand Rapids Press

“Shipman’s account shines with historical clarity and narrative fluency...a reverent and careful tribute.” — Publishers Weekly

“Absorbing ... conveys the danger in confronting Africa’s vast unchartered territory [and] reveals the life of a very tough woman.” — Los Angeles Times

“An extraordinary achievement of research and imagination.” — Stanley Weintraub, biographer of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, Benjamin Disraeli, and Charlotte and Lionel Rothschild

“A brilliant history and an engrossing tale.” — Shawn Carlson, Ph.D., MacArthur Fellow

From the Publisher

I found myself caught up in the narrative . . . convincing.

Grand Rapids Press

A terrific love story . . . fascinating and historically interesting . . . [a] highly readable book.

San Jose Mercury News

An extraordinary achievement of research and imagination.

Stanley Weintraub

Absorbing ... conveys the danger in confronting Africa’s vast unchartered territory [and] reveals the life of a very tough woman.

|Los Angeles Times

A brilliant history and an engrossing tale.

Shawn Carlson

Absorbing ... conveys the danger in confronting Africa’s vast unchartered territory [and] reveals the life of a very tough woman.

Los Angeles Times