Film Lesson" "Mountains of the Moon"

Europeans faced a lot of problems while in Africa. This can be seen in the film “Mountains of the Moon”. The two main characters, Sir Richard Burton and John Speke didn’t know what was in store for them on their journeys. It was a simple enough goal, to find the source of the Nile River. But hardships occurred along the way. Their first journey into Africa was a short one. The Africans had never seen white men before. With their unique appearances, the African tribes weren’t reluctant to attack them. Burton barely got away, having a javelin, or a spear, inserted through his cheeks. Speke was captured with a few other of their slaves, but he got away in the middle of being tortured. Then they return to England, failing in their expedition, but start again.
This time they are funded by the Royal Geographic Society and are fully equipped. Of course this helps, but there are still many hardships they go through. In the course of their second trip, they are attacked by tribes as well as bugs. A bug went into Speke’s ear and to take it out they had to drop candle wax into his ear, ruining his ears. Also, the slaves they hired weren’t trustworthy, many fled in the middle of the night with a lot of equipment. There were other hardships such as lions, depletion of food and water, and diseases. Somehow, when Burton was walking on rough terrain, his legs weakened and he couldn’t walk anymore. Last but not least, they were captured by a tribe and were held hostage until the tribe received goods. Burton and Speke gave the tribe some of the last of its possessions. Finally, at the end, Speke found the source of the Nile River, Lake Victoria.
Lake Victoria is a very odd name to give to a lake in Africa. If the lake was in Europe, it would be typical, but this lake was a in Africa. The Europeans immediately thought it theirs, thinking they were the first people to discover it and named it after their queen, when in reality, many Africans knew about the Lake. The Europeans had many advantages over the Africans. Firstly, they had a technological advantage over the Africans. The Europeans had advanced weaponry, superb planning skills, and plenty of inventions to help them, as to the Africans who had spears and knifes in the least. Also, the Europeans had a major advantage over the Africans due to no unity. Africa was set up with many different tribes that fought against each other, so it easy to defeat them.