Until the latter half of the nineteenth century, the Europeans knew little about the interior of Africa. By then much had been learnt about America, Asia and Australia. Because the Europeans knew little about Africa them, Stanley, the British Explorer called Africa The Dark Continent.
Stanley explored the Congo Basin. The Stanley Falls on this river is named after him. Most of the inhabitants of Africa are dark un complexion and perhaps this was the second reason for the words, THE DARK CONTINENT.
One may ask why was the inland part of Africa known until about 100 years ago? Many are of the opinion that this was because the natives of Africa were not friendly towards the Europeans. Until then, Arab slaves raiders had been enslaving Africans. Thus made many Negroes look upon all white people as slave dealers.
But we must not forget the difficulties in exploring Africa. The Sahara desert, the rapids on rivers and the thick foresr made travelling very difficult. The damp, the heat, mosquitoes and the flies caused illnesses to Eurooean explorers.