Mungo Park (1771-1806), African explorer, was born on 10 September 1771 at Fowlshiels, a farm near Selkirk, Scotland. He was educated at home and at Selkirk Grammar School. In 1786 he was apprenticed to a surgeon in Selkirk, and he attended Edinburgh University, 1789-1791. Thereafter, he found employment as a surgeon with the East India Company. Park visited Sumatra in 1792 where he carried out botanical and zoological investigations, which attracted interest from naturalists on his return to England. He travelled to Africa in 1795 to explore the course of the Niger, and proceeded up the Gambia. He spent four months imprisoned by Arabs before he was able to escape. Park returned to England in 1799, and that year published an account of his travels. He established a practice at Peebles where he worked until 1805, when he returned to the Niger. Park died at Boussa during fighting with natives.