Snows of Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya
Nieves del Kilimanjaro y del monte Kenia
- Date
- 1848-1849 · confidence high
- Place
- Mount Kilimanjaro, Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
- Credited to
- Johannes Rebmann and Ludwig Krapf (missionaries)
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
In 1848 the missionary Johannes Rebmann described Kilimanjaro covered in snow and, in 1849, Ludwig Krapf did the same for Mount Kenya. The news of snow at the equator was doubted by British geographers (such as W. D. Cooley) until later expeditions confirmed it.
The Chagga and Kikuyu peoples knew the snow-capped mountains; the 'news' was for Europe. Kilimanjaro's ice has lost ~85% of its extent since 1912.
What it led to
- European interest in the East African interior
- tropical glaciology of Kilimanjaro, Kenya and Rwenzori
- the ascent of Kilimanjaro (Meyer, 1889)