Kingsley, Mary Henrietta (1862-1900), was a British explorer, traveler, and pioneer social anthropologist. Her two books on her travels to western Africa, Travels in West Africa (1897) and West African Studies (1899), influenced later generations of anthropologists, historians, and policymakers. She also wrote numerous magazine and newspaper articles and gave many lectures on African social and political institutions, British policy toward Africa, and other African matters. She supported British commercial interests in Africa, but she argued that African cultures should be respected.
Kingsley was born on Nov. 13, 1862, in London. She was raised in a middle-class family that believed the proper place for women was in the home caring for the family. She wrote in favor of this belief, though she lived most of her adult life otherwise. From 1893 to 1895, Kingsley twice traveled to western Africa to study the peoples, cultures, and animal life there. In 1895, she became the first European woman to climb Mount Cameroon, one of the highest peaks in Africa. She died on June 3, 1900.
