Andersson, Karl Johan

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Karl Johan Andersson (yōō´hän än´dərsōn´), 1827–67, Swedish explorer in Africa. In 1850 he and Francis Galton set out from Walvis Bay (now in Namibia) to explore Damaraland and Ovamboland, but they were able only to reach the Etosha Pan. On a second trip Andersson reached Lake Ngami, for years the goal of explorers, and penetrated for 60 mi (97 km) beyond it. A subsequent journey (1859) took him to the Cubango (Okavango) River in what is now Botswana. He died while seeking out the upper reaches of the Kunene River. He wrote Lake Ngami (1855) and The Okavango River (1861). Notes of Travel in South Africa is a posthumous account of his last trip and was reprinted in 1969.

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