Initial interest in East Africa centred on ending the slave trade and "bringing God to the heathens". Two German missionaries (Rebmann and Krapt) while treking further afield to find converts, make important discoveries independant of each other. Rebmann is the first European to sight Mt Kilimanjaro, and Krapt, Mt Kenya.

Travelling inland, Thomson is the first European to cross the feared Maasai country. They were intrigued by his white skin, his party tricks -like the way he made his teeth vanish and reappear. Subsequent explorers were not so fortunate. He discovers and names Lake Baringo, Thomson Falls and the Aberdare Ranges, arriving at Lake Victoria in December 1883. Bishop Hannington follows the same route and makes it through Maasai country only to be hacked to death upon entering the Buganda Kingdom.

Leaving Burton at Tabora, Speke in 1858 travels north and is the first European to see Lake Victoria, naming it after his Queen. In 1862, Speke with Grant, discover the Rippon Falls, proclaiming it to be the source of the Nile, confirmed by Stanley in 1875 when he circumnavigates the lake.

The Sultan of Zanzibar is squeezed by France, England, and Germany. Obliged in 1873 to shut down his slave market on Zanzibar and stop the export of slaves, in 1886 he is forced to ratify the partition by England and Germany of his grand (though unsubstantiated) kingdom. He is left with the island of Zanzibar, Pembe, Lamu, Mafia and a 15km wide coastal strip between the rivers Tana and Rovuma. This strip is leased, then eventually bought by English and German interests.