The Diary That Proved the Mountain Was Real

On August 1, 1838, a young British lieutenant named John Hanning Speke stood at the edge of Lake Victoria and scratched precise coordinates into his leather journal. For years, armchair geographers in London had debated whether the source of the Nile even existed as described. Theories multiplied. Myths circulated. But Speke had been there. He had felt the mist on his face, tasted the freshwater, watched the river spill northward with his own eyes.…