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Major Alexander Gordon Laing and the Timbuktu Mission

The first European to reach Timbuktu and send a letter out, and then to be killed for it.

Lecture / talkHistoryFree

At Royal Geographical Society.

Laing crossed the Sahara in 1826 and wrote from Timbuktu that his was the first letter sent from there by a Christian. He was murdered days after leaving. Henrietta Butler, a former Guardian photographer who has worked in the central Sahara since 2001, follows the journey and the misreadings that have clung to it ever since. Free, in the Education Centre.

Where
1 Kensington Gore, SW7 2AR
Nearest station
South Kensington · 10 min walk

Hours

Monday 23 November 2026: 14:30 – 15:45

Hours from the page that lists them, checked 15 September 2026.

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