Kristinn Qualesson (The Kalmar Union)

Kristinn Qualesson
Timeline: The Kalmar Union

Kristinn Qualesson (left) with two other Sauk army captains
Born	5th November, 1768 Saginaw, Vinland
Died	3rd? February, 1810 Inner Niger Delta, Songhay
Profession	Soldier, Explorer

Kristinn Qualesson was a Vinlandic adventurer and explorer who is chiefly remembered for locating the source of the Niger River.

Born in 1768, the son of a Saginaw tailor, Qualesson was half-Sauk, half-Tahontanrat. At the time Saukland was still mostly autonomous within the Vinlandic state but tribal ties were beginning to loosen, and society beginning to 'catch-up' with the far more developed and wealthy Hafsvaedaland, and opportunities were abundant for those willing to grasp them. A enthusiastic if not particularly dedicated learner, Qualesson would study for the clergy but in a characteristic move abandoned it to enroll in the army during the Second Mexic-Leifian War. Too short for service in the grenadiers and not confident enough on horseback for the hussars or dragoons he served in the 3rd St. Katrinns Fuzileers.

His service was awarded the Minor Order of the White Lion for gallantry at the Battle of Lindi. He was one of the first awardees, the order being established by Queen Eyfinna II in 1788 to recognise the efforts of the army during the largely futile conflict. This garnered him several high-ranking friends in the army and government with whom he corresponded frequently. Queen Lára would even write to him on occasion for his thoughts on the Sauk 'situation'. After the war wound down he enrolled in the Officer College at Kastalinnur hoping to become a commissioned officer but left a year later, restless. His friend, the politician Birgir Pjetursson, would remark 'Qualesson is a man who rots without a scheme or adventure to be had'.

In 1796 he met Jóhann Fridriksson who had spent a year in southern Morocco trying and failing to get passage to Timbuktu and the Niger River. The city and the river were largely mysteries to the outside world at the time: indeed it was unknown exactly where the Niger River actually reached the sea. The African kingdoms and empires at the time barred entry to their lands to Christians, to hold on to their gold trade monopolies. Sensing a worthy adventure to be had Qualesson spent years and badgering influential people to gain a passage on a future exploratory mission. However brave and charming he was his peers regarded him as potential liability on any expedition as 'the Captain cannot read a sextant nor take the altitude of the sun; he quite useless as an explorer'. Finally in 1800 tired of the incessant letters, the Crown permitted his passage and Qualesson set off for the West African coast with a small group of army officers. The objective was the Gambra River, one of the theoretical end points for the Niger River. The Sine Kingdom, used to foreigners, let them through, to the border town of Jufureh whereupon the party was halted by the local Great Fulo commander, despite them having papers from the King of Great Fulo.

Aware that Fridriksson's 'European-ness' had being a large factor in him not getting far Qualesson adopted an old Sauk name Keokuk as a pseudonym, dressed like a Tuareg and pretended to be from Yesanland (as it was large enough for the local chiefs to have heard of, defiantly 'pagan', and just obscure enough for Qualesson to lie his way through any close questioning). This put him immediately at odds with the expedition's commander, Aron Ásgeirsson, who was resolutely against any deception. The two men would clash repeatedly, Qualesson disobeying orders to remain with the party and he would accompany the local chiefs on raiding expeditions despite Ásgeirsson's express order not to. But still the local chiefs in Great Fulo, and those to the south in Kaabu too, continually refused the party passage.

The first expedition having ended barely 20 miles from the coast Qualesson angrily abandoned his group, travelled to Lisbon independently and wrote home for more funds and 'like-minded' men whilst disparaging Ásgeirsson. Forced to return to Vinland he once again badgered friends and was able to mount his own expedition in 1805.

This time Qualesson started further north, on the Wad al-Mal or Sinegal River directly in Great Fulo territory. With him he brought two trusted Isanyanthi Dragoonmen who happily played along with Keokuk's plans, one of whom, Mahpiya Utunwe, was a skilled navigator and could actually read a sextant. With diplomatic authority they followed and mapped the river as far as the Songhay border at Bafoulabé where it became clear to all that it was not going to lead to the Niger. They were cautiously accepted on a caravan bound for Timbuktu but the caravan was ambushed by Great Fulo raiders, Qualesson and Utunwe managed to escape with their lives, their third team member was killed. Fleeing, they headed southeast into Mali whereupon they stumbled across the Niger at Bamako, gained the trust of the local ruler who, though forbidding them from travelling downstream to Timbuktu, gave them carte blanche and supplies to explore the river's headwaters to the west. Qualesson and Utunwe located the source of the Niger in April 1807 and then crossed the Fouta Djallon to head back to the coast through Kaabu lands.

Qualesson's book A Fyrthalojm Ad Upptókum Nígerfljos, written mostly on the return voyage, did much to expand Leifian and European knowledge of the region, not only its geography which Utunwe had meticulously mapped out but also its culture, which Qualesson faithfully related. It was his belief that the Niger ultimately emptied into the Nile and began immediately to organise and second expedition to prove it. Utunwe joined him once more and the pair reached Bamako in December 1809 with little trouble this time only to find the city in the throes of a local power struggle. Qualesson would be wounded in a skirmish and the pair hastily made their escape, by boat, downstream. His health failing, Qualesson would die somewhere on the 'Inner Delta' near Mopti in Songhay. Utunwe would carry on to Timbuktu then, too nervous to carry on further, joined a caravan headed northwards to Morocco.

Qualesson's (and Utunwe's) journey and reports sparked a greater Leifian and European interest in West Africa. Most of the large Atlantic states had some sort of quasi-governmental 'African Office' set up by the 1820s dedicated to exploring the continent, increasing trading links or even providing support to local regimes. A statue of Qualesson stands outside the Foreign Office in Isafjordhur whilst both he and Utunwe are depicted on the frieze decorating the lobby of the African Joint-Embassy in Fjallasay. It would be the Arelat explorer Laurent Balthazar Peyron who in 1835 would finally trace the course of the Niger from Bamako to the Atlantic coast matching it up to what was then known as the Benin River.