Engraving of Sir Samuel White Baker's expedition up the White Nile hauling a small steam-ship through thick river grass in 1870. Baker (1821-1893) undertook extensive exploration of Central Africa, in search of the source of the Nile River, in the early 1860's. John Speke and James Grant found the source first, but Baker was able to claim to be the first European to find Albert Nyanza; one of the largest lakes on the Nile. The 1870 expedition was carried out with the intention of suppressing the slave trade in the upper reaches of the White Nile and opening the way for European trade and 'civilization'.