Countering the trap of evidence. The Kilimanjaro snow controversy (1848-1862)

In 1848, missionary Johannes Rebmann became the first European to observe and describe Mount Kilimanjaro (East Africa). In his travelogue, he contended that the top of the mountain was covered with “eternal snow”. However, many European scholars of the geography societies were sceptical. A major geographical controversy ensued, which lasted over a decade. This article examines the various aspects of this scholarly dispute (which has long been obscured in historiography), in order to closely analyse the scholarly, socio-professional logics governing the negotiation of scientific authority on the 19th-century European geographical stage.