Born in Baltimore in 1834, Benjamin Anderson was an Americo-Liberian politician and explorer. Despite receiving a primary education in his native Maryland, racial prejudice in the state often led to his being beaten. In December 1851, his mother gained passage to Liberia and Benjamin travelled with her, reaching Monrovia in April 1852. There he finished his education, excelling in mathematics. He remained in Liberia for the remainder of his life and became an important figure in the history of the country, serving both in the army and in the Liberian government.

Anderson is perhaps best known for his 1868-9 expedition into the interior of the country where he visited the Mandinka city of Musardu (now Moussadou, Guinea). He published his account of the expedition in this book, printed in New York in 1870. Anderson hoped that his journey into the interior of Liberia would persuade others to open up the land for development so that the newly established nation could prosper. He would return to Musardu in 1874 and in the 1880s and 1890s was responsible for defining Liberia's borders with Sierra Leone (then a British colony) and Guinea (then part of French West Africa).