Editing King Solomon's Mines (section)

==Background==
The book was first published in September 1885 amid considerable fanfare, with billboards and posters around London announcing "The Most Amazing Book Ever Written". It became an immediate best seller.<ref name="encl">{{cite web |last1=Wells |first1=Colin |title=King Solomon's Mines |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/king-solomons-mines#:~:text=Haggard%20won%20the,Katz%2C%20p.%201). |access-date=7 July 2024 |website=www.encyclopedia.com |language=en}}</ref> By the late 19th century, explorers were uncovering [[ancient civilisations|ancient civilisations and their remains]] around the world, such as Egypt's [[Valley of the Kings]] and the empire of [[Assyria]]. Inner Africa remained [[European exploration of Africa|largely unexplored]] and ''King Solomon's Mines'', one of the first novels of African adventure published in English, captured the public's imagination.<ref name="encl"/>

The "[[Solomon|King Solomon]]" of the book's title is the legendary Biblical king renowned both for his wisdom and for his wealth. A number of sites have been suggested as the location of his mines, including the workings at the [[Timna valley]] near [[Eilat]], Israel. Research published in September 2013 has shown that this site was in use during the 10th century BC as a copper mine possibly by the [[Edomites]],<ref>{{cite news|url=http://phys.org/news/2013-09-proof-solomon-israel.html |title=Proof of Solomon's mines found in Israel |work=Phys.org |access-date=2014-05-15}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Proof of Solomon's mines found in Israel|url=http://www.jewishpress.com/news/proof-of-solomons-copper-mines-found-in-israel/2013/09/08/|access-date=17 September 2013|newspaper=The Jewish Press|date=8 September 2013 }}</ref> who, the Bible reports, were rivals of and frequently at war with King Solomon.<ref>[[Edom#Hebrew Bible]]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0006_0_05562.html |title=Edom |publisher=Jewishvirtuallibrary.org |access-date=2014-05-15}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Boyle|first=Alan|title=Reality check on King Solomon's mines: Right era, wrong kingdom|url=http://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/reality-check-king-solomons-mines-right-era-wrong-kingdom-f8C11073742|access-date=16 February 2014|newspaper=NBC News|date=5 September 2013}}</ref> The Bible does refer to King Solomon having sent out, in partnership with his [[Phoenicia|Phoenician]] allies, trading expeditions along the Red Sea, which brought exotic wares and animals from Africa to Jerusalem. Muslim traders in [[Sofala]], Mozambique, told Portuguese travellers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that the region's gold mines belonged to King Solomon and that he built the now-ruined city of [[Great Zimbabwe]].<ref>{{cite journal |first=Scott T. |last=Carroll |title=Solomonic Legend: The Muslims and the Great Zimbabwe |journal=International Journal of African Historical Studies |volume=21 |issue=2 |year=1988 |pages=233–247 |doi=10.2307/219935 |jstor=219935 }}</ref>

Haggard knew Africa well, having travelled deep within the continent during the [[Anglo-Zulu War]] and the [[First Boer War]], where he had been impressed by [[South Africa]]'s vast mineral wealth and by the ruins of ancient lost cities, such as Great Zimbabwe, being uncovered. His original Allan Quatermain character was based in large part on [[Frederick Courtney Selous|Frederick Selous]], the British [[white hunter]] and explorer of [[Africa]].<ref name="mandiringana">{{Cite journal|last=Mandiringana |first=E.  |author2=T. J. Stapleton  |year=1998 |title=The Literary Legacy of Frederick Courteney Selous |journal=History in Africa |volume=25 |pages=199–218 |doi=10.2307/3172188 |jstor= 3172188|s2cid=161701151 }}</ref><ref name="pearson">{{cite web |url=http://www.humanitiesweb.org/human.php?s=s&p=l&a=c&ID=1144&o= |title=Theodore Roosevelt, Chapter XI: The Lion Hunter |access-date=18 December 2006 |last=Pearson |first=Edmund Lester |publisher=Humanities Web |archive-date=24 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160324123500/http://www.humanitiesweb.org/human.php?a=c&id=1144&o=&p=l&s=s |url-status=dead }} {{Cite web |url=http://www.humanitiesweb.org/human.php?a=c&id=1144&o=&p=l&s=s |title=Archived copy |access-date=24 December 2021 |archive-date=24 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160324123500/http://www.humanitiesweb.org/human.php?a=c&id=1144&o=&p=l&s=s |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> Selous's real-life experiences provided Haggard with the background and inspiration for this and many later stories.

Haggard also owed a considerable literary debt to [[Joseph Thomson (explorer)|Joseph Thomson]], the Scottish explorer whose book ''Through Masai Land'' was published in 1885.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://biblio.co.uk/through-masai-land-by-thomson-joseph/work/231057|title=Through Masai Land by Thomson, Joseph}}</ref> Thomson claimed he had terrified warriors in Kenya by taking out his false teeth and claiming to be a magician, just as Captain Good does in ''King Solomon's Mines''. Contemporary [[James Runciman]] wrote an article entitled ''King Plagiarism and His Court'',<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JVQmAQAAIAAJ&q=%22king+plagiarism+and+his+court%22&pg=PA118 |title=King Plagiarism and His Court |date=April 1890 |publisher=The Literary News |author=James Runciman }}</ref> interpreted as accusing Haggard of plagiarism for this.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=545NAAAAYAAJ&q=%22joseph+thomson%22+plagiarism+haggard&pg=PA269 |title=The Speaker |volume=1 |year=1890 |publisher=Mather & Crowther}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=London in And Out of Season |date=7 March 1890 |newspaper=Otago Witness |url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=OW18900501.2.64&l=mi&e=-------10--1----2-all }}</ref> Thomson was so outraged at Haggard's alleged plagiarism that he published a novel of his own, ''Ulu: an African Romance'', which, however, failed to sell.