Geographer, explorer and publisher. Born in Edinburgh, Johnston was the son of the geographical publisher A.K. Johnston (1804-71) and followed his father into the family publishing business. He trained as a cartographer and went on to run the London office of W. and A.K. Johnston from 1869. He went to Paraguay in 1871, where he undertook a boundary survey. Johnston was then asked by the Royal Geographical Society to lead their expedition to Lake Nyasa (Malawi) in 1878, but shortly after arriving in East Africa he fell ill with dysentery and died at Behobeho. The young Joseph Thomson (1858-95) then took charge of the expedition.
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