Frederick Courteney Selous, (born Dec. 31, 1851, London, Eng.—died Jan. 4, 1917, near Kisaki, Tanganyika [now in Tanzania]), hunter and explorer whose south-central African travels added substantially to knowledge of the country later known as Rhodesia.
In 1871–72 Selous traveled from Cape Town to Matabeleland, where he was given permission to hunt freely. For 18 years Selous explored and hunted over the country between the Transvaal of South Africa and the Congo River basin, collected natural history specimens for museums, and made valuable ethnological investigations. In 1890 he entered the service of the British South Africa Company and was active in bringing the border district of Manicaland under British control. Selous summarized his travels in “Twenty Years in Zambesia,” Geographical Journal (vol. 1, 1893). He also published an account of the Matabele War, Sunshine and Storm in Rhodesia (1896), and African Nature Notes and Reminiscences (1908).