Dr. David Livingstone - Famed Scottish Missionary and Explorer

David Livingstone was born on March 19, 1813, in the village of Blantyre, South Lanarkshire, Scotland (see the photo on the right for house Livingstone was born in). His family was believed to be descended from the highland Livingstones, a clan that had been previously known as the Clan MacLea. His branch of the family had migrated South over the centuries.

Young David was very studious, having mastered several subjects. He first studied Greek, medicine, and theology at the University of Glasgow. Later and when working in London, he emulated the example of another venerable Scot, Robert Moffat, and joined the London Missionary Society, becoming a minister. (Livingstone later married Moffat's eldest daughter, Mary).

Livingstone's first plan was to go to China as a medical missionary but the Opium Wars were being waged with no sign of a let up, thus young David decided to set his sights further south to the Dark Continent.

From 1840, when David Livingstone just 27 years old, he worked in Bechuanaland (modern day Botswana). He couldn't make much ground heading into the interior due to problems with the white Boer farmers who were descendants of the early Dutch settlers in Southern Africa. When he had been in Africa for four years David Livingstone married Robert Moffat's oldest daughter, Mary. The year was 1844. Mary travelled with Livingstone for a period time at his insistence, despite her pregnancy and her family's objections.

Livingstone explored the interior of Africa from 1852 - 1856 in order to open trade routes and accumulate useful information about Africa. In doing so he became one of the very first white men to make the transcontinental journey in Africa. And also during this time he became the first European to see the Mosi-oa-Tunya waterfall. (Mosi-oa-Tunya means "Smoke that Thunders"). David Livingstone wasted no time renaming the falls after the British Queen Victoria.

David Livingstone believed that this journey was very important as he spent much of his life promoting missionary and trading activities into the interior of Africa. He even adopted a motto of "Christianity, Commerce and Civilisation" which was even engraved on his tomb when he died.

David Livingstone was also a strong believer in the importance of the navigation of the Zambezi River. In order to make this become a reality he returned to the United Kingdom to get support for his plans. During this time he also wrote a best selling book about his African experience. He also resigned from the London Missionary Society.

Finally Dr. David Livingstone found his backing for his Zambezi explorations in the British government. He returned to Africa with a mandate to explore and catalogue the natural resources of southeastern Africa. But much to Livingstone's dismay the Zambezi river was unnavigable the Cabora Bassa rapids. He had not explored this area in his prior trips but to the detriment of his mission he discovered this series of white water rapids and cataracts (see photo to the right) which meant that this great river would not be very useful for the commerce and transportation that he had envisioned and sold the expedition on to his investor.

The expedition lasted from March 1858 until the middle of 1864 and it was not a happy undertaking. Livingstone was an inexperienced leader and had trouble managing a large-scale official project. The well known artist, explorer, prospector and sharp shooter, Thomas Baines was dismissed from the expedition on charges of theft, which he categorically denied. (Baines was well known as an explorer of Australia and Africa himself).

Livingstone's worst tragedy befell him on April 29th, 1863, when his beloved Mary succumbed to dysentery. But after her death David Livingstone pushed on and continued to explore the region for the next year until the British government shut the expedition down.

The Zambezi Expedition was harangued as a colossal failure in the media. David Livingstone suffered a massive loss of face and found it exceptionally difficult to proceed professionally because the bad reputation the expedition earned him made it difficult to raise any more funding in the United Kingdom. The expedition wasn't a total loss though. Much of the scientific data (botanical, zoological, geological and otherwise) that was collected on the trip was very useful and made heroes of the scientists who accompanied on the journey.

In March 1866, Livingstone returned to Africa, this time to Zanzibar (which is currently part of Tanzania), where he set out to seek the source of the Nile. Richard Francis Burton, John Hanning Speke, and Samuel Baker had (although there was still serious debate on the matter) identified either Lake Albert or Lake Victoria as the source (which was partially correct, as the Nile "bubbles from the ground high in the mountains of Burundi halfway between Lake Tanganyika and Lake Victoria" [1]). Finding the Lualaba River, which feeds the Congo River, Livingstone decided that this river was in fact the "real" Nile.

Livingstone was taken ill and completely lost contact with the outside world for six years. Only one of his 44 later dispatches made it to Zanzibar. Henry Morton Stanley, who had been sent in a publicity stunt to find him by the New York Herald newspaper in 1869, found Livingstone in the town of Ujiji, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, in October 1871. Stanley joined Livingstone, and together they continued exploring the north end of the Tanganyika (the other constituent of the present Tanzania), until Stanley left in March the next year.

Stanley did all that he could to get Livingstone to return to Great Britain, but he would have none of it. David Livingstone had his mind set not not to leave Africa until he felt that his mission was complete. But the illness Livingstone suffered from gave him mild dimentia. He was often confused and lacked good judgment. During this time Livingstone accepted help from Arab slave merchants who had the ulterior motive of capturing slaves and they used him to facilitate contact with local people. This went down as another poor mark against Livingstone's reputation even though he was thoroughly against slavery.

On May 1st, 1873, David Livingstone on the southern shores of Lake Bangweulu in what is now known as Zambia. The cause of death was malaria and internal bleeding brought on my dysentery.

In a show of loyalty his assistants, Susi and Chuma, hauled Livingstone's body over one thousand miles. Livingstone's remains were then transported back to the United Kingdom and given a heroes burial in Westminster Abbey.