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David Livingstone

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: British History
1750-1900; Geographers and explorers

             Livingstone
       missionary and explorer
   Born 19 March 1813
        Blantyre, Scotland
   Died 1 May 1873
        near Lake Bangweulu, Zambia

   David Livingstone ( 19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish medical
   missionary and explorer in central Africa. He was the first European to
   see Victoria Falls, which he named. He is perhaps best remembered
   because of his meeting with Henry Morton Stanley, which gave rise to
   the popular quotation, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"

Early life

   David Livingstone was born on March 19, 1813 in the village of
   Blantyre, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, into a family believed to be
   descended from the highland Livingstones, a clan that had been
   previously known as the Clan MacLea. He first studied Greek, medicine,
   and theology at the University of Glasgow and while working in London,
   he emulated the example of another Scot, Robert Moffat, and joined the
   London Missionary Society, becoming a minister.

   Livingstone originally planned to gain access to China through his
   medical knowledge (healing arts). The Opium Wars, which were raging at
   this stage with no signs of peace on the horizon, forced Livingstone to
   consider other options. Moffat seemed to have found an "inviting field"
   in Africa and Livingstone turned his thoughts there.

   From 1840 he worked in Bechuanaland (now Botswana), but was unable to
   make inroads into South Africa because of Boer opposition.

   He married Mary Moffat, daughter of Robert Moffat, in 1845, and she
   travelled with him for a brief time at his insistence, despite her
   pregnancy and the protests of the Moffats. She later returned to
   England with their children.
   David Livingstone
   Enlarge
   David Livingstone

   In the period 1852– 56, he explored the African interior, and was the
   first European to see the Mosi-oa-Tunya ("the smoke that thunders")
   waterfall (which he renamed Victoria Falls after his monarch, Queen
   Victoria). Livingstone was one of the first Westerners to make a
   transcontinental journey across Africa. The purpose of his journey was
   to open the routes, while accumulating useful information about the
   African continent. In particular, Livingstone was a proponent of trade
   and Christian missions to be established in central Africa. His motto,
   inscribed in the base of the statue to him at Victoria Falls, was
   "Christianity, Commerce and Civilisation." At this time he believed the
   key to achieving these goals was the navigation of the Zambezi River.
   He returned to Britain to try to garner support for his ideas, and to
   publish a book on his travels. At this time he resigned from the London
   Missionary Society, to which he had belonged.

Zambezi expedition

   Livingstone returned to Africa as head of the " Zambezi Expedition",
   which was a British government-funded project to examine the natural
   resources of southeastern Africa. The Zambezi river turned out to be
   completely unnavigable past the Cabora Bassa rapids, a series of
   cataracts and rapids that Livingstone had failed to explore on his
   earlier travels.

   The expedition lasted from March 1858 until the middle of 1864.
   Livingstone was an inexperienced leader and had trouble managing a
   large-scale project. The artist Thomas Baines was dismissed from the
   expedition on charges (which he vigorously denied) of theft.
   Livingstone's wife Mary died on 29 April 1863 of malaria, but
   Livingstone continued to explore, eventually returning home in 1864
   after the government ordered the recall of the Expedition. The Zambezi
   Expedition was castigated as a failure in many newspapers of the time,
   and Livingstone experienced great difficulty in raising funds further
   to explore Africa. Nevertheless, the scientists appointed to work under
   Livingstone, John Kirk, Charles Meller, and Richard Thornton did
   contribute large collections of botanic, ecological, geological and
   ethnographic material to scientific institutions in the UK.

Illness, pain and death

   Henry Morton Stanley meets David Livingstone
   Enlarge
   Henry Morton Stanley meets David Livingstone
   David Livingstone memorial at Victoria Falls
   Enlarge
   David Livingstone memorial at Victoria Falls

   Livingstone was taken ill and completely lost contact with the outside
   world for six years. Only one of his 44 letter 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.

   Despite Stanley's urgings, Livingstone was determined not to leave
   Africa until his mission was complete. His illness made him confused
   and he had judgment difficulties at the end of his life. He accepted
   help from Arab slave merchants, looking to capture slaves. They used
   him to facilitate contact with local people. He died there, in Chief
   Cazembe's village on the southern shores of Lake Bangweulu (now in
   Zambia), on 1 May 1873 from malaria and internal bleeding caused by
   dysentery. Livingstone's heart was buried under a Mvula tree near the
   spot where he died. His body, carried over a thousand miles by his
   loyal attendants Chuma and Susi, was returned to Britain for burial in
   Westminster Abbey.

1939 Film

   In 1939, a popular film called Stanley and Livingstone was released,
   with Cedric Hardwicke as Livingstone and Spencer Tracy as Stanley.

Legacy

   The city of Livingstone, Zambia and the town of Livingstonia, Malawi
   are named after him, as is Livingstone Falls on the Congo River. The
   city of Blantyre, Malawi is named for Livingstone's birthplace in
   Scotland.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Livingstone"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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