Livingstone

We visited the David Livingstone Centre in Blantyre today

David Livingstone was a Scottish missionary, abolitionist and physician known for his explorations of Africa, having crossed the continent during the mid-19th century.


David Livingstone pursued training in medicine and missionary work before moving to Africa in 1841. He crossed the continent from east to west and would ultimately come across many bodies of water previously uncharted by Europeans, including the Zambezi River and Victoria Falls. He was a staunch abolitionist after witnessing the horrors of the African slave trade, and returned to the region twice after his initial voyage. He died on May 1, 1873, in Chief Chitambo's Village, near Lake Bangweulu, North Rhodesia (now Zambia).


David Livingstone was born on March 19, 1813, in Blantyre, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, and grew up with several siblings in a single tenement room. He started working at a cotton mill company as a child and would follow his long work schedule with schooling during evenings and weekends. He eventually studied medicine in Glasgow before going on to train with the London Missionary Society for a year. He completed his medical studies at various institutions in 1840 in London, England.


In the official role of a "medical missionary," he set forth to Africa, arriving in Cape Town, South Africa in March of 1841. A few years later, he married Mary Moffat; the couple would have several children.


Livingstone eventually made his way north and set out to trek across the Kalahari Desert. In 1849, he came upon Lake Ngami and, in 1851, the Zambezi River. Over the years, Livingstone continued his explorations, reaching the western coastal region of Luanda in 1853. In 1855, he came across another famous body of water, the Zambezi falls, called by native populations "Smoke That Thunders" and which Livingstone dubbed Victoria Falls, after Queen Victoria.

He is buried in Westminster Abbey; but they left his heart in Africa.....and planted a tree over it.

Thanks so much for the stars and hearts which have put this collage briefly into  the Popular pages.......