David Livingstone

By: Jamie Valvano

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    David Livingstone was born on March 19, 1813, near Glasgow, Scotland, and died on May 1, 1873. David was a Scottish Congregationalist as well as a medical missionary. He was an explorer of Central Africa and became famous when he was the first European to see Victoria Falls, which he then renamed after his monarch, Queen Victoria.

    His reason for going was to open the routes through Africa, and return with useful information about the continent. When David returned to Britain not only did he write a book about his travels but he also resigned from the London Missionary Society. Livingstone also returned to try to get support for his ideas that Commerce, Civilization, and Christianity could be done with the navigation of the Zambezi River. He led the expedition which lasted from March 1858 until the middle of 1864. The expedition was cancelled by the government.

    Livingstone became ill and no one heard from him for six years, until he was found by Henry Morton Stanley. David refused to leave Africa, and eventually died on May 1, 1873 from malaria on the southern shores of Lake Bangweulu. His body was carried thousand of miles to be buried in Westminster Abbey.