Life and African Exploration of David Livingstone

by David Livingstone

During his travels as a missionary, David Livingstone beheld many previously unknown wonders of the African interior. He put Victoria Falls and Lake Ngami on the map, and was the first white man to cross the African continent. Diaries, reports and letters are combined to create a wonderful narration of Livingstone's travels in a widely unknown continent. Included in this harrowing tale is Livingstone's narrow escape from a lion's wrath, his negotiations with an African chief, and his account of the Portuguese slave traders brutally punishing slaves after their attempt to escape. The Life and African Explorations of Livingstone also reveals Livingstone's deeply-rooted Christian beliefs and the strength he took from them, strength that allowed him to live and thrive amid the hardships of equatorial Africa.

Genres: Biography, History, Africa, Memoir, Nonfiction

656 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2002

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

David Livingstone was a Scottish physician, Congregationalist, and pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, an explorer in Africa, and one of the most popular British heroes of the late 19th-century Victorian era. He had a mythical status that operated on a number of interconnected levels: Protestant missionary martyr, working-class "rags-to-riches" inspirational story, scientific investigator and explorer, imperial reformer, anti-slavery crusader, and advocate of commercial and colonial expansion.

His fame as an explorer and his obsession with learning the sources of the Nile River was founded on the belief that if he could solve that age-old mystery, his fame would give him the influence to end the East African Arab-Swahili slave trade. "The Nile sources," he told a friend, "are valuable only as a means of opening my mouth with power among men. It is this power which I hope to remedy an immense evil." His subsequent exploration of the central African watershed was the culmination of the classic period of European geographical discovery and colonial penetration of Africa. At the same time, his missionary travels, "disappearance", and eventual death in Africa‍—‌and subsequent glorification as a posthumous national hero in 1874‍—‌led to the founding of several major central African Christian missionary initiatives carried forward in the era of the European "Scramble for Africa".

His meeting with Henry Morton Stanley on 10 November 1871 gave rise to the popular quotation "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"

Reviews

[Hanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

That was just a tad (or several hundred pages worth) too much nonfiction for me. The most interesting parts--and they were fairly interesting--were Dr. Livingstone's diary entries and the account his the journey after his death. Somewhat depressing, but certainly more interesting than the endless descriptions of the animals, rivers, and various other facts about Africa. I guess geography isn't for me.

I did like reading about Dr. Livingstone's faith throughout the book. It was obviously central to his life, and it was nice to see how it shaped his interactions with the African natives. I would have liked if that part of his life was included in "The Life and African Explorations of David Livingstone."

[Jimmy Raymond · Rating 3 out of 5]

If geology and exploration of ancient African lakes, rivers, the birds and animals on the Africa continent is your interest, then this would be interesting a book to read.

[Jungsook Chung · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mark Link S.J. in his book, ‘Mission,’ said that Robert Moffat’s talk inspired Dr. David Livingstone to become a doctor and missionary. When I found out that Dr. Livingstone became Moffat’s son-in-law, I wanted to find out all about that. There might be so many books about Dr. Livingtone but unfortunately, this is not the book that carried the information I expected to find out in the book.

If you look up to David Livingstone in Wikipedia, he is described with colorful details, but I found it difficult to find any of his outstanding contributions to Africans in ‘The Life and African Exploration of David Livingstone.’ I am not good at geography. This book was filled with too many unfamiliar places where Livingstone traveled to find the streams and the origin of the Nile. And I was so disgusted by the African culture, customs, and characteristics. This book is not easy to read except for the beginning part. I skipped and scanned many times. After reading Livingstone’s death, the book continued for some hundred pages based on other documents. There are too many tedious details such as the description of how Dr. Livingstone’s corpse was prepared not to be decayed and carried from Africa to England which you do not want to know. Shortly I wanted to find out about his missionary work or helping Africans as a physician somewhat like Dr. Schweitzer but it is far from it. It is my fault as well since the book title does not imply that.

[Adam Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are lots of books on Livingstone and this is not the one I read, but his story is an amazing one of personal sacrifice for Kingdom impact. Check out Ravi Zacharias' 8 minute clip on Livingstone's life on You Tube if you want a quick overview. Inspiring.

[Tamara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good source for academic research in the subject of European presence in Africa during the XIXth century(which was catastrophic for the continent) and the experiences and actions of the 'explorers'.