David Livingstone was born on
March 13, 1813 in Blantyre, Scotland, near Glasgow. He
became a doctor and a missionary, and devoted much of his
life to exploring Africa. He helped Europeans learn a lot
about the continent of Africa.
Livingstone was one of the first
Europeans to explore the central and southern parts of
Africa. He first went to Africa as a Christian missionary
in 1841, when he was 27 years old. He decided that the
best way to teach Africans about Christ was to move about
and see as many people as he could. That is how he became
an African explorer.
He married Mary Moffat in 1845 and
she (and later their children) came along with
Livingstone on his early explorations. In 1849, he led a
group of Europeans across the Kalahari Desert and
discovered Lake Ngami. Two years later, he again
travelled through the Kalahari with his
family.
He continued crossing the continent
of Africa during three different time periods: 1852-56,
1858-64, and 1866-73. In 1856, he travelled on the
Zambezi River, and became the first European to see the
spectacular Victoria Falls. He also became the first
European to cross the entire width of southern Africa.
These accomplishments made him very
famous in England. He wrote a book about his experiences
in Africa and traveled around England giving speeches in
1856 and 1857. Livingstone went back to Africa in 1858
and is credited with the discovery of Lake Nyasa in 1858,
the Chilwa River in 1859, and more of the Nile
River.
In 1866 David Livingstone went on
an expedition to discover more of the Nile River. While
on this expedition he was lost and no one heard from him.
In 1871, a New York reporter, Henry Morton Stanley, led
an expedition to find him. When they found him, Stanley
said those famous words, "Dr. Livingstone, I
presume."
In May, 1873 after Stanley left
Livingstone to learn the customs of an Indian tribe,
Livingstone was found on his knees, dead in prayer. His
body, along with his personal items and papers, were sent
back to England. This journey took almost a full year. He
was buried in Westminster Abbey in London in April,
1874.
As part of his travels, David
Livingstone learned more about African customs,
geography, and the slave trade than any other European.
David Livingstone's expeditions helped the world learn
about the continent of Africa.
