Scottish Explorer David Livingstone

Dr. David Livingstone (1813-1873) was one of the greatest explorers of the African continent, along the way pioneering the abolition of the slave trade. When no one had heard from him for several years while he was exploring the interior of the continent in the 1860s, his long absence became a matter of international concern, and the New York Herald sent explorer Henry M. Stanley to find him in 1869. Stanley finally found Livingstone in November 1871 in a small town on Lake Tanganyika. He greeted Livingstone with the famous words, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume."

Few Europeans have contributed as much to the exploration of Africa as the gentle Scottish missionary named David Livingstone.

Livingstone was a curious combination of missionary, doctor, explorer, scientist and anti-slavery activist. He spent 30 years in Africa, exploring almost a third of the continent, from its southern tip almost to the equator. He was the first white man to see Victoria Falls and though he never discovered the source of the Nile, one of his goals, he eliminated some possibilities and thereby helped direct the efforts of others.

In 1865, at age 52, Livingstone set out on his last and most famous journey. He soon lost his medicine, animals and porters, but struggled on almost alone.

At a village on the Lualaba River he witnessed the slaughter of villagers by slave traders. The letter he sent home describing the event so infuriated the public that the English government pressured the Sultan of Zanzibar to stop the slave trade. The pressure was only partially successful.

On Nov. 10, 1871 in the village of Ujiji, on the east side of Lake Tanganyika, Livingstone encountered Henry Stanley, who had been sent by the New York Herald Tribune newspaper to find and help him.

With Stanley's supplies Livingstone continued his explorations, but he was weak, worn out and suffering from dysentery. Then, on the morning of April 30, 1872, his two African assistants found him kneeling at his bedside, dead. They dried his body and carried it and his papers on a dangerous 11-month journey to Zanzibar, a trip of 1,000 miles. From there his body was taken to England.

Blantyre is on Junction of A724 & A725