Commissioned during Britain's golden age for expeditions to chart the Zambesi river for minerals and trade, David Livingstone left England in 1858 for what is today Zimbabwe and discovered an area whose sharp contrast between misery and natural beauty bewitched him. Outraged by the racial injustice he found during the eight-year expedition, Livingstone wrote this gripping account in a refreshingly contemporary style. Worthy of the best writers of the time, the book was an instant success and turned him into one of Britain's most famous public persona.
Livingstone was a Scottish missionary and one of the greatest European explorers of Africa, whose opening up the interior of the continent contributed to the 'Scramble for Africa'.
David Livingstone was born at Blantyre. At 10 he began working in the local cotton mill, with school lessons in the evenings. In 1836, he began studying medicine and theology in Glasgow and decided to become a missionary doctor. In 1841, he was posted to the edge of the Kalahari Desert in southern Africa.
Perhaps one of the most popular national heroes of the late 19th century in Victorian Britain, Livingstone had a mythic status: that of Protestant missionary martyr, that of working-class "rags to riches" inspirational story, that of scientific investigator and explorer, that of imperial reformer, and anti-slavery crusader.
Livingstone became convinced of his mission to reach new peoples in the interior of Africa and introduce them to Christianity, as well as freeing them from slavery. It was this which inspired his explorations.
He died on 1 May 1873. His body was taken back to England and buried in Westminster Abbey.
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