Did poor Scot David Livingstone think that he would one day be recognized as one of Africa's greatest explorers? Could you imagine that you would receive a Gold Medal from the Royal Geographical Society of London? Did he know that a group of powerful waterfalls on the Congo River would receive an eloquent name - “Livingston Falls”? Most likely no. But the bad traveler is the one who sets out on the road without setting great goals for himself...
Who is Livingston?
The famous traveler, explorer and geographer David Livingstone was born in a small Scottish village in 1813. To enter the university, he had to independently study several languages (Latin and Greek) and mathematics. The life of the future scientist was not easy. To be able to study, he was forced to work a lot and hard.
At the university, the purposeful young man chose a course in theology and medicine. He managed to get his doctorate. After completing his studies, in the status of a missionary (a figure in a religious organization promoting the conversion of non-believers to Christianity), Livingston went to Africa.
For 15 years, Livingston traveled through remote areas of Africa. He studied the geography of the continent and the languages of indigenous peoples, fought against slavery and the slave trade, and created religious missions. He walked more than 50 thousand km across the continent. At the same time, he described many rivers, lakes and waterfalls. One of the waterfalls discovered by Livingston is famous throughout the world - Victoria Falls. And a whole group of waterfalls bears his name.
More information about the group of waterfalls
Livingston Falls are considered the largest in the world in terms of water flow per second. The group includes 32 waterfalls, rapids and rapids on the Congo River. They are located on a section of the river whose length is 350 km. Many waterfalls have their own names.
The section of the river where Livingston Falls is located has several distinctive features. The water flow here passes along a narrow channel, the maximum width of which is 800 m, and the minimum width is 300 m. The depth of the river in the area is about 230 m.
Who gave it the name?
David Livingston was a modest man. He explored the upper reaches of the Congo in detail, but it was not he who gave the name to the waterfall system, but Henry Morgan Stanley. He also explored Africa and during one of the expeditions searched for the missing group of Livingston, who had contracted malaria and was very ill. Stanley, on behalf of the New York Herald newspaper, delivered a cargo of food and medicine to David. However, Livingston refused to return to England with him.
It is worth adding that the Scottish explorer never reached the lower Congo. But Henry Morton Stanley walked through these places personally. Of course, this man was to some extent an adventurer and somewhat embellished his adventures, but he dedicated the Livingston Falls system to a man whom he respected and highly valued as an explorer of Africa.
Features of Victoria Falls
One of the amazing places that Livingston discovered was Victoria Falls. It is rightly called the main attraction of South Africa. The waterfall is located on the Zambezi River. One of its banks belongs to the state of Zambia, the second is located on the territory of Zimbabwe. The waterfall is unique. This is the only place in the world where water falls from a height of more than a hundred meters, in a stream whose width exceeds 1 km.
What else did Livingston notice? A waterfall in Africa, on the banks of which he became the first European, raises such a multitude of sprays that they can be seen from many kilometers away. The splash cloud is decorated with a bright rainbow. Today it is already known that it can rise 300 m above the river. The falling water ends up in a narrow gorge that meanders along a sandy-basalt plateau.
Victoria Falls: joy and disappointment
David Livingston was very careful about the local names of geographical objects. He always tried to preserve them and make them official. But in the case of Victoria Falls, he simply could not resist, and for the only time he deviated from his rules. He was so amazed by the grandeur of the spectacle that he considered it worthy to immortalize the name of Queen Victoria of Great Britain. And the scientist allowed himself a boyish prank. He carved the initials and the year in which he found this place on the tree. The traveler's diaries recorded the majestic discovery on November 17, 1855.
The local population called the waterfall "Mosi-oa-tunya", which can be translated as "Smoke that rumbles." Rumors about the grandiose waterfall reached the researcher for four years. But it was very difficult to believe that such a grandiose place exists in nature.
Victoria Falls was majestic and beautiful, but when the emotions subsided, it caused a feeling of annoyance in the traveler. It was an insurmountable barrier on the way deeper into the continent. Moving across Africa along the Zambezi River, Livingstone considered the discovery of the Batoka Plateau more important. Here the missionary planned to create a settlement that could be reached by a navigable river. But due to the waterfall crossing the river, it was not navigable along its entire length, and the settlement remained only in plans.
Waterfall today
Tourists got the opportunity to see what waterfall Livingstone discovered only in 1905. At that time, the railway to the city of Bulawayo was built. This state of affairs continued until the end of British colonial rule. Today, on the Zimbabwean side, a whole city has been built for tourists - Victoria Falls. The national park of the same name is located here. Constant wars and unrest affect the tourist flow, but even they are not able to stop it completely.
From the Zambian side, the shore of the waterfall is included in the territory of another national park - “Thundering Smoke”. There are also many tourists passing through here. The waterfall is also listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Will the name change?
No matter how strange it may sound, the question is not rhetorical. Despite the fact that David Livingstone did a lot for the dark-skinned African population, defending their right to freedom, not taking into account the fact that he suffered and died in the process of exploring the continent, today there are people who do not agree with the name given to him. The ruling party of Zimbabwe considered the name “Victoria” to be a glorification of colonialism and, by its decision, returned the historical name “Mosi-oa-tunya” to the waterfall. Will this lead to global changes? It’s hard to say, but on local maps the name is gradually changing.
100 great travelers [with illustrations] Muromov Igor
David Livingston (1813–1873)
David Livingston
Scottish explorer of Africa. Having decided to devote himself to missionary work among Africans, he studied theology and medicine. He made a number of long trips around South and Central Africa (since 1840). Explored the Kalahari depression, the Kubango River, the Zambezi River basin, Lake Nyasa, discovered Victoria Falls, Lake Shirva, Bangweulu and the Lualaba River; together with G. Stanley explored Lake Tanganyika.
David Livingston was born on March 19, 1813 in the family of a street tea seller. After graduating from a village school, the boy worked at a weaving factory near Glasgow from the age of ten. With a fourteen-hour working day, David spent his free time studying a Latin textbook, which he purchased with his first salary. In addition, from 20 to 22 hours he studied at evening school.
In his twentieth year, a change occurred in Livingston’s mental life that had an impact on his entire fate. He decided to devote himself to serving God. And after reading the appeal of the missionary Gutzlaff, addressed to the English and American churches regarding the Christian education of China, David had a dream of becoming a missionary.
In 1836 Livingston saved some money to pay for a course of study. In Glasgow, he began attending lectures on medicine, theology and ancient languages. A scholarship from the London Missionary Society gave him the opportunity to continue his education. Deeply religious, like his father, he had long ago decided that he would go as a missionary to China. But the so-called Opium War between Great Britain and China prevented this intention. It was at this time that the young doctor met missionary Robert Moffett, who was working in South Africa. He painted Livingston an attractive picture of the Bechuana (Tswana) country, adding that in those parts there had not yet been a single messenger of the Lord’s faith.
In 1840 Livingstone left for the Cape Colony. During the voyage, the captain of the ship taught him the astronomical determination of the coordinates of various points on the Earth. Livingstone achieved such perfection in this that later the best maps of South Africa were compiled from his topographic surveys.
In July 1841, he reached Moffett's mission in Kuruman, located on the banks of the river of the same name south of the Kalahari Desert, the most remote point of advance of the messengers of the Christian faith. After some time, Livingston realized that Africans had little interest in religious preaching. But the local residents immediately appreciated the medical knowledge of the young missionary, willingly learned to read and write from him, and tried to adopt new farming techniques for them. In the country of the Bechuanas, he learned their language (the Bantu family), and this greatly helped him during his travels, since the Bantu languages are close to each other. He married Mary Moffett, daughter of the first explorer of the vast Kalahari semi-desert; his wife became his faithful assistant. Livingston spent seven years in the country of the Bechuanas. Under the pretext of organizing missionary stations, he made a series of trips, most often in winter.
In 1849, Livingstone, captivated by African stories about the “beautiful and vast” Lake Ngami, together with elephant hunters Oswell and Murray, local guides and a hundred pack animals, was the first European to cross the Kalahari Desert from south to north. He established for the first time the true nature of the landscape of this area, which Europeans considered a desert. “The Kalahari,” wrote Livingston, “is by no means devoid of vegetation and population, since it is covered with grass and numerous creeping plants; In addition, in some places there are bushes and even trees. Its surface is remarkably smooth, although in different places it is cut through by the beds of ancient rivers.”
These areas, monotonous and far from fertile, were inhabited by Bushmen and the so-called Kalahari people - Tswana aliens who penetrated into the desert. The first led a truly nomadic lifestyle, obtaining food by collecting bulbous plants and being content with meager catch from hunting. The latter lived sedentary lives, raised goats, grew melons and pumpkins, and traded in the skins of jackals and other desert animals. Owning livestock was equivalent to wealth. And Livingstone was often asked how many cows Queen Victoria had.
When travelers north of the Kalahari reached the gallery forests that grew along the river banks, Livingstone had the idea to explore all the rivers of South Africa in order to find natural passages into the interior of the country, bring there the ideas of the Gospel and establish an equal trade. Livingstone soon went down in the history of the discovery of Africa as the “Seeker of the River.”
Elevation measurements convinced Livingstone that the Kalahari was bowl-shaped; he was the first to describe its steppe regions. Livingston carried out a study of Lake Ngami, which he discovered, which turned out to be a temporary lake, fed during the rainy season by the waters of the large Okavango River - through the drying branches of its swampy delta.
From Kolobeng, a settlement he founded on the southern edge of the desert, Livingstone again attempted to travel north in 1850 and 1851. But the first attempt ended almost in vain, as members of his family became seriously ill with fever. The second journey led him and Oswell to the Zambezi.
The new route was laid somewhat to the east - through the low Bamangwato ridge and along the northern shore of Zouga. The travelers reached the Chobe (Linyanti) River, the lower reaches of the Kwando, the right tributary of the Zambezi. Livingston and Oswell then headed northeast and at the end of June 1851 “were rewarded by discovering the Zambezi River in the center of the mainland. This was a matter of great importance, because the existence of this river in Central Africa was previously unknown. All Portuguese maps show it rising to the east far from where we were now.”
Despite the dry season, the river reached 300–600 meters in width and was quite deep. Friendly representatives of the Makololo tribe, who accompanied the explorer while crossing the plain, covered with giant termite mounds and overgrown with mimosa thickets, told what the river looks like during the rainy season. Then its level rises by six meters, and the water floods an area 20 English miles wide. Maybe this mighty stream is a tributary of the Nile, or is it carrying its waters towards the Congo? David Livingstone believed that he had found what he dreamed of during a trip to Lake Ngami.
At the end of May 1853, the Englishman arrived in Linyanti, the capital of the Makololo, where he was warmly received by the new leader, Sekeletu.
A month later, Livingstone, in company with Sekeletu, undertook a reconnaissance trip to the country of the Barotse (Lozi) people, located in the Zambezi Valley above the Makololo settlement area. The Liambier River, as the locals called it, turned out to be rapids, but still accessible for sailing on pirogues; The most serious obstacle was the Gonje Falls, which had to be bypassed on dry land. The expedition climbed up the Liambie (Zambezi) to the confluence of its two branches: Kabompo and Liba.
Upon returning to Linyanti, Livingston developed a plan for a new expedition, the decision to organize which was made at a general meeting of the Makololo. Its practical goal was to establish a direct trade connection between the Makololo country and the Atlantic coast, bypassing intermediaries - traveling traders from Angola who bought ivory for next to nothing.
On November 11, 1853, with a force of 160 Makololo in 33 boats, Livingstone began sailing up the Zambezi through a flat, savannah-covered plain, occasionally negotiating rapids. He let most of the people go along the way. The expedition route ran from the southern regions of today's Zambia to Luanda in Angola. The expedition's equipment consisted of only 20 pounds of beads, the necessary scientific instruments, a projector (“magic lantern”), with which Livingston showed the audience pictures from biblical life, and only three guns.
Travelers sailed in boats down the winding Chobe, avoiding rapids and dodging angry hippopotamuses. And encounters with aggressive crocodiles were disturbing. Residents of the surrounding villages hurried to meet the expedition, providing it with meat, milk, and butter. Livingston's sermons were so popular here that, at his request, prisoners of war were released. In early 1854 they reached the Lunda Empire. It was an early feudal formation, headed by a military aristocracy. Livingston discovered clear traces of matriarchy: the leaders here were women.
By February 1854, with a small detachment, Livingston ascended the river to its upper right tributary, Chefumage, and along its valley moved to a barely noticeable watershed, beyond which all the streams flowed not in the south direction, as before, but in the north. (Later it turned out that these were the rivers of the Congo system.)
As far as Lake Dilolo, located on the expedition-discovered watershed between the Congo and Zambezi basins, Livingstone admired the well-cultivated fields and highly developed smelting industry, as well as the extremely hospitable reception he received. On the other side of the lake, the expedition found itself in areas where slave traders had already visited more than once and where they were accustomed to robbing caravans passing by. Here they bargained for every cassava tuber, and the leaders, greedy for enrichment, made unimaginable demands, sometimes threatening violence. Livingston, who did not have any valuable goods with him, showed exceptional courage, which amazed the leaders, and everything was done without the use of weapons.
Continuing to go in the general direction to the west-northwest, Livingston’s small detachment crossed the valleys of the Kasai and other rivers of its system - Chiumbe, Lwashimo, Chikapi, Kwilu. At the beginning of April he crossed the Quango, the largest left tributary of the Kasai, flowing in a very wide and deep valley, and soon reached Kasanje, the easternmost Portuguese settlement in Angola. Having crossed the Tala-Mugongo mountains, which border the Kwango Valley from the west, the expedition entered the Kwanza basin. The further path to the ocean passed through places quite well known to Europeans, however, even here the researcher largely corrected and clarified the existing maps.
Completely exhausted, exhausted by hunger and malaria, the small detachment reached the Atlantic Ocean near Luanda at the end of May 1854. But Livingston is haunted by the idea of penetrating the East Coast. Perhaps the entire length of the Zambezi is navigable in this direction? His intention was supported by both the Portuguese authorities and the clergy, for they were very interested in exploring the areas between Angola and Mozambique.
The return journey to the main Makololo settlement on the Linyanti River, begun in September 1854, took 11 months. On the way, Livingston examined the middle reaches of the Kwanzaa, and then, again crossing the territory of the state of Lunda, collected a lot of information about it and the areas located to the north of it.
In the capital of Makololo, the explorer found all his property safe and sound. The expedition, the purpose of which was to trace the course of the Zambezi to the Indian Ocean, became possible only thanks to the help of Chief Sekeletu. After all, Livingston's salary, as well as a small allowance from the London Geographical Society and goods received in Angola, had long been spent. The leader of an African tribe financed the crossing of the continent by a European. The journey continued in October 1855. Sekeletu personally led an expedition to the majestic 120-meter waterfall on the Zambezi, which the Makololo called “Mozi-oa-tunya” - “Roaring Smoke” (“Here the steam makes noise”).
Livingston was the first European to see it on November 18th. This waterfall, 1.8 kilometers wide, is one of the most powerful in the world. Five huge columns of smoke were already visible from afar. They looked like a fire in the steppe and merged with the clouds. Of course, the scientist understood that this was sprayed water rising up above a stream falling down from a height of about 120 meters. Victoria Falls, named after the English queen, forever remained for Livingston the most wonderful sight in Africa. Today his monument can be seen from the so-called Devil's Falls on the river along which he advanced with such dedication.
In December 1855, the expedition crossed by boat across the large left tributary of the Zambezi, the Kafue, and along it again reached the Zambezi. A further path down the river valley led Livingston to the mouth of its other left tributary, the Lvangwa, beyond which began places that had long been known to the Portuguese.
In March 1856 they reached Tete, the first outpost of European civilization, in the vicinity of which the consequences of the slave trade were clearly felt. The expedition abandoned further exploration of the main channel of the Zambezi, which had already been mapped, and on May 20, 1856, the northern branch reached the Indian Ocean, ending the journey in the seaside town of Quelimane (a port north of the Zambezi). Thus, for the first time a European crossed the African continent.
Returning to his homeland, Livingston in 1857 published a book that deservedly glorified him, “The Travels and Research of a Missionary in South Africa.” The book has been translated into almost all European languages. Livingston made a very important generalizing geographical conclusion: tropical Central Africa south of the parallel “turned out to be an elevated plateau, somewhat lower in the center, and with crevices along the edges along which rivers run down to the sea... The place of the legendary hot zone and burning sands was taken by a well-irrigated area, reminiscent of North America with its freshwater lakes, and with its hot humid valleys, jungles, ghats (highlands) and cool high plateaus of India.”
The Royal Geographical Society surrounded him with honors and awarded him a gold medal, and the publication of travel accounts brought him a fortune. The British bourgeoisie not only showed affection for the missionary, but also provided him with political support. Queen Victoria herself arranged an audience with him. When David Livingstone returned to the Zambezi in May 1858, he was no longer a missionary but a British consul in Mozambique. The government instructed him to explore the interior of the continent, establish contacts with local rulers and persuade them to start growing cotton. Having become consul, Livingston began research work. He set out to prove that Liambie and Zambezi are the same river.
Together with his wife, son and brother Charles, Livingston set off up the river on a small steamer, delivered disassembled to the mouth of the Zambezi from England. This time the expedition was generously financed by the British government. The detachment also included John Kirk - a botanist and doctor, Richard Thornton - a geologist, Thomas Baines - an artist and several other Europeans.
At Tete, Livingstone again met with the Makololo faithful. True, 30 of them died from smallpox during this time, but the rest again set off on the journey with him. The expedition moved up the river with difficulty, but disappointment soon set in. The Kebrabas rapids turned out to be insurmountable, and the ship turned towards the Shire, a northern tributary of the Zambezi. Local residents said that the Shire flows from a huge lake, which even on high-speed boats can be crossed in only a day and a half. But then the path was again blocked by waterfalls. Livingstone named them Murchison Falls in honor of the president of the Geographical Society. He bypassed the obstacle and on April 18, 1859, discovered Lake Shirva, which had no drainage, among the high mountains. Of course, this was not the body of water that he had been told about, but the supplies of provisions came to an end, and the expedition was forced to turn back.
Four months later, Livingston again headed for the upper reaches of the Shire. On September 16, 1859, the expedition reached Lake Nyasa, reaching 500 kilometers in length and more than 50 kilometers in width. Livingston found out that the lake has a depth of more than 200 meters (according to the latest data - up to 706 meters). This was the same lake that Livingstone had been told about on the Zambezi. But this time he was able to see only its southern tip. Unfortunately, the steamer, whose bottom was leaking, was clearly not suitable for sailing on the lake, where storms often occur. Therefore, Livingstone, together with the Makololo, who decided to return home, sailed up the Zambezi.
The British government equipped the steamships Pioneer and Lady Nyasa with the purpose of establishing missionary settlements on the plateaus around Lake Nyasa. On these ships, Livingstone, in March 1861 and then in September 1862, explored the Ruzuma River flowing into the Indian Ocean on the northern border of the colony, since it was assumed that the river had a connection with Lake Nyasa. On the second voyage, Livingston and his companions climbed the Ruvuma about 250 kilometers until the steamer's path was blocked by a rocky threshold.
In September 1861, Livingston again visited Lake Nyasa and walked along the western shore. His brother Charles followed in a boat along the same coast. Based on the results of the survey, Livingston compiled the first relatively accurate map of Nyasa: the reservoir stretched almost 400 kilometers along the meridian (the true length turned out to be much longer - 580 kilometers).
David Livingston began exploring the southern and western shores of Lake Nyasa.
On April 27, 1862, Mary Moffett-Livingston died, suffering from tropical malaria. David's brother Charles, who had previously participated in the expedition, was forced to return due to lingering dysentery. It seems that the “River Seeker” faced failures everywhere. Nevertheless, Livingston continued his journey until the end of 1863 and found out: the steep shores of the lake, which seemed like mountains, were in fact the edges of high plateaus.
Since the Shire was not yet deep enough for the return trip, Livingston decided to use the coming months for a new expedition to the western shore of Lake Nyasa. From there he moved inland, as he heard that there were many lakes from which mighty rivers originated. Indeed, the plateau west of Nyasa turned out to be a watershed. The question of whether the rivers flowing north would lead to the Nile or the Congo remained unanswered. The Foreign Office made it clear that the expedition members would only be paid until the end of 1863. In January 1864, Livingston left Shire on the Pioneer and in April-May, on the assembled Lady Nyasa, crossed from Zanzibar to Bombay.
The geographical results of the expedition were great. Livingston photographed previously untraced sections of the Zambezi and finally proved that this is the same river, which in the upper reaches is known as Liambie. Lake Nyasa and the Shire River, Lake Shirva, and the lower reaches of Ruvuma were mapped with sufficient accuracy.
In 1865, Livingstone published the book Narrative of the Expedition to the Zambezi and Its Tributaries and the Discovery of Lakes Shirwa and Nyasa, 1858–1864. In London they listened with pleasure to his lectures on the intelligence and hard work of Africans. However, he had to find funds for a new expedition himself.
Livingston sold the Lady Nyasa and spent most of his fortune on equipping a new expedition. In January 1866, Livingston again set foot on African soil, however, contrary to his previous habits, he did not make himself known for a whole year, and already in 1867 he was considered missing.
But at that time the scientist, with a large caravan of porters (Indian and Arab merchants contributed their share to the enterprise), had already visited the valley of the Ruvuma River, circled Lake Nyasa from the south and west, then, taking a direction to the northwest, crossed two large rivers: Lwangwu and Chambeshi, separated by the Muchinga mountain range. Locals told him that Chambeshi flowed into a “very large lake.”
On April 1, 1867, he reached the southern coast of Tanganyika (locally called Liemba). The 650-kilometer-long lake with azure-colored water is part of the Central African Volcanic Rift, which includes lakes Nyasa, Kivu, Edward and Mobutu Sese Seko. The expedition reached it in a place where the water surface is surrounded by lush forests, sharply contrasting with gray and red sandstone cliffs. Beyond the lake, extensive “white spots” began to appear on the maps of Africa at that time.
The entire passage from the coast to Tanganyika was full of difficulties and failures. Indian sepoy soldiers refused to go into the uncharted depths of Africa. Some of the porters fled, taking with them various expedition equipment, including a box of medicines, which was a real disaster for the traveler. Livingston was forced to resort to the help of Arab-Swahili traders in slaves and ivory. Livingston had suffered from malaria for many years and by this time had become so weak and emaciated that he had to be carried on a bunk most of the way. Nevertheless, he continued his research.
On November 8, 1867, Livingstone discovered Lake Mweru with many islands, and on July 18, 1868, Lake Bangweulu (Bangweolo) southwest of Tanganyika.
In February 1869, Livingston reached Lake Tanganyika, this time closer to its middle. It took exactly a month to sail by boat, first along the western shore of Tanganyika, and then straight across the lake to Ujiji. There, Livingston was waiting for letters and various supplies sent to him with passing caravans from Zanzibar. True, most of the cargo addressed to him got stuck on the road or was stolen.
In July 1869, he left Ujiji and crossed Tanganyika again. Only at the end of March 1871 did Livingston finally reach Lualaba near the trading village of Nyangwe. “This is a mighty river,” he wrote in his diary, “at least three thousand yards wide and deep throughout. Nowhere and at any time of the year can you ford it... The river flows north here at a speed of about two miles per hour.” On the way to Lualaba, Livingston became familiar with its right tributary, the Lwama; he also learned about the existence of its left tributaries - the Lomami and Lweki, but information about them was too vague.
The abundance of water in Lualaba indisputably proved that Livingston had discovered one of the largest hydrographic arteries in Central America. He did not clearly understand which system - the Nile or the Congo - this large river belonged to, and could not deal with such a complex issue: his health had noticeably worsened. The researcher only established that the mighty stream moves north, but is located at an altitude of about 600 meters. This hypsometric position of Lualaba inclined him to believe that she might “eventually” turn out to be the Congo River. Scientists were not yet sure that Lake Victoria, discovered by John Speke, was really the source of the Nile. But Livingston was still right about something: the Luapula (Lovua) River, which flows near Lake Bangweulu, and Lualaba belong to the upper Congo basin.
Turning back to Tanganyika, Livingston moved by boat from the west coast to the east, to the village of Ujiji, and in October 1871 stopped there for rest and treatment. The mystery of Lualaba remains unresolved.
For several years in Europe and America they did not know where Livingston was or whether he was alive. Several expeditions were sent to search for him. One of them, led by Henry Stanley, found him in Ujiji.
Together with Stanley, the seriously ill Livingston explored the northern corner of Tanganyika at the end of 1871 and became convinced that the lake had no drainage to the north, and therefore was not the source of the Nile, as previously thought. He refused to return to Europe with Stanley because he wanted to complete the study of Lualaba, the thought of which haunted him. Through Stanley, he sent diaries and other materials to London.
In 1873 he again went to Lualaba and on the way stopped at the village of Chitambo, south of Lake Bangweulu. On the morning of May 1, 1873, Livingston's servants found him dead in the hut, on the floor next to his bunk.
Livingston's ashes were taken to London and buried in Westminster Abbey, the tomb of the kings and prominent people of England. His diaries, entitled The Last Voyage of David Livingstone, were published in London in 1874.
From the book Everything about everything. Volume 3 author Likum ArkadyLivingston David (1813 - 1873) Scottish explorer of Africa. Having decided to devote himself to missionary work among Africans, he studied theology and medicine. He made a number of long trips around South and Central Africa (since 1840). Explored the Kalahari basin, river
From the book Award Medal. In 2 volumes. Volume 1 (1701-1917) author Kuznetsov AlexanderWho is David Livingston? David Livingstone was born in 1813 in County Blantare in Scotland. At the age of ten he went to work in a cotton mill and with the first money he earned he bought a primer in Latin. Despite the grueling work, he managed to attend
From the author's book From the author's bookJONATHAN LIVINGSTON The history of the JONATHAN LIVINGSTON group, the period of existence of which almost exactly coincided in terms of the era of the emergence, heyday and subsequent decline of the Leningrad Rock Club, can be safely called typical for the representatives of its first
The Opium War broke out there, and thanks to his acquaintance with the famous Scottish missionary Robert Moffett, David ended up in South Africa on a religious and social mission.
First African expeditions
Returning to Britain in the summer of 1864, Livingstone wrote his second book, The Tale of the Expedition to the Zambezi and Its Tributaries, with his brother Charles. Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambesi and Its Tributaries, ). During his stay at home, he was strongly advised to undergo surgery to combat hemorrhoids, from which he suffered throughout the expedition. Livingston refused; It is likely that severe hemorrhoidal bleeding was the cause of his death during his third and final African journey.
Searching for the sources of the Nile
There was still a vast unexplored territory on the map of Africa, the task of exploring which was faced by Livingston. He returned to Africa on 28 January, after another short visit to Bombay, as British Consul with extensive powers and the support of a large number of public and private institutions. This time he was the only European on the expedition, and the rest of the personnel were recruited from India and among Africans. As before, his goal was to spread Christianity and eliminate the slave trade on the eastern shores of Africa (Livingston began a humanitarian mission even before arriving on the continent: in Zanzibar he personally asked the Sultan to stop the slave trade), but now a third task has appeared: to study the Central African watersheds and find out the real sources of the Nile. Livingstone himself believed that the Nile took its source from the sources of Lualaba.
The expedition left Mikindani on the east coast and headed west, but the hostility of the local Ngoni tribe forced Livingstone to abandon his initial plans to avoid Portuguese-controlled territory and reach the shores of Lake Tanganyika, bypassing Nyasa from the north. Fleeing from the Ngoni, the expedition had to return to the south, and in September some of the porters left it. To avoid punishment for desertion, after returning to Zanzibar they lied that Livingstone had died in a skirmish with the Ngoni. Although the following year it turned out that Livingston was safe and sound, this fiction added drama to the message about the expedition that arrived in Europe.
However, the expedition acquired real drama later, when Livingston, having bypassed Nyasa from the south, went north again. At the beginning, a box with all the medicines was stolen from him, which was a real disaster for the traveler, but Livingston did not stop moving north, continuing to advance deep into Central Africa. All this led Livingstone to the region of the great African lakes, where he discovered two new large lakes - Bangweulu and Mweru. The expedition crossed two large rivers, the Luangwa and the Chambeshi, separated by the Muchinga mountain range, and reached the southern edge of Lake Tanganyika on April 1, 1867. Setting out from here to the southwest, Livingstone discovered Lake Mweru on November 8, 1867, and Lake Bangweulu on July 18. Although the traveler was about to explore Lake Tanganyika, he suddenly fell ill with tropical fever and fell ill. Weary and weakened by malaria, Livingstone was forced to take the help of Arab traders to return to Lake Tanganyika, which he reached in February 1869.
For about a month, the expedition moved around the lake in boats, first along the western shore to the north, and then straight across the lake to Ujiji on the eastern shore. Here Livingstone was awaiting some supplies that had been sent for him in passing caravans from Zanzibar, although most of them were plundered or lost along the way. In July 1869 Livingston left Ujiji and crossed the lake again. Due to the traveler's poor health and the distrust of the local population, angry at the raids of slave traders, this part of the journey was extremely drawn out, and only on March 29 Livingston reached the Lualaba tributary of the Congo near Nyangwe - the extreme northwestern point of his African wanderings. No European had ever gone this far west in these parts.
Livingstone still did not know which African river basin - the Congo or the Nile - Lualaba belonged to, and was unable to deal with this complex issue as his health continued to deteriorate. In addition, the expedition was sabotaged by slave traders. As a result, Livingston could not find boats to travel along the river, and travel by land was only possible by joining a detachment of slave traders, which the missionary would never agree to. Livingston only established that the Lualaba flows to the north and is located in this place at an altitude of about 600 m above sea level, i.e. could theoretically belong to both the Congo and Nile basins. The fact that the river flows into the Congo was discovered after Livingstone's death by Henry Morton Stanley.
Livingston and Stanley
The cities of Livingstonia in Malawi and Livingston (Maramba) in Zambia, as well as waterfalls in the lower Congo and mountains on the north-eastern shore of the lake are named in honor of David Livingstone
David Livingstone is a Scottish missionary who devoted his life to the study of Africa. He went down in history as a man who filled in many blank spots on the map of this continent, and as a tireless fighter against the slave trade, who enjoyed great love and respect from the local population. Livingston received missionary status in November 1840, and in the spring of 1841 he was in Africa for the first time. In 1849, he was the first European to cross the Kalahari Desert and discover Lake Ngami on the edge of the Okavango Swamps.
In June 1851, having passed northeast from the Okavango Swamp, Livingstone first reached the Linyanti River (the lower reaches of the Kwando, the largest right tributary of the Zambezi) and in the village of Sesheke he met the ruler of the Makololo (Kololo) people, Sebetwane. Soon after their meeting, Chief Sebetwane died, handing over power to his son Sekelet, who also became a friend of the Scottish missionary. Livingston considered the Makololo to be extremely suitable for missionary work and the adoption of Christianity.
In November 1853, with a force of 160 Makololo natives in 33 boats, Livingstone began sailing up the Zambezi through the flat, savanna-covered plain. His goal was to find routes from the Kololo lands to the Atlantic coast, from where it would be more convenient to trade with the outside world and fight the slave trade, and the route would be more convenient than the southern route through the territory of the Boers and the Kalahari. Accompanied by a group of Makololo, Livingstone first went down the Kwando River in boats to its confluence with the Zambezi, after which the expedition set off upstream to the upper reaches of the river. After a month, the boats had to be abandoned, as numerous rapids and the onset of the rainy season made movement along the river too dangerous.
By February 1854, Livingston, with a small detachment (he released most of the people along the road), reached the small left tributary of the Zambezi - Chefumage. Along its valley the detachment moved to a barely noticeable watershed at 11 ° S. sh., behind which all the streams flowed not in the southern direction, as before, but in the northern direction. It later turned out that these were the rivers of the Congo system.
On March 31, 1854, the traveler reached the Portuguese colony - the city of Luanda on the Atlantic coast. On September 20 he set out with his Makololo companions back to Linyanti, where they did not arrive until September 11, 1855.
2 Discovery of Victoria
David Livingston decided to try to find a more convenient road to the ocean - to the east. On November 3, 1855, a large detachment led by a missionary set off. Further travel down the Zambezi was made possible thanks to the support of the Makololo leader Sekeletu. He provided the expedition with porters, pack donkeys and provisions, provided it with a supply of glass beads and iron products that could be used as a means of payment, and also allocated a large quantity of ivory for trade. Sekeletu personally accompanied the expedition to the most outstanding, in his opinion, geographical feature.
Two weeks later, Livingstone and his companions landed on the banks of the Zambezi River next to a grandiose waterfall up to 1800 m wide and up to 120 m high, which the Africans called “Mosi wa Tunya” (Roaring Smoke). Livingston, who was the first European to see it, named this waterfall after the English Queen Victoria.
Livingstone was accompanied directly to the falls by two aborigines - Takeleng and Tuba Makoro. They swam from the upper tail to the island of Kazeruku (now Livingston Island), located at the very crest of the waterfall, and the traveler was able to look into the boiling abyss and survey almost the entire system. “Crawling with fear to the cliff, I looked down into the huge crack that stretched from bank to bank of the wide Zambezi, and saw how a stream thousands of yards wide plunged down a hundred feet and then suddenly contracted into a space of fifteen to twenty yards... I was witness the most wonderful spectacle in Africa!” wrote Livingston.
Victoria Falls is a completely extraordinary natural phenomenon. In the distant past, the deep tectonic forces of the Earth split the strongest rock - basalt - into blocks, and a crack 100-120 m wide from one bank to the other, 120 m deep, formed across the Zambezi channel. The waters of the Zambezi, squeezed by a narrow gorge, boil, seethe, foam, go on a rampage with a wild roar. “The entire mass of water pouring over the edge of the waterfall, three meters below, turns into a semblance of a monstrous curtain of snow driven by a blizzard. Water particles are separated from it in the form of comets with flowing tails, until this entire snow avalanche turns into myriads of small comets rushing in one direction, and each of them leaves behind its core a tail of white foam,” Livingston described what he saw.
In 1857, David Livingstone wrote: “No one can imagine the beauty of the spectacle compared with anything seen in England. The eyes of a European had never seen such a thing before, but such a beautiful sight must have been admired by angels in their flight!”
3 The path to the mouth of the Zambezi
Below the falls, the Zambezi flows through a series of narrow, precipitous gorges. To bypass this difficult section, the expedition deviated to the north and along the Batoka plateau reached the Kafue tributary of the Zambezi. Descending along the Kafue again to the Zambezi, the expedition reached another significant left tributary of the Luangwa, beyond which began the lands known to the Portuguese. Abandoning the study of the lower Zambezi, which had long been mapped, Livingston followed the northern branch of the river to the ocean port of Quelimane. On May 20, 1856, Livingstone reached the mouth of the Zambezi. Thus he completed a grandiose journey - he crossed the African continent from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean.
David Livingston is a famous Scottish explorer of the African continent, missionary, and great traveler.
Livingston's biography
David Livingston was born into the family of a street tea seller on March 19, 1813. At the age of 10, he worked 12 hours a day at a weaving factory. After work, he had time to study Latin while studying at night school. At 16, I freely read the poetry of Horace and Virgil. At the same time, I became interested in descriptions of various travels.
At the age of 20, Livingston’s mental life changed dramatically. He decided to become a missionary, dedicating his life to serving God. At first he attended lectures on theology, medicine, and ancient languages in Glasgow. Then, thanks to a scholarship from the London Missionary Society, he continued his education.
Having met the missionary Robert Moffett, who was working in South Africa at the time, Livingston was imbued with a desire to become a messenger of the Lord's faith in African villages. By mid-summer 1841 he arrived at Moffett's mission at Kuruman, the most remote point for the advancement of the Christian faith. Realizing that local residents had little interest in religious sermons, he began to teach them literacy, new methods of agricultural work, and provided them with medical care.
Livingston himself learned the language of the Bechuanas (Bantu family), which later became very useful to him in his travels around Africa. He was interested in the laws, life, and thinking of the natives. He maintained friendly relations with many of them, worked and hunted together. There is a known case when, during a lion hunt, a wounded animal attacked Livingston. As a result, he suffered a serious fracture that did not heal properly.
Having married Mary Moffett in 1844, he received in her a faithful assistant and companion in his travels. The birth of four children did not prevent this. The first son, Robert, was born.
Livingston's Travels
Livingston lived for seven years in the country of the Bechuanas, during which time he made several trips that led him to a number of geographical discoveries. The biography of David Livingston can be called a series of difficult and dangerous journeys. A passion for learning something new and unknown drew him to new travels, which he made in 1851-1856 along the Zambezi River.
At home in 1856-1857 he prepared and published a book entitled Travels and Explorations of a Missionary in South Africa. For his outstanding services he was awarded a medal of the Royal Geographical Society and in 1858 he was appointed consul in Quelimane.
The next journey took place along the Shire, Zambezi, Ruvuma rivers, lakes Nyasa and Chilwa, as a result of which a book was published in 1865. The restless explorer led several more expeditions in 1866, discovering several African lakes and attempting to find the sources of the Nile.
For a long time there was no news from the traveler, so an expedition headed by the American journalist and explorer G. Stanley set out to search for him. He found Livingstone lying in a fever in the village of Ujiji, located on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. It was November 3, 1871. However, the researcher refused to return to Europe.
A little later, Livingston made another attempt to find the sources of the Nile, which ended in serious illness and death on May 1, 1873. From the village of Chitambo on the shores of Lake Bangweulu, servants carried the body of the traveler for 9 months to the coastal city of Bagamoyo. And from there he was taken to London and buried in Westminster Abbey. Thus ended the earthly biography of David Livingston.
Discoveries and achievements of the great explorer of Africa
Livingston was motivated by many reasons that forced him to travel. This is a desire to explore new unknown lands, a desire to engage in missionary activity, and a passion for knowledge.
What did David Livingston reveal to humanity? In 1849 he became the first European to cross the Kalahari Desert from the southern to the northern part. He was inspired to take this journey by the stories of the aborigines about the beautiful Lake Ngami.
The researcher made many discoveries. Thus, he established the true nature of the Kalahari landscape and described the population of the area, which consisted of nomadic Bushmen and sedentary Tswana newcomers (“Kalahari people”). To the north of the desert, Livingston's expedition found itself in gallery forests growing along the banks of rivers. That’s when the researcher came up with the idea of studying all South African rivers. Subsequently, he entered the geography of discoveries as a “seeker of the river.”
The first geographical discovery David Livingstone became Lake Ngami. This happened on August 1, 1849. Later he would find other African lakes: Nyasa, Shirva, Bangwelu, Mveru, Dilolo.
The greatest discovery David Livingstone was inspired by the discovery in 1855 of a huge waterfall on the Zambezi River, which the traveler named after the English Queen Victoria.
It was he who came up with the theory about the amazing relief of Africa, similar to a saucer, the edges of which are raised by the shores towards the ocean. The achievements of researcher David Livingston have truly become a great asset to all mankind.
