Livingston what he discovered. David Livingston: biography, travels and discoveries

16.10.2020

Message quote David Livingstone - tireless Englishman, African traveler

Africa! The dark continent, on the geography of which the Creator took special pains! Here are the greatest deserts, and highest mountains, covered with glaciers, and the famous Rift Valley, which split Africa from the Red Sea to Mozambique, and the craters of volcanoes, unlike their counterparts in other parts of the world, filled to the brim not with the ashes of past terrifying deeds, but with lush jungles, and finally the ancient Nile, carrying its waters from the great freshwater Lake Victoria to Mediterranean Sea today as well as in the time of Pharaoh Ramses... Every country in Africa has some kind of miracle of nature!

How many people can you name who “made themselves”? Well, Lomonosov, that’s understandable... And what else? Are you at a loss? I want to tell you about famous traveler David Livingstone, tireless explorer of Africa.

The story of his life is very well known - a century and a half is not such a long time for its contours to blur. The canonical embodiment of the Victorian spirit, which is Dr. David, is still easily absorbed in our consciousness, and we do not often think how strange this lanky figure must have seemed to the inhabitants of Kuruman, Mabotse, Kolobeng, Linyanti - his missionary outposts in Africa. He did not become a “European African”: his legendary adherence to the archetypal suit of an impeccable gentleman, even in situations where it could not be called appropriate, is by no means an eccentricity, but a natural personality trait. But still, changes were happening latently. A young man possessed of good intentions came from England to Africa. In Africa he became a figure of the era, a symbol and driving force of dialogue - in all its forms. Kind and arrogant, truly useful and, to tell the truth, destructive, everything in which the European was really ahead of his Negro contemporary, and everything that seemed superior - everything was contained in the figure of Livingston.

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.
"I will discover Africa or die."
(Lingvinston)

Livingston David
(March 19, 1813 – May 1, 1873)
Livingston devoted most of his life to Africa, traveling mainly on foot over 50 thousand km. He was the first to decisively speak out in defense of the black population of Africa.
British physician, missionary, eminent African explorer
He explored the lands of Southern and Central Africa, including the Zambezi River basin and Lake Nyasa, discovered Victoria Falls, lakes Shirva and Bangweulu, and the Lualaba River. Together with Henry, Stanley explored Lake Tanganyika. During his travels, Livingston determined the position of more than 1000 points; He was the first to point out the main features of the relief of South Africa, studied the Zambezi River system, and initiated the scientific study of the large lakes Nyasa and Tanganyika.
The cities of Livingstonia in Malawi and Livingston (Maramba) in Zambia, as well as waterfalls in the lower reaches of the Congo and mountains in the north are named after him. east coast Lake Nyasa. Blantyre, Malawi's largest city with a population of over 600,000 people, was named after hometown Livingston.

Life story

David Livingstone was born into a very poor Scottish family and, at the age of ten, experienced much of what befell Oliver Twist and other children in Dickens's books. But even grueling work in a textile factory for 14 hours a day could not prevent David from attending college.

Having received medical and theological education, Livingston entered the service of the London Missionary Society, whose leadership sent him as a doctor and missionary to South Africa. Since 1841, Livingstone lived at a mission in the mountainous region of Kuruman among the Bechuanas. He quickly learned their language, which belongs to the Bantu language family. This was very useful to him later during his travels, since all Bantu languages are similar to each other, and Livingston could easily do without a translator.
In 1843, nearby, in the Mabotse Valley, Livingston, together with native assistants, built a hut for a mission station. During a hunt for lions, which often devastated the area around the village, Livingstone was attacked by a wounded animal. Due to an improperly healed fracture, Livingston had difficulty shooting and swimming for the rest of his life. It was by the crushed shoulder joint that Livingston’s body was identified and brought to England.

Livingston's traveling companion and assistant in his work was his wife Mary, the daughter of a local missionary and explorer of South Africa, Robert Moffett. The Livingston couple spent 7 years in the country of the Bechuanas. During his travels, David combined his work as a missionary with the study of nature in the northern regions of the Bechuana land. Listening carefully to the stories of the native inhabitants, Livingston became interested in Lake Ngami. To see it, in 1849 he crossed the Kalahari Desert from south to north and described it as a very flat surface, cut by dry river beds and not as deserted as was commonly believed. Semi-desert is a more appropriate description for the Kalahari.
In August of the same year, Livingstone explored Lake Ngami.

It turned out that this reservoir is a temporary lake, filled with water during the rainy season big river Okavango. In June 1851, Livingstone traveled northeast from the Okavango Swamp through tsetse fly-infested territory and for the first time reached the Linyanti River, the lower reaches of the Kwando, a right tributary of the Zambezi. In the large village of Sesheke, he managed to establish good relations with the leader of the powerful Makololo tribe and receive help and support from him.

In November 1853, Livingstone began a boat trip along the Zambezi. A flotilla of 33 boats, on which 160 blacks of the Makololo tribe were located, moved up the rapids river through a vast plain - a typical savannah of South Africa. As the rapids were overcome, Livingston sent black sailors and warriors home. By February 1854, when very few people remained, the expedition ascended the river to the upper right tributary of Chefumage. Walking along its valley to the watershed, Livingston saw that behind it all the streams flowed in a northerly direction. These rivers turned out to be part of the Congo system. Turning west, the expedition reached the Atlantic Ocean near Luanda.

Having traced short river Bengo to its upper reaches, in October 1855, Livingston walked to the upper section of the Zambezi and began rafting down the river. After passing Sesheke, he discovered a majestic waterfall 1.8 km wide.
When local natives took him to the waterfall and showed him 546 million liters of water, which every minute crashes into a 100-meter abyss, David Livingston was so shocked by what he saw that he immediately christened it after Queen Victoria.
In 1857, David Livingstone wrote that in England no one could even imagine the beauty of this spectacle: “No one can imagine the beauty of the spectacle in comparison with anything seen in England. The eyes of a European had never seen such a thing before, but the angels must have admired such a beautiful sight in their flight!”

“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 in a space of fifteen to twenty yards... I was witness the most wonderful spectacle in Africa!”

Statue of David Livingstone on the Zambian side of Victoria Falls

This waterfall, named Victoria in honor of the queen, is now known as one of the most powerful in the world. Here the waters of the Zambezi rush down from a ledge 120 m high and flow like a stormy stream into a narrow and deep gorge.

The falls, named Livingston Victoria in honor of the British queen, are a stunning sight: gigantic masses of water fall into a narrow gap in the basalt rocks. Breaking into myriads of spray, they form thick white clouds, illuminated by rainbows and producing an incredible roar.

A continuous veil of refreshing spray, an iridescent rainbow, a tropical forest, constantly shrouded in a ghostly haze of fog. Delight and boundless surprise cover anyone who happens to see this miracle. Below the waterfall, the Zambezi flows through a narrow gorge with rocky banks.

view of the Zambezi River
Gradually going down the river through mountainous country with many rapids and waterfalls, on May 20, 1856, Livingston reached the Indian Ocean near the port of Quelimane. Thus the crossing of the African continent was completed.

In 1857, having returned to his homeland, Livingston published the book “Travel and Research of a Missionary in South Africa,” which in a short time was published in all European languages and made the author famous. Geographical science has expanded important information: tropical Central Africa south of the 8th parallel “turned out to be an elevated plateau, slightly 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 its freshwater lakes North America, and with its hot, humid valleys, jungles, ghats (highlands) and cool high plateaus, India.”

Wild Africa discovered by an English explorer
Over the decade and a half he lived in South Africa, Livingston fell in love with local residents and became friends with them. He treated his guides, porters, and rowers as equals, and was frank and friendly with them. The Africans responded to him in full reciprocity. Livingston hated slavery and believed that the peoples of Africa could achieve liberation and independence. The English authorities took advantage of the high reputation of the traveler among the blacks and offered him the post of consul in Quelimane. Having accepted the offer, Livingston abandoned missionary activity and began to work closely research work. In addition, he promoted the penetration of English capital into Africa, regarding this as progress.

But the traveler was attracted by new routes. In May 1858, Livingstone arrived in East Africa with his wife, young son and brother Charles. At the beginning of 1859, he explored the lower reaches of the Zambezi River and its northern tributary, the Shire. They discovered several rapids and Murchison Falls.

In the spring, Livingston discovered and described Lake Shirva in the basin of this river. In September he examined South coast Lake Nyasa and, having made a series of measurements of its depth, obtained values of more than 200 m (modern data bring this value to 706 m). In September 1861, Livingston returned to the lake again and, together with his brother, advanced along the western shore to the north for more than 1,200 km. It was not possible to penetrate further due to the hostility of the aborigines and the approach of the rainy season. Based on the survey results, Livingston compiled the first map of Nyasa, on which the reservoir stretched almost 400 km along the meridian (according to modern data - 580 km).

Cape Maclear on Lake Nyasa, which David Livingstone discovered and named after his friend the astronomer Thomas Maclear.
On this journey, Livingston suffered a heavy loss: on April 27, 1862, his wife and faithful companion, Mary Moffett-Livingston, died of tropical malaria. The Livingston brothers continued their journey. At the end of 1863, it became clear that the steep shores of Lake Nyasa were not mountains, but only the edges of high plateaus. Next, the brothers continued the discovery and study of the East African fault zone, that is, a giant meridional system of fault basins. In England in 1865, the book “The Story of the Expedition to the Zambezi and its Tributaries and the Discovery of Lakes Shirva and Nyasa in 1858–1864” was published.
Lake Nyasa

When David Livingston, during his next expedition to Africa, discovered Lake Malawi, he asked local fishermen about the name of this impressive body of water. To which they answered him - “Nyasa.” Livingston named this lake that way, not realizing that the word “Nyasa” in the language of the local residents means “lake”. Lake Malawi (as it is called today) or Lake Nyasa (as it continues to be called in Tanzania and Mozambique to this day) plays a very important role in the lives of Africans. Several tens of thousands of tons of fish are caught here every year.

The ninth largest in the world, Lake Malawi is about 600 km long and up to 80 km wide. Maximum depth 700 meters, altitude 472 meters above sea level, water surface area approximately 31,000 square meters. km. The state borders of three countries pass through the waters of the lake. The main part of the lake and coastline(western and southern) belong to the state of Malawi, the northeastern belongs to Tanzania, and relatively most of east coast is under the jurisdiction of Mozambique. The two most large islands, Likoma and Chizumulu, as well as the Taiwan Reef, are located in the waters of Mozambique, but belong to the state of Malawi.

Lake Nyasa, one of the deepest lakes in the world
In 1866, Livingstone, having landed on the eastern coast of the continent opposite the island of Zanzibar, walked south to the mouth of the Ruvuma River, and then, turning west and rising to its upper reaches, reached Nyasa. This time the traveler walked around the lake from the south and west. During 1867 and 1868 he examined in detail the southern and western shores Tanganyika.

Traveling through tropical Africa is always fraught with dangerous infections. Livingston did not escape them either. For many years, suffering from malaria, he became weak and so emaciated that he could not even be called a “walking skeleton,” because he could no longer walk and moved only on a stretcher. But the stubborn Scot continued his research. To the southwest of Tanganyika, he discovered Lake Bangweulu, whose area periodically varies from 4 to 15 thousand square meters. km, and the Lualaba River. Trying to find out whether it belonged to the Nile or Congo system, he could only assume that it might be part of the Congo.
In October 1871, Livingstone stopped for rest and treatment in the village of Ujiji on the east coast of Tanganyika.

At this time, Europe and America were concerned about the lack of any news from him. Journalist Henry Stanley went on a search. He completely accidentally found Livingston in Ujiji, and then they walked around together northern part Tanganyika, finally making sure that the Nile does not flow from Tanganyika, as many thought.

Stanley invited Livingston to go with him to Europe, but he limited himself to transferring diaries and other materials with the journalist to London. He wanted to finish his exploration of Lualaba and went to the river again. On the way, Livingston stopped in the village of Chitambo, and on the morning of May 1, 1873, his servants found him dead on the floor of the hut. The Africans, who adored the white defender, embalmed his body and carried his remains on a stretcher to the sea, covering almost 1,500 km. The great Scot was buried in Westminster Abbey. In 1874 his diaries, entitled The Last Voyage of David Livingstone, were published in London.

To a young man pondering his life, deciding who to make his life with, I will say without hesitation - make it with David Livingston!

about medical education. In 1840 he was sent by the London Missionary Society to South Africa, in 1841-52 he lived among the Bechuanas in the Kalahari region, which he explored from the south. to the north. In 1849 he first reached the lake. Ngami and in 1851. Linyanti, lower reaches of the Kwando (right tributary of the Zambezi). From its mouth, Livingston rose up the river in 1853–54. Zambezi to its upper tributary Chefumage; beyond the lake Dilolo, at 11° S. sh., opened the watershed between the upper reaches of the Zambezi and the river. Kasai (Congo system) and, turning west, reached the Atlantic Ocean near Luanda. In 1855 he returned to the upper reaches of the Zambezi, followed the entire course of the river to the delta, discovered (1855) Victoria Falls and reached the Indian Ocean near the city of Quelimane in May 1856, thus completing the crossing of the mainland.

Returning to Great Britain, Livingston published the book “Travel and Research of a Missionary in South Africa” in 1857; for this journey the Royal Geographical Society awarded him a gold medal. Livingston was appointed English consul in Quelimane and head of the government research expedition, which arrived in the Zambezi Delta in May 1858. In 1859 he discovered the lake. Shirva and visited the lake. Nyasa (discovered by the Portuguese G. Bocarro in 1616); in 1860 he climbed the Zambezi to the river. Linyanti, completed the discovery of the lake in 1861. Nyasa. Livingstone returned to Great Britain in 1864; in 1865, a book written together with his brother and companion Charles, “The Story of a Travel along the Zambezi and Its Tributaries,” was published.

In 1866 he again arrived in East Africa and soon lost contact with Europe. In 1867–71 he explored the southern and western shores of the lake. Tanganyika, discovered a lake to the southwest of it. Bangveulu and the large river flowing to the north.

Lualaba (upper Congo, but Livingstone did not know about this). Seriously ill, he turned back and stopped in Ujiji, on the eastern shore of the lake. Tanganyika, where G. Stanley found him in October 1871.

Together they explored the northern part of the lake. Tanganyika and became convinced that this lake was not connected to the Nile. In February 1872, Livingston sent his materials from Stanley to Great Britain, and in August 1872 he moved to the river. Lualaba to continue her research. Died in Chitambo, south of the lake. Bangweulu; Livingstone's remains were brought to Britain and buried in Westminster Abbey. In 1874, his notes 1865–72 were published under the title “The Last Diaries of David Livingstone in Central Africa.” Livingston.

During his travels, Livingston determined the position of more than 1000 points; He was the first to point out the main features of the relief of South Africa and studied the river system. Zambezi, laid the foundation for the scientific study of the large lakes Nyasa and Tanganyika. A city in Zambia, mountains in East Africa, and waterfalls on the river are named after L. Congo (Zaire). Livingston was a staunch humanist, condemned and fought against the slave trade. In Scotland, near Glasgow, there is memorial museum

David was born in the village of Blantyre into a poor Scottish family and began working in a weaving factory at the age of 10. But he independently learned Latin and Greek, as well as mathematics. This allowed him to enter the University of Glasgow and study theology and medicine there, and Livingston received a doctorate. And in 1838 he received the priesthood.

In 1840, Livingston, who dreamed of studying Asia and had by that time joined the London Missionary Society, was supposed to go to China on the instructions of this society, but the Opium War broke out there, and plans had to be changed. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the main features of northwestern Africa were clarified. The British were exploring the part of the mainland lying to the south. Here, the future largest explorer of Central Africa, David Livingston, began his missionary activity.

In 1841 he landed in Altoa Bay, inhabited by the Bechuana tribe (the future territory of Benchuanaland in South Africa). He quickly learned their languages and won their respect. In July 1841 he arrived at Moffett's mission on the border of the Cape Colony, and in 1843 he founded his own in Colonberg.

In June 1849, Livingston, accompanied by African guides, was the first European to cross the Kalahari Desert and explore Lake Ngami. He met the Bushmen and Bakalahari tribes. In 1850 he wanted to found a new settlement on the coast open lake. However, this time he took his wife Mary and children with him. In the end, he sent them back to Scotland so that they would not suffer from the terrible living conditions. In 1852 Livingston set off on a new journey. He penetrated the Zambezi River basin and in May 1853 entered Minyanti, main village Makololo tribe. There the missionary fell ill, but Chief Sekeletu made every effort to save Livingstone.

The traveler, who received the well-deserved nickname “Great Lion” from grateful Africans, climbed up the Laibe River and reached the Portuguese colony - the city of Luanda on Atlantic coast. The main scientific result of this journey was the discovery of Lake Dilolo, which lies on the watershed of two river basins: one of them belongs to Atlantic Ocean, the other - to Indian. The western drainage of the lake feeds the Congo river system, the eastern - the Zambezi. For this discovery, the Geographical Society awarded Livingstone a Gold Medal.

Next, Livingston decided to try to find a more convenient road to the ocean - to the east. In November 1855, a large detachment led by Livingston set off. Two weeks later, Livingston and his companions landed on the banks of the Zambezi River, where they saw a grandiose waterfall up to 1000 m high, which the Africans called “Mosi wa Tunya” (rumbling water). Livingston named this waterfall after the English Queen Victoria. Nowadays, a monument to the Scottish explorer is erected near the waterfall.

In May 1856 Livingstone reached the mouth of the Zambezi. So he completed a grandiose journey - he crossed the African continent from the Atlantic to Indian Ocean. Livingston was the first to come to the correct idea of Africa as a continent shaped like a flat dish with raised edges towards the ocean. In 1857 he published a book about his travels.

But there was still a vast unfilled territory on the map of Africa - the sources of the Nile. Livingston believed that the Nile took its source from the sources of Lualaba. But he also carried out a humanitarian mission: in Zanzibar he asked the Sultan to stop the slave trade. All this led Livingston to the region of the great African lakes. Here he discovered two new large lakes- Bangweulu and Mweru and was about to explore Lake Tanganyika, but suddenly the traveler fell ill with tropical fever.

On October 23, 1871, Livingston returned to Ujiji exhausted and sick. Due to a fever, the great explorer lost the ability to walk and expected death. For a long time he did not make himself known, since only one of the traveler’s 44 letters reached Zanzibar. Unexpectedly, an expedition led by journalist Henry Morton Stanley, specially sent to search for Livingston by the American newspaper The New York Herald, came to his aid. Stanley greeted Livingstone with a phrase that would later become world famous: "Dr. Livingston, I presume?"

Livingston recovered and, together with Stanley, explored Lake Tanganyika in the Unyamwezi region. Stanley offered Livingston to return to Europe or America, but he refused. Soon, David Livingston again fell ill with malaria and on May 1, 1873 died near the village of Chitambo (now in Zambia) not far from Lake Bangweulu, which he discovered. Livingston's dark comrades Chuma and Susi found the great traveler dead near his bed and embalmed his body with salt. David Livingstone's heart was buried in Chitambo, and the preserved body, after nine months of transportation, covering a distance of about 1,500 km, was delivered to the port of Bagamoyo on the ocean coast, from where it was sent to the UK. Livingstone was buried with honors in Westminster Abbey on April 18, 1874. In the same year, The Last Diaries of David Livingstone was published.

Livingston devoted most of his life to Africa, traveling mainly on foot over 50 thousand km. The cities of Livingstonia in Malawi and Livingston (Maramba) in Zambia, as well as waterfalls in the lower reaches of the Congo and mountains on the northeastern shore of Lake Nyasa are named in honor of David Livingstone. The largest city Malawi, with a population of more than 600,000 people, Blantyre, was named after Livingstone's hometown.

Votte Herbert

David Livingstone (Life of an African Explorer)

Herbert Wotte

David Livingston

Life of an African Explorer

Abridged translation from German by M. K. Fedorenko

Candidates of Geographical Sciences M. B. Gornung and I. N. Oleinikov

The outstanding Scottish geographer David Livingston spent more than thirty years among Africans, studied their customs and languages, and lived their lives. Having experienced hard work and poverty from childhood, he became a passionate advocate of social justice and humanism, an opponent of the slave trade, racism and cruelty of the colonialists.

Arriving in Africa as a missionary, Livingston, unlike most of his brothers, soon realized that introducing local residents to world civilization must begin with material culture. The search for routes to the peoples of inner Africa led him to major geographical discoveries.

D. Livingston - an outstanding traveler and humanist of the 19th century

FACTORY WORKER BECOME DOCTOR AND MISSIONARY

Stubborn Scot

Across South Africa by ox cart

Adventure with a lion

Christian slave hunters

Chief Sechele converts to Christianity

A MISSIONARY BECOME AN EXPLORER-TRAVELER

Livingstone's first discovery of Lake Ngami

Great Chief Sebituan

Death of Sebituan

FROM CAPE TOWN TO ANGOLA

Boer attack on Kolobeng

Lions, elephants, buffalos, rhinoceroses...

Visiting the Makololo

Through unknown lands to the west coast

End of the earth!

THE FIRST EUROPEAN CROSSES AFRICA

Return of the Makololo

Mozi oa tunya - "thundering steam"

From Victoria Falls to the Indian Ocean

Sixteen years later - back home

CELEBRITY

IN THE FIGHT AGAINST THE SLAVE TRADE

Bypassing the rapids

Discovery of Lake Nyasa

Livingston kept his promise "Ma-Robert" is drowning

Livingston frees the slaves

Slave hunters on Lake Nyasa

1862 is an ill-fated year

Deep disappointment and collapse of plans

"Captain" Livingston

PASSED AND NEW PLANS

IN SEARCH OF RIVERS

Bad choice

Bloody trail of slave traders

"...It's like I've just been read a death sentence..."

Discovery of Lakes Mweru and Bangweolo

Nile or Congo?

Bloody massacre at Nyangwe

"Dr. Livingston, I presume?"

Last trip

Susi and Chuma

INTERMENT IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY

Afterword

Notes

________________________________________________________________

David Livingstone - outstanding traveler and humanist of the 19th century

It is characteristic of the destinies of truly great people that over time their names do not fade. On the contrary, interest in them is growing, and not so much in their affairs, but in their life and personality. 1983 marked the 110th anniversary of the death of David Livingstone. In our time, interest in his personality has flared up with renewed vigor, because right now the formation of independent Africa and a reassessment of the history of the continent with which almost all of Livingstone's life is connected.

Livingston's activities in Africa were meticulously recorded by himself in three books, which constitute the traveler's invaluable literary heritage. In our country, interest in Livingston was always very great and his books were translated into Russian almost immediately after their publication in England, and then reprinted several times*.

* In 1857, Livingstone’s first book, “Travels in South Africa from 1840 to 1856,” was published in London, and already in 1862 its Russian translation appeared in St. Petersburg, re-released in 1868. In 1947 and 1955, this book was published in the USSR in a new translation. Two years after the publication in London of Livingstone's next book, written by him with his brother Charles, “Travels along the Zambezi from 1858 to 1864.” - its translation appeared in Russia in 1867, and in Soviet times it was republished twice in 1948 and 1956. The posthumous book, “The Last Diaries of David Livingstone in Central Africa from 1865 to His Death,” prepared for publication by Horace Waller, was published in London in 1874. In 1876, a short retelling of this book was published in Russia, and in 1968, its full translation was published under the title “The Last Journey to Central Africa.”

However, now we practically do not have a simple book designed for the widest circles of readers about Livingston, whose life is an example of courage and perseverance in achieving a noble goal, an example of philanthropy and the fight against racial intolerance and oppression. Apart from Adamovich's book, published in 1938 in the series "The Life of Remarkable People" and essentially long ago becoming a bibliographic rarity, the Soviet reader has nowhere to learn about Livingston's life, except for meager encyclopedic articles and information about his biography and personality scattered in various scientific articles and books, or in prefaces to volumes of his diaries.

Herbert Wotte's book about Livingstone, published in the German Democratic Republic dedicated to the centenary of the traveler’s death and published for the second time in Russian by the Mysl publishing house, fills this gap in our generally extensive popular science literature about great travelers. In his assessments of the period of Livingston’s travels, that is, the era of the beginning of the colonial division of Africa, Wotte proceeds from the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism, taking positions on other issues of African history that are common to scientists in socialist countries. The desire to popularize the presentation is characteristic of the entire content of Votte’s book.

Biographical information about Livingston's life before his move to Africa takes up relatively little space in the book, which is understandable. Firstly, the main thing in Livingston’s biography is his life and work in Africa. Secondly, information about his early years is indeed sparse, but Wotte has collected almost everything known about this period of Livingston's life. On a few pages, the author was able to clearly show the beginning of the formation of the strong character of the future brave traveler and explorer.

The rest of the book is based primarily on Livingston’s own materials, presented, as in the books of the traveler himself, in chronological order, but in a unique literary manner, which is typical of successful biographical books. In the final chapters of the book, Wotte uses almost verbatim English newspaper reports from 1874 about the burial of Livingstone's remains in Westminster Abbey in London and includes sections on Livingstone's African companions, Susi and Plague. They are rightly spoken of very warmly as people who accomplished the feat of carrying the ashes of the great traveler from the depths of Africa to the ocean.

Talking in detail about Livingston's life, Votte quite naturally did not set himself the goal of analyzing the scientific significance of his specific geographical discoveries, in particular in connection with the general picture of the state of geographical exploration of Africa in the 19th century, although it touches on these issues. It seems, however, that it would be useful to do this at least briefly in this preface in order to emphasize the importance of Livingstone in world science as a researcher, and not just a traveler, especially since in the history of African exploration the middle and beginning of the second half of the 19th century century is usually called the "Livingstonian period" of African exploration.

By this time, in northern Africa, only the interior, very sparsely populated areas remained a truly “blank spot” on the map. the greatest desert world - Sahara. In the west of the continent, the most important geographical problem of the region has already been solved - the flow of the Niger River over its entire vast length has been determined. However, south of the equator, most of Africa remained a "blank spot" on the map of the continent. The sources of the Nile, the configuration of the great lakes of East Africa, the upper course of the Congo River, the hydrographic network of the Zambezi basin and many other problems of the geography of this part of Africa, which then caused heated discussions among European scientists, were a mystery to science.

The “Livingston period” in the history of African exploration, which spanned approximately three decades, is scientifically characterized by the fact that almost all unclear questions, the answers to which served as the basis for compiling modern map Central Africa south of the equator were resolved precisely then. This happened thanks to the travels of Livingston himself or research that was in one way or another connected with Livingston’s scientific activities, with his discoveries or with the geographical guesses he expressed.

During his travels, Livingstone not only “deciphered” the complex pattern of the hydrographic network of the “white spot” in the center and south of Africa, but also for the first time told the world many details about the nature of this territory. Already after the first great trip, which covered the Zambezi basin, he made the most important conclusion for science that inner Africa is not a system of mythical highlands, like for a long time it was assumed, but a huge plateau with raised edges, sloping steeply towards the ocean coast. For the first time, the Zambezi River was mapped, indicating the places where its largest tributaries flow into it. The outlines of Lake Nyasa, about which Europeans had only vague ideas, were established. One of the largest waterfalls in the world was discovered on the Zambezi.

Continuing his exploration of the Zambezi, the missionary paid attention to its northern branch and followed it to the mouth of the river, reaching the coast of the Indian Ocean. On May 20, 1856, the grand transition of the African continent from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean was completed.

Already on December 9, 1856, the queen's loyal subject David Livingston returned to Great Britain. What did this guy discover in Africa? tireless traveler and a missionary? He wrote a book about all his adventures in 1857. The royalties from the publishing house allowed him to provide well for his wife and children. David was showered with awards and titles, he was granted an audience with Queen Victoria, gave lectures in Cambridge, and addressed local youth with a call for missionary work and the fight against the slave trade.

Second trip to Africa

From March 1, 1858 to July 23, 1864, David Livingston made a second trip to Africa, on which his wife, brother and middle son went with him.

During the expedition, Livingstone continued his exploration of the Zambezi and its tributaries. On September 16, 1859, he discovered and clarified the coordinates of the Shire and Ruvuma rivers. During the trip, a huge baggage of scientific observations was collected in such areas as botany, zoology, ecology, geology, and ethnography.

The expedition, in addition to the joyful impressions of new discoveries, brought Livingston 2 misfortunes: on April 27, 1862, his wife died of malaria, a little later David received news of the death of his eldest son.

After returning home, the missionary, co-authored with his brother, wrote another book about Africa in the summer of 1864.

Third trip to the Dark Continent

From January 28, 1866 to May 1, 1873, the famous explorer made his third and final trip to the continent. Delving deeper into the steppes of Central Africa, he reached the region of the Great African Lakes, explored Tanganyika, the Lualaba River, and searched for the source of the Nile. Along the way, he made 2 high-profile discoveries at once: on November 8, 1867 - Lake Mveru, and on July 18, 1868 - Lake Bangweulu.

The difficulties of the journey exhausted David Livingston's health, and he suddenly fell ill with tropical fever. This forced him to return to camp in the village of Ujiji. On November 10, 1871, help suddenly came to the exhausted and exhausted researcher in the person of Henry Stan, who was sent to search for a Christian missionary by the New York Harold newspaper. Stan brought medicines and food, thanks to which David Livingston, short biography which is described in the article, began to recover. He soon resumed his research, but, unfortunately, not for long.

On May 1, 1873, the Christian missionary, fighter against the slave trade, famous explorer of South Africa, discoverer of many geographical objects, David Livingston, died. The natives buried his heart in a tin flour box with honors in Chitambo under a large mvula tree. The preserved body was sent home and was buried in Westminster Abbey on April 18, 1874.