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- [00:02]
Narrator (John Hopkins)
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That's 20% off your first purchase with Code short history at LiquidIV. It's the 10th of November, 1871. On a mountain ridge in Eastern Africa. A group of travel weary porters are trekking up a hillside, slashing their way through the dense bamboo to clear a path. But unlike many European explorers, 30 year old journalist Henry Morton Stanley, who is leading the expedition, is not scouting for trade routes or mineral riches. He's hunting a missing man. 236 days have passed since Stanley landed in East Africa on the most punishing assignment of his career. He survived smallpox, dysentery and cerebral malaria. Most of his oxen and donkeys have been killed by crocodiles or disease spread by tsetse flies. Fewer than 40 of his original 100 porters are still with him, the rest having either died or deserted Stanley because of his violent temper. But as the group climbs the side of a ravine carrying food, tents and weapons, Stanley is in a better mood than usual. He hopes he is finally closing in on his prey. He is grateful for the shade of the palm forest as the route takes them up yet another mountain. As they reach the summit, Stanley pushes through the trees to see what looks like a glittering silver sea below them. But they are 750 miles inland. It's actually the breathtaking Lake Tanganyika, and it means his destination is just minutes away. He speeds up. Finally, he sees the port of Ujiji. Once a mere trading post, it has grown prosperous from sitting on the route slavers use to take their captives towards Zanzibar, from where they'll be transported to the Middle east and Beyond. Stanley thinks it's a strange place for the man he's seeking, whose passionate opposition to slavery has made him famous. Nothing has been heard of the legendary Scottish explorer Dr. David Livingstone. For four years, Stanley's bosses at the New York Herald have told him to either bring Livingstone back alive or return with his bones. If this is the end of Stanley's quest, he wants to make a grand entrance. He's already changed out of his ragged clothes into his one remaining flannel suit and had his servant chalk his helmet and oil his boots. Now he orders his remaining porters to raise the Stars and Stripes and load their guns to signal the caravan's arrival. As they enter the settlement, the noise brings hundreds of people out to see what's happening. Africans and Arab traders flock around the procession calling out questions to Stanley in words he doesn't understand. But then one African man in a white shift and a turban greets him in English. On asking who he is, Stanley gets the reply he's dreamed of. This man is Abdullah Susi, Livingstone's servant. This is the moment he has been waiting for. He struggles through the crowd towards the center of the village. A space opens up and in front of a group of Arab traders he sees an elderly white man with a bushy handlebar mustache. His clothes, a red waistcoat and gray tweed trousers, are faded and a cap shields his tired eyes. His face is sunken and it is clear he's been very sick. But he is alive. Just. Stanley fights the instinct to embrace the man. After all this anticipation, he has no idea what to do. Perhaps formality is what's called for. So Stanley steps towards the stupid figure and pretends he's back in a London gentleman's club. He raises his hat and holds out his hand and says, Dr. Livingstone I presume? The man smiles back. He lifts his own cap and gestures for Stanley to take a seat on the veranda of his mud hut. They have a lot to discuss. The meeting was to be the scoop of the decade for Stanley. Returning to London, he became famous for breaking the news that 58 year old Livingstone was not only alive, but still pursuing his search for the source of the River Nile. Because despite his ill health, Livingstone was defined by his determination. It took him from a childhood working in a Scottish cotton factory to becoming a doctor and Christian missionary in the heart of what Victorians called the Dark Continent. Over 32 years of exploration he traveled more than 30,000 miles and contended with disease, heartbreak and brutal armed conflict. Along the way, his encounters with Africans led him to reject the prejudiced views of many white people, turning him into a fierce campaigner against the slave trade after witnessing its cruelty and injustice firsthand. But despite his celebrated status, Livingstone is a flawed hero. Unsuccessful as a missionary, struggling to lead others, and putting colleagues and his own family in grave danger in pursuit of his goals. So how did Dr. David Livingstone fight his way out of poverty to become one of the world's most famous explorers? Why, over 200 years after his birth, is he still a source of fascination? How important was his work for the abolitionist movement? And what is his legacy? I'm John Hopkins from the Noiser Network. This is a short history of Dr. David Livingstone. The story starts in March 1813, in the town of Blantyre in Scotland, where David Livingstone is born. The second of seven children, his family live in a single room on the top floor of a whitewashed tenement building housing workers at the local cotton mill. Both his parents are committed Christians, and while his father sells tea door to door, he uses these visits as a chance to hand out religious tracts to his clients. But the rest of the family work in the mill and David joins them when he is 10 years old. Dr. Kate Simpson is the curatorial advisor for the David Livingstone Birthplace Museum in Blantyre and the project scholar for Livingstone Online.
- [08:09]
Dr. Kate Simpson
David Livingstone was working in a mill that had the highest rates of child labour in the whole of Scotland. And part of that is because prior to 1847, in the Shaftesbury Factory act, there were no legal requirements for the amount of time people could work in a day or how many hours people could work. One of the things that is very famous about the Livingstone story is that he worked 14 hours a day, desperately trying to learn his Latin by resting his books against the looms whilst he ran backwards and forwards, tying together the bits of broken cotton on the looms.
- [08:45]
Narrator (John Hopkins)
Although the work is hard, the mill is also the safest in Scotland and supports its workers with education and training. So when his working day is done, young David studies with a teacher employed by his bosses.
- [08:59]
Dr. Kate Simpson
We are talking about the period of Scottish Enlightenment and the rising interest in science as well as religion and ways to explain the world in which we live in now. For Livingstone, this was somewhat of a challenge because his father didn't agree that science and religion was compatible.
- [09:22]
Narrator (John Hopkins)
Despite this, his parents allow him to read widely, learning about nature, history and theology. One book describes the work of medical missionaries in China who treat patients and spread the Christian gospel. At the age of 20, Livingstone decides to combine his interests in Faith and science by following that path himself. In 1836, he enrolls in Anderson College in Glasgow to train. But with fees to cover, he continues to work in the mill outside term time. Then he applies to continue his studies with the London Missionary Society, who have sent teams on missionary assignments as far away as China, Siberia and South Africa. In 1838, aged 25, he embarks on theological studies in the south of England. He also enrolls at the Charing Cross Hospital Medical School in London. His hope of a posting to China is derailed by conflict in the region. But some of the Missionary Society's members are also having doubts about Livingstone's suitability. His accent isn't quite what they're used to and they consider him uncultured and lacking in class.
- [10:37]
Dr. Kate Simpson
The London Missionary Society said that he was maybe more an unsophisticated missionary for an unsophisticated place. It took him longer than it would take other missionary trainees to actually become a missionary.
- [10:52]
Narrator (John Hopkins)
But the delays give him the chance to attend a meeting that will define his whole life's work.
- [10:59]
Dr. Kate Simpson
Just before Livingston graduated and passed his exams as a doctor, he went to an abolitionist rally the centre of London in 1840. The rally was organized by Thomas Buxton, famous successor to William Wilberforce. It was at this rally that Livingstone heard vehemently for the first time about how development could be used hand in hand with abolition, to finally eradicate betrayed in enslaved people.
- [11:34]
Narrator (John Hopkins)
Seven years earlier, Buxton succeeded in getting a law passed to abolish slavery in the British colonies across the globe. But there is still a thriving slave trade in East Africa, dominated by Arabs from countries including Persia, Arabia and Oman. East African slavery sees Africans captured and transported across the continent. Captives are often also forced to carry ivory and other precious goods en route. Up to 3/4 die of starvation and disease during these punishing treks. Those who survive end up on the island of Zanzibar off the east coast, where they are sold to work in the Middle east as sailors, soldiers, domestic slaves and laborers. Women are sold into sexual slavery. Some Africans also rely on the trade, capturing and selling members of other tribes, sometimes in exchange for weapons. Buxton has turned his attention to campaigning for the British government to make treaties with African leaders. He hopes that if he can make the trade in Africa's natural resources more profitable than slavery, the brutal industry will be brought to an end here too. Inspired by Buxton, Livingstone also admires another African missionary, Robert Moffat, who describes looking out from his post and seeing the smoke of a thousand villages where no missionary has ever been. So when in November 1840, Livingstone qualifies as both a doctor and a minister, he prepares to leave for Africa. As well as spreading the word of God, he wants to help build economically viable alternatives to slavery and see the world he's only read about so far. Within days of his ordination, Livingstone sets sail on the George for South Africa. The journey takes four months, and when he's not treating fellow passengers for seasickness, Livingstone studies Dutch spoken by many European settlers and the Setswana language of southern Africa. The captain also teaches him the basics of navigation, a useful skill for the future explorer. By the time he arrives in cape town in March 1841, he knows he wants to work differently than other missionaries have.
- [13:57]
Dr. Kate Simpson
Hand in hand with that desire was that he had thought that what he termed as native agency, or rather indigenous African people preaching the gospel to other indigenous African people was the most effective way of spreading the gospel. And his desire for native agency as being part of the missionary enterprise was something that actually we see, he maintains throughout his life.
- [14:32]
Narrator (John Hopkins)
From Cape Town, he travels around 1,000 miles by boats and overland to the Curramon missionary station, home to Robert Moffat. Though he's been excited to meet the man who inspired him, the reality is disappointing. Kahriman is a small oasis in a barren landscape with few potential converts. Already keen to explore, he begins traveling north looking for a site for his own station where he'll have more freedom to work as he pleases. Keeping meticulous diaries, he observes the geography, wildlife and local languages, and records details of the tropical diseases he encounters and treats as a doctor. And it's now that this idealist, inspired by talk of abolishing slavery, comes face to face with the harsh reality for enslaved people.
- [15:26]
Dr. Kate Simpson
When he was traveling north in that first year when he was at Kuruman and he was exploring places where he could possibly have another mission station. And they left a village and a 12 year old, orphaned, came running after them, begging them to help her because she was about to be married off to a man much older than her. And Livingstone says to his friends, if there had been 50 men there, I would have never let them take her. And he was quite surprised by this lack of care by the community to this little girl. You can see it in his writing. He's trying to understand why some people are enslaved by other people.
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- [17:34]
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- [17:36]
Narrator (John Hopkins)
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- [17:38]
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- [18:38]
Narrator (John Hopkins)
He travels further than any European missionary has previously, often working alone alongside two other Britons. He sets up a new missionary station 200 miles from Karaman in modern day Botswana. And it's here that less than three years after arriving in Africa, he stares death in the face. It is 16 February 1844 and David Livingston is on a mission with villagers in the Mabotza Valley. But today isn't about spreading the gospel. It's about hunting a terrible enemy. Lions have been attacking the village's livestock and they are growing bolder, even striking during the day. If they're not driven out soon, the tribespeople fear one of their children will become the next casualty. They've tracked two of the pride to a hill outside the village, sheltering from the sun under a cluster of wild medlar trees. Livingstone and a local teacher, Mebalwe, are both armed with shotguns, others with spears. Forming a circle, they gradually close in on the two animals. Livingston, now 30 years old, is torn between admiration and fear. As he creeps closer to these beautiful, powerful creatures. One moves towards him onto a rock, staring him down. Mabalwe fires but misses, the lead ball hitting the stone. The animal yawns, pawing at the ball playfully. Then, seemingly bored, it leaps at the men circling him. But instead of attacking the predator with spears, they back away in terror. It happens twice more. Mabalwe explains. The villagers are convinced the animals have been possessed by their enemies. Defeated, they trudge back to the village. But now Livingstone glimpses one of the lions shielded by a bush. Taking his chance, he lifts his weapon, aims through the foliage and fires. Wounded, the creature hisses as Livingston tries to reload. But while he's ramming the ammunition home, Mabalwe cries out a warning. Livingstone looks up just as the lion springs towards him. As it lands, it sinks its teeth into his arm, through his tartan jacket and into the flesh. Moments later, the animal brings him to the ground with a bone shattering thump. The creature shakes the missionary like a terrier with a rat. Though he can see his blood soaking through his sleeve, he feels no pain. The rest of the world seems to fade away. The animal paws the back of his head, but then his amber eyes shift, distracted over Livingstone's shoulder. Mabalwe is only 10 yards away. His flint gun is cocked. Once again he misfires. The lion drops, Livingston instantly pouncing towards Mabalwebs, sinking its fangs into his thigh. Another tribesman attacks with a spear and the lion turns to maul him too. But suddenly the creature freezes and then drops. The men wait for it to move, but the lion is motionless. The bullets Livingston fired two minutes ago have finally taken effect. More villagers run towards the two injured men. Livingstone finally feels the searing pain as others carry away the lion's crumpled body as a trophy. The women begin to build a bonfire to roast the carcass. It is, they say, the largest they've ever seen. All those attacked survive though. Livingstone suffers 11 wounds to his arm. In his diary he describes his bone being crunched into splinters. He avoids the deadly infections often caused by big cat bites because he believes the fangs were wiped clean of virus by the tartan jacket. But although the bone mends, it does so at an angle which will limit its use for the rest of his life. And that's not the only life changing result of the attack. When he's taken back to the mission station at Curraman to recuperate, Robert Moffat's 23 year old daughter Mary nurses him back to health. Born in Africa, she trained as a teacher and is a down to earth and committed Christian. They become close. Livingstone writes to a friend describing her as a matter of fact lady, a little thick black haired girl, sturdy and all I want. They marry the following year in January 1845.
- [23:54]
Dr. Kate Simpson
If you look at their letters, it was clearly a relationship of love. Once they had agreed to be married and they were married on 2 January 1845, Livingstone then returned north to build them what would be their first family home. He writes letters to Mary saying, this house is so big and empty, but I don't need any furniture because once you are here it will be full. He writes so many gorgeous letters to Mary over this period talking about the love he has for her and they very much look forward to being together in the same place.
- [24:34]
Narrator (John Hopkins)
But there are struggles in his work, pushing hard for changes in how to convert Africans to Christianity. Livingstone falls out with an older missionary at Maboca. He agrees to move on, leaving behind the house he built for his bride. He stays determined to do things his way. Key to his fresh approach is learning local languages and treating patients to gain trust. And that's exactly what happens when he sets up a new Station in 1847 alongside the Kolobeng River. Here he meets Seshelli, the Cozi, or ruler of the Quena people of Botswana.
- [25:17]
Dr. Kate Simpson
Seshelli is known to have a long and significant relationship with David and that relationship starts because of David's medical training. He heals one of Seshelli's children who is ill and in the process creates a bond that will last with both of them for the rest of their life.
- [25:38]
Narrator (John Hopkins)
The two men are the same age and the connection develops quickly. Livingstone teaches Cichelli to read and write using the Bible, the only book available that's been translated into the Setswana language. The ruler then teaches his five wives to read and inspired by Bible stories, converts to Christianity to Do this, he must give up his role as Rainmaker and divorce four of his five wives. Livingstone baptizes him in 1848 and Seychelles becomes his only convert. But that apparent lack of success as a missionary bent on conversions doesn't tell the whole story.
- [26:21]
Dr. Kate Simpson
He spoke of other missionaries who would line people up and baptize them almost as part of a factory like process so that they could say they had converted these many people. But in those instances you didn't know if those people were actually aware that they were converting. There was a possibility that they were being offered something at the end of this process of being baptized.
- [26:46]
Narrator (John Hopkins)
Seychelli definitely isn't bribed, but he also doesn't stay committed to his conversion, at least in terms of the monogamy it requires. One of his ex wives later becomes pregnant by the chief and Livingstone denounces him as a backslider. Yet Cichelli continues doing exactly what Livingstone hoped. Alongside preaching to his own people, the chief studies the gospel in detail to create a version of Christianity that suits African customs. Incredibly, he ends up with over 30,000 followers. By now. Livingstone himself is a father. He continues his explorations often accompanied by his wife and infant children. Thanks to his father in law's fame, he is often introduced to people as Mary Moffat's husband.
- [27:38]
Dr. Kate Simpson
Their being together is what pushes Livingstone's success as a missionary and traveller to the next level. Because Mary is fluent in the indigenous languages. Mary's father, Robert Moffat, is a famous missionary, has a reputation for being honest in his dealings with people. Therefore, when they reach some areas and people are unwilling to talk to Livingstone, who is a young man who they do not know, Mary is the voice that gives him a past to talk to people, to walk through people's lands. And that's what really drives his success in engaging with indigenous communities in the area.
- [28:20]
Narrator (John Hopkins)
In the first five years after their marriage, the couple and their young children cross the Kalahari Desert twice, focusing on finding potential highways for future trade. Their discoveries include the shimmering Lake Ngami in present day Botswana. Though other Europeans have found it and of course local people have always known of its existence. Livingstone will later be awarded a gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society for his work. But it comes at a huge personal cost. Mary's fourth child dies within weeks of her birth, while the three older siblings suffer from malaria. It's here that the doctor develops a medicinal remedy to reduce fever using a combination of quinine, rhubarb and jalap resin. Despite his family's suffering, Livingston keeps going.
- [29:14]
Dr. Kate Simpson
He then crosses The Kalahari a third time, again with Mary pregnant. And when they come back, the children's tongues are swollen and black. They're so thirsty. There's no inch of their body that isn't covered with mosquito bites. And Livingstone talks about how painful it is for him and Mary to hear his children's cries. And there's nothing they can do. There's no water they have for them. These journeys across the Halahari are really, really significant experiences and deeply, deeply traumatic experiences.
- [29:54]
Narrator (John Hopkins)
Mary gives birth on the return journey to their fifth child. But when they arrive back at Koorramun mission station, Mary's mother is horrified by her daughter's emaciated state. Her anger prompts Livingstone to send his wife and children back to the UK in April 1852. They'll stay with his sisters in Scotland while he completes his next mission. Mary, though, was born and raised in Africa, away from her husband. She struggles with the miserable climate and making ends meet and turns to alcohol for comfort during the loneliest times. Livingstone, however, is too focused on his next expeditions to give much thought to his family. His dream is that the 3Cs civilization, Christianity and commerce might allow the trade in enslaved people to be replaced by more lucrative and humane ways for people to support themselves. Though the concept of white people introducing civilization to Africa is problematic because it presupposes that the indigenous population is somehow savage, it is a prevalent notion in the mid-1800s. For Livingstone, though, the goal is not to replace traditional tribal customs, but to encourage the adoption of Christian ideals alongside them. In November 1853, he sets out from Linyanti in Central Africa by exploring to the west along the great Zambezi River. He hopes to find a route to the Atlantic coast which will allow legitimate commerce and undercut the slave trade. As he leaves, he states, I shall open up a path into the interior or perish. His journey is supported by a tribal leader he's befriended, Chief Sekeletu, who provides him with 27 men, oxen and supplies to barter along the way. But the trip is dangerous and difficult, and he witnesses more horrific evidence of the effects of the slave trade. He abhors
- [32:08]
Dr. Kate Simpson
he would go through villages which had been utterly decimated of people. They were effectively ghost towns because either people had been captured by slave traders or they had run to hide in the surrounding forest or in the surrounding lands to avoid subsequently being captured.
- [32:31]
Narrator (John Hopkins)
It takes seven months to reach Luanda, a Portuguese city on the western Atlantic coast. On the way, Livingstone has suffered many bouts of fever and has no food or supplies left. Realizing this route is too difficult for future European traders, he turns around and heads east. Instead, this expedition will take him across the entire continent, a journey of over 2000 miles. While mapping the route in great detail, he encounters one of the continent's most astonishing natural features. Encouraged by local guides who tell him about what they call the smoke that sounds, he follows the Zambezi river through a series of terrifying rapids. Eventually, he comes to the biggest waterfall he has ever seen, a mile wide with water vapor rising 100ft in the air, casting countless rainbows. Believing he is the first European to see it, Livingstone decides to give the site an English name in honor of the Queen Victoria Falls. But in his future writing, he'll also show his respect for the original name in the Cololo language, Mosi oa Tunya, or Smoke that thunderstorm Starting or growing
- [33:58]
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- [35:23]
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- [35:52]
Narrator (John Hopkins)
Livingstone is all set for a glorious homecoming. The president of the Royal Geographical Society has spread word about the first ever crossing of the entire African continent by European traveler, even though it's likely that the Portuguese had already done it. By the time he arrives back in England in December 1856, he has already been offered a book deal for the account of his journey, but his will be very different from the missionary stories published so far. In his book, he combines elements of his own story with evangelism, science, medicine and linguistics, all illuminated with maps and illustrations.
- [36:34]
Dr. Kate Simpson
He grounds his experience in that of being working class and poor in Scotland, and that he has driven his own education and brought himself up out of a very narrow horizoned life to something much more significant and international. Essentially, in his outlook, he is a
- [36:57]
Narrator (John Hopkins)
stickler for accuracy and often finds fault with the artistic license taken by his illustrators.
- [37:04]
Dr. Kate Simpson
The first time Livingstone sees the illustrations for the lion attack, he instantly writes back to the publisher and says, I will be a laughingstock. You have made this lion far, far too big. Can you reduce it in size? And even the lion that we see in the final published text is still much more dramatic and oversized than such a lion would be in real life.
- [37:31]
Narrator (John Hopkins)
The book entitled Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa is published in 1857, going on to sell 70,000 copies and to make Livingstone rich. But as an acquaintance observes, selling books isn't necessarily the same as having them read.
- [37:50]
Dr. Kate Simpson
He said that everyone had a copy of Missionary Travels in their house, but people only ever looked at the pictures and that no one had actually read the book itself, which I think is a fabulous similarity to 20 or 30 years ago, when everyone bought Stephen Hawking's on the History of Time, but no one actually read it.
- [38:08]
Narrator (John Hopkins)
Though he has money to support his family properly, he has little time to spend with them. Instead, he goes on lecture tours and wins awards that turn him into a genuine Victorian celebrity. His image is of a tough, strong man who can cope with anything, and he's often mobbed at church or on the street. But Livingstone hates being recognized. He's desperate to get back to Africa to explore further. Parting company with the London Missionary Society, he instead secures generous funding for his next expedition from the public and the government. As Britain is spreading her imperial wings. Financing such a mission is an ideal way to advance her geopolitical agenda and expand her influence in Africa, as well as furthering the opposition to slavery. This trip will be his most ambitious yet. In March 1858, he leaves on a mission that will last six years.
- [39:11]
Dr. Kate Simpson
The idea was that they would make their way up the Zambezi and in the process they would establish what resources were available, show that it could be traversed, and it would then subsequently be a main trade route. And it would help reduce the trade in enslaved people.
- [39:30]
Narrator (John Hopkins)
The extra funding pays for expert European scientific staff who will work alongside African guides and porters. It also allows for a vessel to navigate the Zambezi. But despite the improved resources, Livingstone himself is very far from a natural leader. His own determination makes him unable or unwilling to accept or adapt to other people's needs, which he sees as weaknesses.
- [39:57]
Dr. Kate Simpson
Livingstone writes to himself about how frustrated he is, about how the lack of success of the journey is not because of him, it's because of the people he's with. When members of the group became ill, Livingstone expected them to behave the way he behaved. So if someone had malaria, he expected them to walk it off. He thought that people were being work shy when they were running incredibly high fevers, and that lack of sympathy caused huge amounts of discord.
- [40:34]
Narrator (John Hopkins)
His wife Mary is desperate to travel with him, but becomes pregnant with their sixth child on the outbound sea voyage they take together in 1858. She has to wait until 1862 to join him, but less than three months after their reunion, she falls ill with malaria in a village in modern day Mozambique.
- [40:55]
Dr. Kate Simpson
David increases her doses of quinine to such an extent that she can no longer hear. Very large doses of quinine cause something very equivalent to tinnitus in the ears. Excessive amounts can cause deafness, so at the end, he was aware that he couldn't properly communicate with his wife.
- [41:15]
Narrator (John Hopkins)
Mary Livingstone Moffat is just 41 when she dies on 27 April 1862. She's only spent four of the 17 years of her marriage at her husband's side. In spite of his grief, Livingstone perseveres. But it is now that a previous decision comes back to haunt him. Shortly after finding the waterfalls in his previous trip, he cut across a loop of the Zambezi and failed to notice a crucial series of rapids. Unaware of the obstacle, he believed the river was fully navigable. But having now returned to prove it, he finds these rapids blocking his route. He suggests dynamite, but it's not an option. There is no way through. Eventually, the British government recall the mission. Worse still, he realizes to his horror, that slave traders have been posing as his relatives to win favor with tribes rather than helping to eradicate slavery. His efforts on the Zambezi have actually opened the route to slavers ever wider. He leaves for home, but refuses to sell his ship to slave traders in Africa. Instead, he sails it 2,500 miles to Abaya in India, before taking a ship back to Britain. When he arrives, he finds the press have portrayed his trip as a failure. Worse, they blame him for the deaths of British adults and children who had embarked on a missionary journey based on his positive writings about the region. But the data and specimens from the trip will be cited in over 100 scientific journals and help advance knowledge of Africa. The bad press makes it harder to raise funds for his next expedition, which will be even more ambitious. He wants to achieve what many before him have failed to do and find the source of the Nile. This time he will employ only Africans, partly because it's cheaper, but also because he's more comfortable traveling with them. The team includes James Chuma and Abdullah Sousi, who has worked with him for many years. He also makes a point of paying his female cook, Halima, the same as the men. The expedition begins in 1866 and will cover vast areas of territory, including modern day countries of Mozambique, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- [44:05]
Dr. Kate Simpson
We have seven years in which Livingstone is essentially to be colloquial, bouncing around the centre of Africa, trying different routes. But with Mary dead and with his reputation not being the best, the weight of responsibility is somewhat gone. On this expedition,
- [44:27]
Narrator (John Hopkins)
the money dwindles and he's paying a huge price financially and health wise. Some of his men desert and even declare him dead. And with Livingstone ceasing communication with Britain, those back home fear the worst. But despite the hardships, Livingstone carries on preaching and observing.
- [44:51]
Dr. Kate Simpson
He's always drawing little maps of the rivers, the tributaries and distributories of what is an incredibly complex waterway. At one point, he does think he's close to finding the source of the now. But he admits to himself in his own writing that he thinks it's more likely the Congo. And that happens to be the case in 1871.
- [45:12]
Narrator (John Hopkins)
He makes it further west than any European before him, at the Lualaba river that leads into the Congo. But the achievement is overshadowed by sickness and destitution. In a horrible irony, he is forced to rely on the very slave traders he loathes for medicine, food and transport. When he's close to death, he's so short of money that he uses the blank edges of his Bible and even the printed pages of an old newspaper to create long notebooks running out of ink. He writes Using local dye made from berries. And during this time, the compromises he's had to make by living alongside slavers will be highlighted in the most appalling way. It is mid July 1871, in the village of Nyangwe on the bank of the Lualaba River. A market day. Over 2,000 people, mostly women, have gathered from surrounding areas, traveling on foot and in canoes to the stalls laid out next to the water. David Livingstone loves watching the fishermen and farmers laying out their wares. Everything from pigs and sheep to earthenware, groundnuts, sugar cane and cassava. But now he and his two porters pass the area where enslaved people are being traded by the Arabs living in Nangwe. Livingston stares at the ground. Though he's had to accept the slaver's help, the trade still sickens him. At the produce stores, customers chat and haggle, seeking shade under the palms, carrying their purchases in baskets on their backs. Livingstone pulls out his field diary to make notes. But as he does so, he spots something odd. Three Arabs he doesn't recognize are approaching the market carrying guns. An argument has started between them and a female stallholder selling chickens. It escalates until eventually the guns are raised. At the sound of the first gunshots, the women drop their goods and flee towards the canoes. But here, another group of attackers standing close to the creek starts firing indiscriminately. More marines, marauders appear beating drums. Livingstone, unarmed and horrified, asks his own men to intervene. They help a handful to escape. But in the confusion, some women run away from those trying to save them towards the water. The river is so full of canoes they can't escape. Many are overloaded. One capsizes, others become bogged down. Few people here can swim and those who do reach the other bank are picked off by the attackers. And now, in the distance, Livingstone can see smoke rising. Are other villages under attack? Horrified at his own powerlessness, Livingstone does the only thing he can think of. He takes his homemade field diary and find forces himself to record the appalling scenes moment by moment. If he cannot save lives, he will be a witness. As he writes, he vows to make sure the truth about this atrocity is known all around the world. Between 4 and 500 people, mostly women, are shot or drowned that day. And Livingston, despite his trauma, keeps writing.
- [49:03]
Dr. Kate Simpson
He starts to write in what he has left of his original ink supplies. So if you look at the page, suddenly you see this darker writing and very much like 24 hour news today. He starts each line with the time so 2 he writes. The shooting starts 2:03 he explains what happened and the horror of seeing this happen. Realizing that he can't do anything but being willing to record it is a truly profound and awful experience. The massacre devastates Livingstone.
- [49:46]
Narrator (John Hopkins)
Though Livingstone's last published book will detail the horrors for a Victorian readership, the full extent of his note taking and his own trauma has only been revealed in the 21st century. Scientists used spectral imaging technology to see long faded handwriting that shows in full detail what the doctor witnessed. The exact causes of the atrocity and the sacking of 17 nearby villages are unclear. Some believe Arabs commit the violence to keep local Africans subdued. Others blame it on inter ethnic disputes. But the notes revealed by 21st century technology suggest to others that members of Livingstone's own extended party might have been involved.
- [50:36]
Dr. Kate Simpson
He thinks that some of his African companions were involved who were people were essentially fighting for power to be responsible for the trade in the area. He talks about how horrific that uncertainty is. Some people say this is when Livingstone's heart broke. He had known about the slave trade. He had encountered and possibly taken help from slavers. But this was the most mighty epic moment. I cannot begin to imagine what that trauma must have been like.
- [51:20]
Narrator (John Hopkins)
For now, Livingstone flees to the town of Ujiji, 500 miles away. Alongside the shock at what he's witnessed, he suffers from dysentery and terrible ulcers during the trip.
- [51:33]
Dr. Kate Simpson
When he got to ug, he really was quite literally on his last legs. And this is where the great Welsh orphan or the great American journalist, depending on how you put it, comes into Livingstone's life.
- [51:51]
Narrator (John Hopkins)
Although Henry Morton Stanley portrays himself as an all American reporter, he was actually born in Wales to an alcoholic father and a mother who worked as a prostitute. He spent his childhood in the workhouse before heading stateside and reinventing himself. Early hardships make him into a tough boss.
- [52:11]
Dr. Kate Simpson
He's a whole history unto himself. Famously a very violent, very aggressive expedition leader and considered himself to be above the people he was traveling with. Didn't get on well with anyone and was always willing to use underhand methods if it got him further.
- [52:31]
Narrator (John Hopkins)
Four months after the massacre, but nearly five years since he last communicated with the uk, Stanley finds Livingston in Ujiji and provides him with food and medical supplies. The two men explore the region together and despite their differences, develop a close bond. After five months, Stanley is ready to return to Britain. Livingstone doesn't go with him, but he gives Stanley his field diaries, the accounts of the massacre and other records that will be hugely Important to the anti slavery movement, Stanley returns to London and then New York in 1872. He becomes famous in his own right for tracking down the great man. Though his account is doubted by many and he is mocked for his first words to Livingstone. The page dealing with his doctor Livingstone I presume greeting is later torn out of his diary so no one can be sure if he made it up or changed the account due to embarrassment. But back in Africa, Livingstone's story is drawing to a close. He keeps moving north in his search for the Niles source with his loyal assistants Susi Juma and a freed slave Jacob Cartwright who can write and read English. However, Livingstone's malnourished body has been wrecked by the many injuries and infections he has suffered including 30 bouts of malaria. After traveling around 30,000 miles around Africa, he dies aged 60 on 1 May 1873 in the village of Chitamba in modern day Zambia. But the accounts he gave to Stanley hit the mark. And just 36 days after his death, British government pressure forces the closure of the Zanzibar slave market. Missionaries will build a cathedral on the site.
- [54:35]
Dr. Kate Simpson
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- [54:51]
Narrator (John Hopkins)
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- [55:06]
Narrator (John Hopkins)
Livingston's heart is buried under a tree, but the rest of his embalmed body is then carried 1,000 miles towards the coast by members of his group including Sousi, Juma and Cartwright. His remains are shipped to Britain where scientists confirm his identity after examining his skeleton and finding evidence of the lion attack three decades earlier. Dr. David Livingstone is buried in Westminster Abbey on April 18, 1874 after lying in state for two days. The Prince of Wales and Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli attend along with Livingstone's four surviving children. The last journals of David Livingstone is published later that year and becomes another bestseller. His death coincides with the beginning of what becomes known as the Scramble for Africa. This dramatic colonial project which will see the continent and its people arbitrarily divided and ruthlessly exploited by Europeans. And although Livingstone's work helps end slavery, it also fuels colonial exploitation. An irony he was already aware of towards the end of his life. But his legacy went beyond exploration. And abolitionism. During painstaking research, he unearthed remedies for malaria and new information about the tsetse fly and the devastating disease it carries. His writings include significant observations on African tribes, languages, flora and fauna. And though some of his theories about water sources were wrong, his maps expanded knowledge of Africa's interior. In the 150 years since his death, he has been portrayed as a rags to riches success story, a storybook hero, an example of Scottish enlightenment. To some, his determination to, in his words, civilize Africa makes him a symbol of the worst kind of imperialism. But to others, his impact on the continent was unquestionably positive. So much so that former Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda called him Africa's first freedom fighter.
- [57:22]
Dr. Kate Simpson
He was the harbinger in many ways of everything that he did not want to be the harbinger of. But he also was truly transnational in his outlook. He was interested in people and he recorded what those people said and did. And it is sad to say, but in some instances, Livingstone's writing is all we have left of certain people in certain places because of the damning effects of the slave trade or because of people's land being taken. I have this idea in my head. I can see him writing to Mary and he writes a letter and he starts his letter with, I'm sorry that the paper's all dirty because I'm writing I've been building our house. That huge humanness is what's going to keep us looking to Livingstone, because his humanity is his legacy.
- [58:31]
Narrator (John Hopkins)
Next time on Short History of We'll bring you the short history of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
- [58:38]
Mozart Expert
Mozart, in my view, is the most naturally gifted composer who ever, ever lived. I've said it before, I'll say it again. He could write music the way you and I write emails. And he has left a legacy that is unparalleled in the history of music. And if you listen to Mozart's music, you can sit back and close your eyes and the world is put back to rights. And I believe mankind will be listening to his music, letting it set their mind at rest. Peace for the rest of time.
- [59:13]
Narrator (John Hopkins)
That's next time. Predator Badlands now streaming on Hulu and
- [59:20]
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- [59:23]
Dr. Kate Simpson
You're not the predator, you're the prey.
- [59:25]
Narrator (John Hopkins)
Pray, pray, pray, pray.
- [59:31]
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Critics are saying it's epic, stunning and breathtaking.
- [59:37]
Dr. Kate Simpson
Many have come here.
- [59:39]
Narrator (John Hopkins)
None have survived.
- [59:41]
Home Depot / Hulu Advertiser
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- [59:48]
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