William's Report

William Henry Crum III
November 10, 2009

Great Explorers

David Livingstone was a famous Scottish missionary in Africa and one of Africa’s greatest European explorers. Dr. Livingstone was born in Blantyre, Scotland, on March 19, 1813. In 1836, David diligently began studying medicine and the Bible so that later on he could go to Africa as a missionary doctor. Dr. Livingstone was married in 1845 to Mary Moffat, the daughter of a fellow missionary. Later, in Africa, Livingstone took a four-year expedition to find the route of the Zambezi River to the Atlantic coast. Miraculously, Dr. Livingstone found a magnificent waterfall along this river which he called Victoria Falls. Thinking even greater, he took an expedition to find the source of the Nile. After Livingstone discovered the Nile’s headwaters, he died on May 1, 1873. His body was buried in England, but since he had loved Africa so much, his heart was buried there in Africa.

Similar to David Livingstone, Henry Stanley was also a notable African explorer. Stanley was born John Rowlands on January 28, 1841. When Rowlands grew up, he moved to New Orleans where he met a great friend, Henry Morton Stanley. Ashamed of his own family background, Rowlands adopted Stanley’s name. Unlike Dr. Livingstone, in 1867 Stanley became a special correspondent for the New York Herald. The newspaper commissioned Stanley to go to Africa on a mission to find the missing famous Dr. Livingstone. After Henry had continuously searched and searched for him, he finally found him at Lake Tanganyika. When Stanley met Dr. Livingstone he said a phrase that is very famous today, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume.” Shortly after Livingstone’s death, Stanley continued his exploration of the region. Stanley had to travel the length of the Lualaba and Congo Rivers before he reached the Atlantic Ocean in August 1877. Retiring, and returning to Europe, Henry Stanley was knighted for his important explorations in 1899 and died May 10, 1904. Even though Stanley was born into a sad life, he is well known for his outstanding accomplishments.

Dr. David Livingstone and Henry Morton Stanley each had a great impact on Africa. Livingstone shared the Gospel with many of the Africans he met. Both men helped to bring light to the “Dark Continent”. Stanley, like Livingstone, explored much of the interior of Africa. Their discoveries helped cartographers map Africa’s previously unknown regions and features. After months of searching, David discovered Victoria Falls. Enthusiastically, Henry worked in the northern and southern regions of Africa and was the first to reach Zanzibar in 1871. Prepared for another adventure, Stanley went on to find the Nile’s source. Creating the Congo Freestate, Dr. Livingstone, who personally freed many African slaves, exposed the horrors of the slave trade to educate Europeans. Both men wrote about their adventures and discoveries and shared these around the world. Livingstone and Stanley were such an exceptional influence on Africa that we still remember them today.