Welcome to You Ask Andy

 Michael McConnell, age 13, of Haggerstown, Md.,  for his question:

WHO ASKED, "DR. LIVINGSTON, I PRESUME?"

David Livingston, a Scottish doctor and missionary, considered one of the most important explorers of Africa, was on an expedition in 1866 to discover the sources of the Nile River. Little was heard from Livingstone and his welfare became a matter of international concern.

After great privations, Livingstone returned to a town named Ujiji and was met by a rescue party led by Henry Morton Stanley, an Anglo American journalist, who is said to have greeted the famous explorer with the now famous remark: "Dr. Livingstone, I  presume?"

Earlier, Livingstone began a journey from Ujiji on Lake Tanganyika, into the region lying west of the lake, becoming the first European to visit the Lualaba River, in present day Zaire. After Stanley met Livingstone, the two explored the country north of Lake Tanganyika together.

Livingstone was born in 1813 in Scotland. During his medical studies in Glasgow, he also attended classes in theology and in 1838 he offered his services to the London Missionary Soceity. At the completion of his medical course in 1840 at the age of 27, he was also ordained and sent as a medical missionary to South Africa.

Livingston began his work in Bechuanaland (now Botswana), trying to make his way northward, despite active hostility by the Boers, white settlers of mostly Dutch background. He traveled into regions where no European had ever been.

In 1848 Livingston crossed the Kalahari Desert and discovered Lake Ngami. In 1851, accompanied by his wife and children, he discovered the Zambezi River

On another expedition (1852 56) while looking for a route to the interior from the east or west coast, he traveled north from Cape Town to the Zambezi. He followed the river to its mouth in the Indian Ocean, thereby discovering (1855) the great Victoria Falls of the Zambezi.

Livingstone's explorations resulted in a revision of all contemporary maps.

 Livingstone was welcomed as a great explorer upon his return in 1856 to Great Britain and his book "Missionary Travels and Researchers in South Africa" (1857) made him famous. He resigned from the missionary society and in 1858 the British government appointed him British consul at Quelimane (now Mozambique) for the east coast of Africa and commander of the expedition to explore east and central Africa.

After his return to Africa, Livingstone led an expedition up the Shire Rivery and discovered Lake Nyasa. In 1859 he also explored the Rovuma River and discovered Lake Chilwa.

In 1866 Livingstone led an expedition to discover the source of the Nile and explore the watershed to central Africa. Traveling along the Rovuma River, the explorer made his way toward Lake Tanganyika, reaching its shore in 1869, after having discovered Lake Mweru and Bangweulu.

A bit later he met journalist Stanley.

Continuing his search for the source of the Nile, Livingstone died in what is now Zambia in 1873. His followers buried his heart at the foot of the tree beneath which he died and carried his body to Zanzibar. In 1874 his remains were buried in Westminster Abbey

 

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