David Livingstone

David Livingstone was a Scottish missionary and explorer who arrived in southern Africa in 1841 and spent the next thirty-two years of his life investigating rivers and lakes. This image depicts his expedition to locate Lake Ngami. A later quest took him to Victoria Falls. In both instances, he was most likely the first European to view them. Livingstone advocated that trade along waterways could replace slavery on the continent, a development that would also benefit the English sponsors of his expeditions. Livingstone traveled with a relatively small retinue, though one can catch glimpses of the rest of his supply train in the distance. Hundreds of porters, guards, cooks, and guides were some of those necessary to an expedition’s success, while leaders such as Livingstone were mythologized as solitary and heroic figures braving all obstacles alone. (chromolithograph from The Life and Explorations of David Livingstone [London, © 1878] / Universal History Archive / UIG / Bridgeman Images.)