David Livingstone

The Scottish missionary and medic believed that slavery could better be eradicated by trade than by force.

1840-1873

Queen Victoria 1837-1901

Introduction

By the 1840s Britain had so repented of her involvement in slavery that she was the leading force in worldwide abolition. One of the most beloved anti-slavery campaigners was Scottish missionary, Dr David Livingstone.

by Clay Lane

IT was at a public meeting, on 1st June, 1840, that with the words ‘Christianity, commerce, civilisation’ Sir Thomas Buxton, an anti-slavery campaigner, awoke medical student David Livingstone to his lifelong calling: to destroy the slave trade by persuading Africa to trade in farm and factory goods rather than people.

That December, now working for the London Missionary Society, Livingstone left for Bechuanaland in Africa.

However, the LMS’s community in Kuruman was too small and unambitious for Livingstone: he preferred to travel through the continent’s vast interior accompanied by a small, lightly-armed team, so as not to appear threatening.

It was typical of his respect for the dignity and worth of ordinary Africans that he learnt their languages, and offered advice on medicine and irrigation.

All the while, however, he was mapping potential ‘highways’ such as the Zambesi, and cataloguing natural resources that might provide a profitable alternative to selling slaves to the Arabs, and the Portuguese in Mozambique.

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Précis

David Livingstone was a Scottish doctor and missionary who explored the heart of Africa hoping to combat the slave-trade - still flourishing despite British efforts to end it - by helping Africans to engage in legitimate commerce instead. To that end, he travelled across the continent mapping possible transport routes and natural resources while giving practical help to farming communities.

Sevens

Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.

What inspired David Livingstone to go to Africa?

Jigsaws

Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.

Livingstone was studying to be a doctor. He heard a speech about the African slave-trade. He decided to become a missionary.

Clay Lane The Copybook