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David Livingstone part 3
David believed that he should find ways in which people could travel more easily across Africa. This would mean that people from Britain could trade with those in Africa, buying goods from African people and paying in money or in goods that the Africans wanted. He thought that trade would make the Africans better off and that they would not need to sell people as slaves.
If people could travel more easily in Africa then more missionaries could come and tell people about Jesus and about God.
In order to do this David wanted to find out if it would be possible to sail boats up the Zambezi River. He also wanted to find paths that traders would take where they would not find mountains or forests in the way.
He set out on journeys to explore Africa. He had many adventures. Once he was attacked by a lion which bit him and crushed his shoulder. It did not kill him but he had pain from his injury for the rest of his life.
In 1855 David found a huge waterfall. He was the first person from Europe to see it. It was named the Victoria falls after Queen Victoria who was on the throne at this time.
In 1866 he discovered a huge lake which was named Lake Victoria .
dlivpart3.2.mp3
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dlivpart3.3.mp3
On one of his journeys David was away for so long that people in Britain did not know what had happened to him and they were wondering if he was still alive. He tried to send back letters but they were lost. A man called Stanley worked for the Herald newspaper. He decided to go to Africa and try to find David. He knew that if he could send a story about this back to his newspaper a lot of people would want to buy the paper. In 1871 Stanley found David near lake Tanganyika and the words he said to him have become famous, "Dr Livingstone, I presume."
David died in Zambia in 1873. He had been suffering from malaria. This is probably one of the diseases he would have liked to find a cure for. Today malaria still kills many people in Africa and scientists are still working to find a vaccine which will prevent it.
When David died he had two African friends with him. They were called Chuma and Susi. They took out his heart and buried it under a tree. This may seem a strange thing to do but they felt that David loved Africa and his heart should stay there. They then carried his body back for a thousand miles so it could be put on a ship back to Britain.
When the body was back in Britain some people were not sure if it really was David Livingstone's body. Doctors examined it and found that it was the body of someone who had been wounded by a lion. They knew it was David Livingstone's body. He was buried in Westminster abbey.
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The Contents have now been moved to the "Index page. Click the titles on the brown bar at the top of the page or the black bar at the bottom of the page to navigate to "Index" (with contents) or any topic of interest,
The Contents have now been moved to the "Index page. Click the titles on the brown bar at the top of the page or the black bar at the bottom of the page to navigate to "Index" (with contents) or any topic of interest, To learn about the work of other missionaries navigate to Saints missionaries martyrs.
