Epic Adventures of Stanley And Livingstone - Book Report/Review Example

 David Livingstone was born second son in a family of seven children to Neil Livingstone and Agnes on 19th march, 1813. His father worked as a missionary and a Sunday school teacher. His missionary work is that one that prompted David Livingstone to be a great missionary and explorer. David Livingstone set up a journey to the east of Africa in his urge of exploration in search of the source of the River Nile[Mar03]. His previous journey to the east of Africa had given him the limelight of things that he may encounter. The book gives us a picture of the challenges he encountered and how he overcame them. It also describes the journey of Henry Morton Stanley that was meant to meet David Livingstone in their exploration mission. The journey began on 15th March, 1866, and the first destination was Zanzibar[Mar03]. Zanzibar Island is found in East Africa and together with the mainland forms the present Tanzania. He illustrates it as an Island within the tropical. At this place, he met fellow diplomats from the United States, Great Britain and other countries in the European continent. These were the diplomats who were fighting for the control of the East Africa region which was becoming rich in terms of resources and labor. They were also interested in the slave trade that was taking place where slaves were being taken from Africa and sold to the rich American farmers and industrialists. This activity made the once a coastal paradise town lose its beauty as human excrement and trash had piled on the sandy beaches[Mar03]. Livingstone had much compassion to the slaves. One of the major events he encountered on slavery was when he with a group of the men who were assisting him came across a woman slave. She was lying down after being stubbed to death by her Indian master. Because her being stubbed was because she had become so much tired that she could not have continued with the journey to the coastal port for shipment. Therefore, she had turned to be a liability that could not be kept alive any more. He also witnessed an event he terms as the most horrific in his entire life. That was when he saw about four hundred slaves being killed in a massacre by their slavery. That event revealed to him the nature of slavery as inhuman and merciless. In fact, they took Africans as a lesser human beings who deserved to be treated worse than animals. While writing this episode in his diary, Livingstone admitted that ending the slave trade could have been more desirable to him than his major purpose for the journey that was to discover the source of River Nile. He explains that the slave trade had many challenges. First, it was an investment that was carried out by the rich European men. Secondly, he did not have any friend who was rich. Therefore, any effort that he could have put in place could be seriously challenged, and it could also mean being put to death. So, he just witnessed the vice without having any option. Thus, he just got focused on his main agent in the African continent. It is in this Zanzibar town where explorers from Europe could buy their items before setting for the journey in the interior hinterland. The locals had already noticed him from his previous visit and acknowledge him as the best either in negotiations or other sociological activities. People in his backyard could not take seriously his mission, but those who lived in Zanzibar especially the Arabs did not have any doubt on him. They took him seriously arguing that he had some powers and was so blessed. He was also brave and could persevere climatic conditions as he once did when he crossed the Kalahari Desert in his pursue to trace the path of the Zambezi River during his middle age[Mar03]. He predicted that his mission could take about two years as he knew the place well. He always kept a good record about his daily activity. His first achievement was to disprove the Scot’s geographers who believed that there is a vast desert which cuts across the middle of Africa. But as he travelled into the interior of Africa between 1841 and 1863, he discovered that most of the coastal hinterland was main highlands covered with woodlands. Tropical rain forests, plateaus, wetlands and other conditions which deviates the normal conditions of the desert features. He also discovers that civilization had grown in the central and south of Africa just as it was in Egypt and other regions of northern Africa. About twenty million communities living in this region of Africa, lived in clusters where families shared huts made of mud and grass roofs, a door and the shelter surrounded by thorn lived fence. They also made spears for fight and protection using iron and copper. The communities also weaved clothes and brewed beer from bananas and grains. They had a good tool making skills which enabled them to cultivate grounds. They had a good mode of transferring communication from one place to another through a relay swift runners[Mar03]. Livingstone was able to learn the Bantu language quickly and therefore he was able to overcome the language barrier challenge. This is because most of the tribes occupying the region were Bantus. Though the people were civilized, they were not willing to explore the interior of their continent. Former European explorers were not willing to attempt further exploration after the tragedy that fall on the former explorers. This is after the Carthaginian explorer was attacked by the inhabitants making a second group of Hanno fear and retreat back. The killer was then killed and skinned and taken to Carthage to prove to the world that there existed a mighty man who looked like a gorilla. This event plus others which the Hanno recorded established African reputation to the open world as a savage continent. Therefore, it was Livingstone’s to reopen the European minds in relation to Africa. He walked through the land of Africa from 1852 to 1856 from east to west across south-central Africa along the Zambezi River. During the journey, he was tired and scathed. David was first set out from his family and relatives. Due to long separation and daily interaction with the African communities, he lost his fluency in Scottish and could hardly construct a sentence in English. Hookworm attacked him, and he became anemic. Moreover, he was at one time attacked by a lion and was terribly hurt in his left arm, a mark that did not disappear in his lifetime. He took this episode of struggling with a lion as a shield, and he could never fear death. This was his motivation factor for his quest in searching the source of river Nile. Before he set out on his second mission on 28th January, 1866he purchased items which included clothes and beads[Mar03]. The currency of the interior villagers was the beads and so he could exchange the beads for food. They were also used for paying the potters who helped him to carry his belongings. He also arranged for the shipment of food to the Ujiji village which was on the west of Zanzibar and east of Lake Tanganyika. This food would be vital for him in case of calamities such as theft or medical emergency. Although he opposed slave trade that was conducted by Arabs, he could afford to quite it because he was using them to ship the supplies to the Ujiji village. His request for food was also meant to ease his missionary activity in the African land. Though that was not his main concern during that time, Livingstone could do the missionary activity to the community he met on his way. Food was vital in missionary work because it was the only way a missionary could attract the locals. He is however criticized for this work because he was able to convert only one individual to Christianity. Fewer converts were because of the natives’ strong culture and religion. Their belief and cultural practices such as polygamy, witchcrafts and the worship of different gods during different occasions made it difficult for Livingstone to convert them to Christianity. In fact, during his second journey for such of river Nile, he never converted a single African to Christianity. The only one who was converted was during his first mission on the south of Africa. In this journey, trust was the focal point. He had some young men who acted as his servants. These were thirteen Sepoys, ten Johanna men, nine Nasick boys, two Shupanga men and two Waiyaus, Wakatini and Chuma. The Sepoys were Indians marines who had been deployed to Livingstone by the Governor of Bombay Sir Bartle Frere. They were all very loyal to Livingstone and could train the newcomers their role when their term came to an end. There were also animals that could carry heavy loads that could not be carried by men. These animals were six camels, three buffaloes, a calf, two mules and four donkeys[Mar03]. In this mission of exploration, Livingstone was the only European and so he did not have anyone he can share things or problems from his motherland. Livingstone believed that where the River Nile begins could have flowed into the Zambezi River or in the west of Congo. His assumptions were brought by the fact that there were many great rivers in the south of the equator. He entered into the jungle on 4th April, 1866 and disappeared from the outside world. He walked into the deep forests, valleys and mountains for many months and years before reaching his destination at the bank of Lake Victoria that opened him to the source of the River Nile. During his long stay in his exploration mission, many people in his country and Europe began to get concerned about him. Some news reporters made a report of his death in two different occasions. This death report prompted his family and confidants very sadly. Also, the assumptions he had made on how long his journey could take added their worry because the days had far way gone. Due to these reasons and the many others, another explorer Henry Morton Stanley arranged on a journey to trace him. It was about one month when Henry Morton Stanley began the journey towards David Livingstone not knowing of his whereabouts. Stanley had not achieved anything that he could have been identified with now at the age of twenty five years. He had published numerous freelance newspaper pieces and unclear plans of becoming a successful journalist in the future as his career. Stanley was in the company of William Harlow Cook, who was a fellow journalist to be. The two had met in the Black Hawk City in Colorado and wanted to be part of Livingstone famous journey of exploration. Their ambitions were blocked by many abstractions as they were forced to swim across river using a log of the tree. They did not have a good swim as they were forced to swim at the shore. At this time, they were working at the military. Stanley like Livingstone never gave up so easily. He struggled in the jungle and in he finally met David Livingstone on the month of November, 1871. This was after six years that David Livingstone lost contact with the world where he came from. David Livingstone health was deteriorating while on the jungle and he made efforts so that he could communicate to his people in Zanzibar where he was well known. He wrote forty four letters but about his situations in the mainland but only one of the letter reached the destined place. This was the letter that prompted the New York Herald management to send Stanley in 1869. When they met on 10th November, 1871 on the shores of Lake Tanganyika at Ujiji town, it is said that Stanley could recognize Livingstone well though in an unfamiliar way. Living was the only white man in hundreds of mile. Therefore, the Stanley was confused by the appearance of Livingstone due to his weak physique that resulted from his illness, he remained to be the only white man. It is presumed that he greeted him by introduction of his famous title, ‘Dr. Livingstone, I presume’. In response, David Livingstone answered as ‘yes’. The records of this salutation have however missed from both men diaries. It is supposed that Stanley plucked the page on his diary where he had recorded the conversation. For the case of David Livingstone, there was no record of such greetings. Is it only recorded by the New York Herald editors who followed every trace of the two great explorers? Stanley’s main mission after finding the long lost man was to take him back home where he could receive better treatment and rest for he was quickly advancing in age. He therefore tried to persuade Livingstone but the explorer could not accept. He said that he cannot not leave the continent and go back home before his mission was accomplished. He turned to Lualaba region where he thought that he could find a way to connect to the River Nile. This direction however did not help him to find his quest. Many people wanted to be recognized as the ones who had discovered the source of the Nile. For example, Burton and Speke would argue who on who discovered the Nile River source[Mar03]. Each person interest was not just claiming to be associated with the River but was to destroy each other socially, professionally and economically. Finally, Speke in his findings concluded that the source of the River Nile was a huge lake which had a rectangular shape. He estimated the size of that lake to be the size of Scotland. Then he named it Lake Victoria Nyanza. Lake Victoria has since been the name of the lake. The lake is honored after the Queen. Burton also had an idea about the source of the River Nile. For him, he said that Lake Tanganyika was the source since it was about 150miles south west of Victoria Nyanza. He never disputed of Victoria Nyanza as a source, but he believed that there was a huge river that connected the two lakes and that there were mountains and valleys in between which had not been discovered. It was Livingstone’s final submissions that were taken as true. He found the source of the River Nile to be the Lake Victoria[Mar03]. This lake was placed in East Africa and had its tributaries from rivers on the west of the lake. David Livingstone later died on 1st may, 1873 from malaria and internal bleeding in Ilala village near Lake Bangwelulu. In conclusion, Stanly and Livingstone brought a beginning of an era of civilization and discoveries. Many European who came after the adventure of Stanley and Livingstone established churches, schools and hospitals and opened the interiors of Africa for farming, mining and adventure. It was a journey of a life time that brought tremendous changes in Africa and the rest of the world. Works Cited Mar03: , (Dugard 10), Mar03: , (Dugard 11), Mar03: , (Dugard 45), Mar03: , (Dugard 115), Mar03: , (Dugard 267), Mar03: , (Dugard 129), Mar03: , (Dugard 161), Mar03: , (Dugard), Mar03: , (Dugard 28), Read More