Stanley Finds Livingstone
"Stanley Finds Livingstone" refers to the historic encounter on November 10, 1871, when journalist Henry Morton Stanley located the missing Scottish explorer David Livingstone in the African interior. Livingstone, born in 1813, was a missionary and explorer known for his extensive travels in Africa, where he sought to spread Christianity and fought against the slave trade. His disappearance in Central Africa during the mid-1860s sparked international concern, prompting the New York Herald to send Stanley on a mission to find him.
Stanley, born in 1841 in Wales, embarked on his expedition in March 1871, leading a sizable party into the uncharted regions of Africa, often using force to suppress local resistance. He ultimately discovered Livingstone near Lake Tanganyika, where he provided critical medical assistance and supplies. This encounter became famous for Stanley's greeting, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" Following their meeting, Stanley returned to Zanzibar in 1872 and published "How I Found Livingstone," which gained significant popularity. The story highlights themes of exploration, colonialism, and the complexities of European interactions with Africa during the 19th century. Livingstone passed away in Africa on May 1, 1873, and Stanley continued his explorations until his death in 1904.
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Stanley Finds Livingstone
Stanley Finds Livingstone
On November 10, 1871, the journalist Henry Morton Stanley found the missing explorer David Livingstone deep within the African interior. In one of history's most famous utterances, he greeted Livingstone with the words, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”
Livingstone was born on March 19, 1813, in Blantyre, Scotland. He was educated in medicine and religion. During the 19th century, Great Britain established a massive colonial empire in Africa, the interior of which was still largely unexplored by Europeans. As the British domains continued to expand, many people were attracted by the prospect of adventure in these mysterious inner reaches of Africa. Livingstone became an explorer and missionary, mapping these new lands and trying to bring Christianity to the natives. He saw the results of the slave trade and campaigned rigorously against it, making some enemies in the process. During the mid-1860s he disappeared while in Central Africa, roughly in the region of the modern nations of Tanzania and the Congo (formerly Zaire). As international publicity about Livingstone's disappearance increased, the New York Herald, an American newspaper, recruited Stanley to find him.
Stanley was born on January 28, 1841, in Denbigh, Wales. He led an adventurous life, traveling to the United States in 1859 and serving in both the Confederate and Union armies during the Civil War which erupted just a few years later. After the war he became a correspondent journalist, following various military campaigns around the world with American and British armies. Stanley's primary employer became the Herald, run by James Gordon Bennett. His most famous assignment became finding Livingstone, which he undertook in March 1871. Landing at the East African port of Zanzibar, Stanley took an expedition of approximately 2,000 men into the interior, bloodily suppressing any native resistance to his progress. By November 10, 1871, he had reached the town of Ujiji on Lake Tanganyika, where he found Livingstone near death and had him nursed back to health. After providing Livingstone with some badly needed supplies and assisting him in an exploration of the northern portion of the lake, Stanley and his party returned to Zanzibar in 1872.
After his return, Stanley wrote How I Found Livingstone (1872), a book about his adventures. It became a best-seller in Britain, and Stanley went on to lead further expeditions into the African interior. He died on May 10, 1904, in London, England. Livingstone died in Africa on May 1, 1873.