Medical Missionary

During the reign of Queen Victoria, 1837 to 1901,

British people traveled around the whole world.

They charted the seas, mapped out distant countries,

and studied plants, animals, and people.

They also claimed many lands for England.

This kind of international travel was made easier

by improved transportation and communication.

New inventions such as steamships, trains, telegraphs,

and telephones made long distances seem smaller.

Of course, people had different reasons for going to distant lands.

Some were businessmen who saw economic opportunities overseas.

Soldiers wanted fame and a chance to enlarge the British Empire.

Big game hunters wanted to be the first to shoot strange animals

and bring back trophies to England.

Scientists intended to study unknown animals and plants.

Missionaries planned to be the first to introduce Christianity to faraway people.

In 1836, a young Scotsman called David Livingston began to study medicine in Glasgow.

Livingston intended to become a medical missionary.

This means that he would be a doctor, as well as a preacher and teacher.

Livingston, 1813-1873, came from a poor family.

From an early age, he had worked 14 hours a day in a clothing factory for very little pay.

But he was determined to learn.

He took his books with him to the factory and read as he worked.

Then, after work, he would go to his teacher to learn more.

Livingston's goal was to teach faraway people about Jesus.

However, unlike some missionaries, he was also interested in science, geography, and exploring.

He had planned to go to China in 1839, but because of the Opium Wars, no missionaries were being sent there.

Instead, he asked to go to South Africa.

Europeans had traveled around the coasts of Africa for hundreds of years, but very few white people had traveled inland.

A missionary named Robert Moffat, who had begun a mission at Curriman in the interior, inspired Livingston.

Livingston arrived in Curriman in 1841.

This was the farthest outpost of white settlement,

and no one seemed to want to go further inland.

Livingston felt that the missionaries should go to the Africans,

rather than waiting for the Africans to come to them.

With a fellow missionary, he set out.

When they came to an African tribe,

they would talk to the chief and ask permission to preach to his people.

Livingston would also set up a tent and treat the people who had diseases.

After a while, he would move on to the next tribe.

Once Livingston learned the Bantu language, he would talk to many Africans.

But sometimes he needed interpreters.

There were many diseases, including malaria and sleeping sickness.

Livingston suffered much of his life from river fever.

He was also so weak that he rode on the back of an ox.

Livingston wanted to stop the slave trade.

At this time, the slave trade was the most profitable business in Africa.

Livingston hoped that if other kinds of trade were developed, then slavery could be abolished.

In order to open up trade, he wanted to find an easy route into the center of Africa.

Livingston kept going further into the interior.

He was probably the first European to cross the Kalahari Desert

before reaching Lake Nagami in present-day Botswana.

Not long after, he traveled further inland.

He explored the sources of the Zambezi and Kansai rivers

and eventually reached the west coast of Africa and Luanda, Angola.

Livingston was being criticized for neglecting missionary work in order to explore.

Livingston replied that he was opening up the continent for missionaries.

Meanwhile, he was becoming famous as a great explorer.

The British government commissioned him to explore the Zambezi River.

They hoped that ships could sail up the river into the interior.

Unfortunately, the Zambezi had too many rapids.

However, Livingston did find a route up the Shire River to Lake Nyasa.

He continued to struggle against the slave trade, which is now being taken over by Arabs.

Livingston died in Africa in 1873.

He was the first white man to explore Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, and surrounding areas.

He was not only a great explorer, but also a fine doctor and a good missionary.

Nowadays, the countries that Livingston visited are nearly all Christian, just as he had hoped they would be.