David Livingstone

David married Mary Moffat on January 2, 1845, the daughter of Robert Moffat and had six children with her.

His wife Mary Moffat, born in Africa was a missionary by origin. Inflicted by ill health post marriage, she had a difficult time travelling with David. Succumbing to health issues, she passed away in 1862 leaving David alone in his missionary pursuits for another eleven years.

He was out of touch with the outside world due to severe illness with malaria and dysentery in his last years.

David Livingstone was born on March 19, 1813 in a dwelling building for cotton factory workers in Blantyre, Scotland, to Neil Livingstone and Agnes as their second child.

Like other children in the mill, he also attended the Blantyre village school.

At the tender age of 10, he was working in the cotton mill of Henry Monteith & Co wherein he tied broken cotton threads on the spinning machines and later as a spinner too.

With the help and support of his family, he managed to study even after 14 hour long working shifts.

His father always encouraged David to study only Theology but David’s inherent passion for science could not keep him away from the subject for long.

His passion for going to China was curbed by the Opium Wars of 1839-42 following which, his acquaintance with a renowned Scottish missionary, Robert Moffat from Africa ignited his passion for exploring Africa.

Without further delay, he set sail for South Africa on November 20, 1840 and reached Cape Town on March 14, 184.

David worked at the edge of the Kalahari Desert in southern Africa in 1841 wherein his conviction of exploring deeper in Africa and acquainting the people there with Christianity strengthened further.

He started off in 1849 to travel across the Kalahari following which he expedited the Lake Ngami in 1849 and the upper Zambezi River in 1851.

From 1852 onwards, four long years were spent hunting for a route from the explored Zambezi River to the coast.

David was honored with a gold medal by the British Royal Geographical Society for the first European exploration of Lake Ngami in 1849.

He was also made the Fellow of the Royal Geographical society; he kept the association with the society throughout his life.

Quite a number of statues have been erected in his honor all over the world like the one at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe,

The town of Livingstonnia and the city of Blantyre, Malawi, have been named after David Livingstone and his birthplace respectively.

Various schools and hospitals in Africa have been named after him - The Rhodes–Livingstone Institute in Livingstone and Lusaka, Zambia, the David Livingstone Teachers’ Training College, The David Livingstone Clinic in Lilongwe, Malawi, Scottish Livingstone Hospital in Molepolole and many more.