History

The Backdrop

Africa: the world's last uncharted continent. In the mid 1800s, a small group of explorers were dedicated to unlocking Africa's secrets. In particular, they were obsessed with locating the source of the Nile River. It was considered the world's greatest geographical mystery, and it was said that the man who found it would go down in history as the world's greatest explorer. In 1857, British explorers Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke traveled into Africa together to find "the Source." Their paths diverged halfway through the journey. By the time they returned to London, each claimed to have found it, but in two very different locations. Their ensuing feud became notorious. They finally agreed to publicly debate their findings in September 1864. Speke, however, shot himself on the morning of the debate.

Dr. David Livingstone

Enter Livingstone. Desperate to pinpoint the Source, Royal Geographical Society president Sir Roderick Murchison reached out to a good friend. Dr. David Livingstone was the world's greatest explorer, a man who had charted the Kalahari Desert, followed the Zambezi River from its source to the ocean, and walked alone across Africa.

Enter Livingstone. Desperate to pinpoint the Source, Royal Geographical Society president Sir Roderick Murchison reached out to a good friend. Dr. David Livingstone was the world's greatest explorer, a man who had charted the Kalahari Desert, followed the Zambezi River from its source to the ocean, and walked alone across Africa.

Explorers were the rock stars of Victorian England, and no man was more revered and beloved than Livingstone. A staunch opponent of the African slave trade, the former missionary was so famous that he was mobbed by crowds on the streets of London, and even in church. He was 51 when Murchison asked him to find the Source, and considered his days of exploring a thing of the past. For the sake of their friendship, Livingstone agreed to undertake one last journey.

Livingstone's Trip

Livingstone marched into Africa on 4 April, 1866. He was traveling eastward from the Indian Ocean, following the path of the Rovuma River, which now forms the border between Mozambique and Tanzania.

Things went wrong almost immediately. His porters deserted, his medical supplies and food stores went missing and he was reduced to depending upon Arab slave traders for sustenance as he continued his search. A journey that was supposed to last just one or two years stretched to three, then four, then five, all without him sending word to the outside world.

Back in London, concern about Livingstone's fate reached a fever pitch. There were rumours that he had been eaten by cannibals or burned at the stake. But even as those rumours were fanned in the pages of the Times of London, no one went into Africa looking for him.

Henry Morton Stanley

Enter Stanley. Henry Morton Stanley was the ultimate enigma. Born in Wales to the son of the town prostitute and town drunk, he stowed away on a ship to America as a teenager. There he changed his name from John Rowlands to Henry Stanley, added "Morton" as a middle name later on, and soon pretended to be an American.

He fought for both the north and south in the Civil War before becoming a journalist. Stanley went to work for the New York Herald, whose owner James Gordon Bennett, Jr. was an anti-British enfant terrible, who wanted nothing more than to trump the Times of London by finding Livingstone. For this, he called upon Stanley. In January 1871, the terrified 30 year old reporter arrived in Zanzibar to launch a secret mission in search of Livingstone. What followed would be the greatest needle-in-a-haystack search in history.

Stanley's Challenge

Livingstone could have been anywhere in Africa. Anywhere. Stanley was so overwhelmed by his task, and so fearful of Africa's many dangers (man-eating animals, deadly diseases like malaria and sleeping sickness, dozens of varieties of poisonous snakes, crocodiles, cannibals and other hostile tribes among them), that he contemplated suicide.

Yet on 21 March, leading a caravan of almost 200 porters, Stanley marched from the seaside village of Bagamoyo into the African interior. His goal was a major trading out post named Ujiji on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, where it was thought he might hear news of Livingstone.

Coming Together

By now Livingstone was in Central Africa. He was not only dependent upon the Arab slavers for food and shelter, but he suffered repeated bouts of disease. Even if he wanted to make his way back to civilization, he was too weak and lacked the means.

But after witnessing the Arabs slaughter several hundred African villagers, Livingstone finally had enough. He fled into the jungle and headed west for the village of Ujiji.

Stanley, meanwhile, was traveling east towards Livingstone. Day by day, mile by mile, their paths grew closer. Stanley endured malaria, smallpox, tribal warfare, mutinous porters and crocodile attacks. At one point he lost 40 pounds from dysentery in a week. Finally, in October, he walked into Ujiji.

Livingstone was near death. Toothless, suffering from anemia and malnutrition, he was praying as he heard the news of an approaching caravan. The people of Ujiji thronged to meet Stanley's group and a curious Livingstone rose to join them. When the two men finally gazed at each other, the only white men for 1,000 miles in any direction, Stanley says that his first words were simple and yet profound: "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"

The Aftermath

The two men became fast friends. In Livingstone, Stanley found the father he'd never had. He nursed Livingstone back to health, and the men spent several months exploring together. But finally it came time to return to England. Livingstone, who still hadn't found the Source, refused to go back. Stanley wept as they parted and promised to send Livingstone a fresh group of porters and supplies to continue his mission. Stanley returned to fame and fortune in England, and his discovery of Livingstone was later said to be the greatest newspaper story of the 19th century.

Livingstone, though, died on his knees in prayer on 1 May, 1873. Porters removed his heart and buried it in Africa. Then they carried Livingstone's body almost 2,000 miles back to the coast, where it was then transported to England. His funeral in Westminster Abbey was one of the biggest in modern history, with thousands of people lining the route as his coffin was pulled through the streets of London.

Henry Morton Stanley was a pallbearer that April day in 1874. As he walked out the great doors of Westminster Abbey into the springtime sunshine, he vowed to continue the work that Livingstone had left undone. And he did. From that day forward, Stanley was no longer a journalist, but an explorer. On his subsequent journey to Africa, he pinpointed Lake Victoria as the Source of the Nile River, thus proving the ill-fated Speke correct.

Written by Martin Dugard, the author of Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley & Livingstone.