Preview

David Livingstone

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2932 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
David Livingstone
David Livingstone was one of the most revered and respected African explorers of his time. He spent almost 30 years exploring a region little known to the outside world. He often put ambition before family and his own personal health in his quest to open the interior of Africa to “Civilization, Christianity, and Commerce.”(Hollett 236) Through his daring explorations into the unknown, he discovered and documented many new landmarks inside the dark continent, and at times became obsessed with his determination to find a single source of the Nile. He had a major impact on later expeditions into central Africa. . Livingstone was born to a poor Scottish family in 1813. Starting at age ten, Livingstone worked in a cotton mill while pursuing his studies at night. He was an avid reader, and would often stay up until twelve or later, buried in a book. Livingstone enjoyed reading on a variety of subjects, but read mostly scientific works and explorer’s journals. As a boy, David made few friends. Others described him as quiet, sulky, and unremarkable. Yet despite this, David was a tireless worker, and extremely motivated toward his goals. By age 17, Livingstone had decided he wanted to leave the mill and become a doctor. Livingstone’s father, a deeply religious man, wanted him to go into a religious field, and would not allow him to go. Livingstone eventually convinced his father to let him go to school and become a missionary in China. After finishing school, Livingstone had planned to go to China to perform his missionary duties, but because of the Opium War, Livingstone’s plans were altered. He continued his studies, and became a respected member of the medical community. Soon though, he offered his services to the London Missionary Society, and was assigned to a mission in Africa. Early knowledge and exploration of Africa was confined to desert and coastal regions. The

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    His parents were taking him on the Hindenburg with his sister to see another doctor to hopefully cure his sister of malaria.…

    • 580 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Freturned back to Spain. Even though he did not find was he was seeking, Francisco Vázquez de Coronado still managed to discover some pretty interesting things even if he didn't even know it.…

    • 207 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Douglass lived in the slave times. It was illegal to a slave to read and write. Any slave caught reading or writing would be severely punished or even killed. Slave owners felt that if they learn they will soon rebel and start to fight back. Douglass even grew up not even knowing his own age. His master’s wife is what started off his education with the alphabet behind the master’s back. Through little poor children, He exchanged food for book lessons with the children. He became self-taught in gradually teaching himself to read and write. Which is how he went form slave to free man.…

    • 1171 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    World History 600-1450

    • 3256 Words
    • 14 Pages

    for many years in China. He was accompanied by his father and uncle, who were merchants…

    • 3256 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The job of an explorer required the overcoming of many challenging obstacles and hardships. Thompson travelled over 128, 747 km, a staggering number that was ten times higher than the miles travelled by Lewis & Clark. Throughout that astonishingly long journey, Thompson would’ve hiked many hills, mountains, rivers, etc. Thompson also faced the obstacles of extreme heat, extreme cold, snow, rain, etc. “Going over one set of falls, Thompson and his men lost their canoes and almost all their gear. They were near starvation when they limped into a Native encampment a week later.” This was not the only major hardship David Thompson faced during his career as an explorer. “He survived numerous accidents, a near fatal case of malaria, debilitating cholera, blindness in one eye, and rheumatism in his leg.” This proves just how mentally and physically tough David Thompson really was. Thompson’s upbringings were also tough as his father passed away when he was a young boy. This forced Thompson to be placed into a school of orphans and foundlings. With all these mental obstacles, Thompson still managed to work hard in school and receive an apprenticeship with the Hudson’s Bay Company at age 14. Without his mental and physical toughness, David Thompson would not have been able to succeed in his achievements as a legendary explorer.…

    • 777 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    When he was little one, he lived with his parents in Tanzania, because his father worked a lot in order to build a Christian central medical in that place and his mother was a teacher where he was in the school where there were a lot of kids that were from 28 different nations so he learned to speak different language from that country and place. Then he graduated and got the degree of chemistry and nursing, so then he became a climber…

    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Marco Polo Book Report

    • 1103 Words
    • 5 Pages

    He shortened the route around Africa. Instead of hugging the African coast, he “struck boldly into the ocean.” He passed Cape Verde Islands, only about seven hundred miles from South America. Rounding the Cape of Good Hope, he traveled up the east coast. He found guides who knew the route to India, and cut across the Indian Ocean to Calicut, India. He lost a ship on the way.…

    • 1103 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ganga Zumba was affected by some of these things and he had a different life from others of the time. Ganga Zumba had an interesting life. He was born in the Kingdom of Kongo, in present day Angola, Cabinda. Zumba was African American. He lived from 1630 to 1678, so had a good life of fifty-eight years.…

    • 584 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Frederick Douglass was a creative writer who lived in Augustus Washington Bailey and was separated from his mother when he was a few weeks old and was raised by his mother's grandparents.”when he was about eight he was sent to Baltimore to live as a houseboy with Hugh and Sophia”.…

    • 258 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    To begin with, Douglass and Washington received their education in two different manners. Douglass faced abounding adversities in his pursuit of education. When he left Colonel Lloyd’s plantation at age seven to be a house slave for the Aulds in Baltimore, he met the kind, caring heart of…

    • 1798 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Douglass worked in many different areas and trades to make a living for himself. In the very beginning, “Douglass disguised himself as a free black sailor a creditable ruse given the nautical knowledge he gained from working on the waterfront.” (Frederick Douglass, History.com). Douglass became extremely trusted working as a sailor on the waterfront. Douglass proved himself to have an outstanding work-ethic and ability to make educated decisions on his own with little assistance. . Douglass was doing extremely well as a free man. “Douglass proved himself a talented caulker, he thrived at work and became an apprentice to a ship builder until anti-black sentiment drove him from the job.” (Frederick Douglass, Biography.com). Although, Douglass was living as a free man he still had to fight racism and many people working against his liberty and success. “Douglass found other work soon and was trusted to find his own contracts and make his own money.” (Frederick Douglass, Biography.com). On his own Douglass prospered. Douglass was married in 1938 and had children who were all born free. “By 1841 Douglass had been hired as a field lecturer for the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery society, and he was well on his way to becoming one of the most powerful orators of the nineteenth century.” (Fourth of July…

    • 1230 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    His transfer to the city opened his eyes to differing conditions there were from the country life. When Douglass spent his youngest years on the country side in Maryland physical conditions were much more painful than those of the city. The city is a place where even slaves were groomed to look more presentable and usually fed well. Mrs. Auld was the first person that brought this realization to light. She was said to be the kindest white woman Douglass ever met. He gushed about her kind heart until as he puts it, “slavery turned it to stone”. His writings of her prior to becoming entrenched with the power that slavery brought to many white people during this time showed how fond he was of her and she of him. She began to teach him the to spell until she was told by her husband that it was unsafe to educate a slave. “Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world”. This quote came from Mr. Auld who said that Frederick should know nothing more than to obey his master. This brutal teardown of Douglass’s confidence soon after turned in to motivation. Douglass became even more to find a way to gain an education by beginning with learning to read. He did in time learn to read which angered his masters to no end. He was banned from newspapers and books but managed to sneak in time to do so. Books opened his mind to deep thoughts and ideas. One specific word Douglass found interest…

    • 1673 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    n Said Hamdun and Noel King's book Ibn Battuta in Black Africa, they point out some especially important contributions still lasting to modern day studies of society. In the year 1331 c.e, the world's major civilizations were in fact growing and advancing at an astonishing rate. Historians know quite a bit about a few cultures and empires of this time. These societies such as the Romans, Greeks, and Chinese to name a few kept written records of daily life and events. Accounts of these societies, for example, are also briefly stated in records in societies of which they interacted. In Ibn Battutas' travels, he not only visited the known societies but the unknown as well. Travelers such as Marco Polo did the same, but not to the extent that Ibn Battuta did. Without the journals of Battuta, we in modern times would know far less than we do now about "less" publicized cultures such as the ones he visited in East and West Africa. In his writings,…

    • 446 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Being that Lumumba worked hard in order to work his way up the ranks and into the African elite, through: volunteering, school, learning the language of the French, and even obtaining his matriculation, he could never truly enjoy all the rights given to the whites. Lumumba was determined to fight this issue, and joined various associations (where he most often became vice president/president)…

    • 181 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cecil Rhodes

    • 1043 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In 1873 he was sent to Oriel College in Oxford, England, but didn't receive his degree until 1881 due to his frequent trips to Africa. It was in 1875 that a trip through the rich territories of Transvaal and Bechuanaland helped inspire his dream of British rule all over South Africa. He was a zealous countryman and a firm believer in colonization. He spoke of British dominion from "Cape to Cairo" and to "paint the map red" as red was the color of Britain and her colonies. He even began construction of a railway from Cape Colony to Cairo, which remnants of are still in use today.…

    • 1043 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays