David Livingstone Mission and Empire

by Ross, Andrew C.

• ISBN13: 9781852852856
• ISBN10: 1852852852
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-05-28
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

David Livingstone (1813-1873) was one of the supreme representatives of the British Empire. Yet his career suffered many set-backs during his own life-time, and since his death his reputation has swung between extremes of adulation and dismissal. Were his epic journeys through Africa purely to save souls and counter the slave trade? Or were they the first steps towards bringing the peoples of Central Africa under the control of Europeans who would destroy their values and exploit them economically? Beyond these questions, there lies the puzzle of Livingstone's own character and its contradictions. Livingstone's career was certainly an extraordinary one. Born in poverty in Blantyre, Scotland, he educated himself by heroic endeavor, later proving him-self to be a remarkable linguist and scientist. His missionary journeys brought him into contact with a wide range of African peoples, for whom he showed remarkable sympathy. David Livingstone: Mission and Empire is a scholarly and readable account of Livingstone's life and of his achievements.

Author Biography

Andrew Ross is the author of A Vision Betrayed: The Jesuits in Japan and China, 1549-1742 and Blantyre Mission and the Making of Modern Malawi. He is Honorary Fellow of the Faculty of Divinity, University of Edinburgh.

Table of Contents

Illustrations	vii
Introduction	ix
Note on African Names	xiii
The Displaced Gael	1	(10)
A Student in Glasgow and London	11	(16)
The LMS and Southern Africa	27	(10)
Kuruman and Mabotsa	37	(16)
Kolobeng and the North	53	(14)
South African Politics	67	(12)
Coast to Coast	79	(30)
Years of Triumph	109	(16)
The Zambesi Expedition	125	(26)
Linyanti	151	(14)
Failure and Defeat	165	(22)
Home and Family	187	(12)
Bombay to Bangweulu	199	(24)
Last Journeys	223	(16)
Livingstone and Imperialism	239	(6)
Notes	245	(20)
Bibliography	265	(3)
Index	268