David Livingstone (19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish Congregationalist pioneer medical missionary with the London Missionary Society and an explorer in Africa. His meeting with H.
M. Stanley gave
rise to the popular quotation, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"
Perhaps
one of the most popular national heroes of the late 19th century in Victorian Britain, Livingstone had a
mythic status, which operated on a number of interconnected levels: that of
Protestant missionary martyr, that of working-class "rags to riches"
inspirational story, that of scientific investigator and explorer, that of
imperial reformer, anti-slavery crusader, and advocate of commercial empire.
His
fame as an explorer helped drive forward the obsession with discovering the
sources of the River Nile that formed the culmination of the
classic period of European geographical discovery and colonial penetration of
the African continent. At the same time his missionary travels,
"disappearance" and death in Africa, and subsequent glorification as
posthumous national hero in 1874 led to the founding of several major central
African Christian missionary initiatives carried forward in the era of the
European "Scramble
for Africa"
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario