34 h 13 minAudiobook9 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 34 h 13 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Across forest, swamp and fever, a missionary doctor follows a route shaped by faith, trade and the fight against slavery.
In Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa, David Livingstone recounts sixteen years in southern and central Africa. The Scottish doctor and missionary takes you from the edge of the Kalahari toward Lake Ngami and the Zambezi. Among the Tswana and Makololo, he learns about local life, meets chiefs and searches for routes through the interior.
The journey leads west to Luanda, through rivers, forest and swamp. Yet reaching the Atlantic leaves Livingstone with a promise to keep: to return his Makololo companions home. Alongside the hardships, he records farming, customs, wildlife and his own mistakes. His account also presses a larger argument, linking Christian missions and trade with his campaign against the slave trade.
What you’ll discover
- A promise across the continent Follow Livingstone as loyalty to his companions draws him back along a difficult road.
- Life beyond the route Meet chiefs, hunters and traders through observations of farming, customs and daily life.
- The great Zambezi falls Encounter Mosi-oa-Tunya through the first European description of the great falls on the Zambezi.
- A doctor's watchful eye Explore rivers, rainfall, plants and animals alongside frank accounts of illness and error.
- Faith, commerce and slavery Examine how Livingstone joins missionary aims, new trade routes and opposition to the slave trade.
Who will love it
This book is for readers who love real journeys, river maps, wild animals and field notes from the nineteenth century. It suits anyone curious about Africa's interior or about how one stubborn person keeps going.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A mill boy teaches himself to heal
- A lion's jaws and a chief's questions
- Drought at Kolobeng and the rainmaker
- The Boers, a cooking pot and a raid
- Across the Kalahari to the Zambesi
- West to Loanda and the coast
- Mosioatunya and the road to the sea
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Viaggi missionari e ricerche nell’Africa meridionale
by David Livingstone · 1857
A Scottish mill boy turned missionary walks across Africa, meeting lions, chiefs, fever and a thundering waterfall.
ChallengingOver 20 hours to readItaliano
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In short
What would make a man cross a continent and then sit down to write a book about it? David Livingstone answers in Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa, published in 1857.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A mill boy teaches himself to heal
Livingstone opens with his family. His great-grandfather fell at Culloden. His grandfather farmed on the island of Ulva, then moved to the cotton mills at Blantyre on the Clyde. A dying ancestor, the family says, left one rule to his children. Be honest. Livingstone hopes any errors in his pages will be read as honest mistakes.
At ten years old, he goes to work in the mill. He buys a Latin grammar with part of his first week's wages. The day starts at six in the morning and ends at eight at night. He props a book on the spinning machine so he can catch a sentence each time he passes. Then he studies at evening school until ten. The roar of the machines teaches him to shut out noise, a gift he uses later in Africa.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 9 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1857
- Language
- Italiano
- Reading time
- 22 h 15 min
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Livingstone, David. Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/missionary-travels-and-researches-in-south-africa.
Livingstone, D. (2026). Missionary travels and researches in South Africa. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/missionary-travels-and-researches-in-south-africa (Original work published 1857)
Livingstone, David. Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/missionary-travels-and-researches-in-south-africa.
@book{livingstone2026missionary,
author = {Livingstone, David},
title = {Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/missionary-travels-and-researches-in-south-africa},
note = {First published 1857}
}
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What is Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa about?
It is Livingstone's account of sixteen years in Africa, covering his mission work, his crossing of the Kalahari, his discovery of the Zambesi in the center of the continent, and his journeys to the west and east coasts.
Who are Sechele, Sebituane and Sekeletu?
Sechele was the Bakwain chief who learned to read and became Livingstone's friend. Sebituane was the Makololo chief who welcomed him and died soon after. Sekeletu was Sebituane's son, who supplied the men and ivory for the journey.
What does Mosioatunya mean?
It is the local name for the great waterfall on the Zambesi, and it means the smoke that sounds. Livingstone describes a river a thousand yards wide dropping into a narrow crack and sending up columns of spray.
The author
David Livingstone
1813–1873 · Scottish missionary and explorer
David Livingstone (1813–1873) was a Scottish missionary and explorer. He was born in Blantyre, Scotland, and spent much of his adult life in southern and central Africa. He published Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa in 1857. He died in 1873 at Chitambo, in what is now Zambia.
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