0:00:10 > 0:00:13I'm not dressed like this for fun, you know!
0:00:20 > 0:00:22Oh, this is ridiculous!
0:00:22 > 0:00:25I can't see my hand in front of my face.
0:00:25 > 0:00:27It's like being inside a cloud!
0:00:33 > 0:00:39This is Mosi-oa-Tunya - the smoke that thunders.
0:00:41 > 0:00:45Until the 17th of November 1855, the only name these falls had
0:00:45 > 0:00:49was the one given to them by the Africans who lived nearby...
0:00:58 > 0:01:00..but on that day a white man arrived
0:01:00 > 0:01:04accompanied by over 200 Africans.
0:01:04 > 0:01:06His name was David Livingstone.
0:01:07 > 0:01:09"Their beauty was so lovely," he said,
0:01:09 > 0:01:14"they must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight."
0:01:14 > 0:01:18Livingstone was so awestruck that he named them for his Queen.
0:01:18 > 0:01:20The Victoria Falls.
0:01:23 > 0:01:24But despite their grandeur,
0:01:24 > 0:01:29Livingstone wasn't here to discover the natural wonders of this world,
0:01:29 > 0:01:33his eyes were fixed firmly on the next.
0:01:33 > 0:01:35He was here to save souls.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44David Livingstone was one of a small group of explorers
0:01:44 > 0:01:47who took the stage as the great age of exploration
0:01:47 > 0:01:49was drawing to a close.
0:01:50 > 0:01:54Many before them sought adventure and fortune,
0:01:54 > 0:01:58staked claims to vast territories in the name of God and country...
0:02:01 > 0:02:05..but The Last Explorers didn't plant flags, they planted ideas.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09Ideas that helped shape the modern world we know today.
0:02:30 > 0:02:34David Livingstone was a 43-year-old Scotsman.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37In 1855, he was halfway through a journey
0:02:37 > 0:02:39which had begun in Cape Town.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43It was his first time in Central Africa.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46It's mine too.
0:02:46 > 0:02:49He was searching for a highway into the interior of the continent.
0:02:49 > 0:02:53This was a place where few Europeans had been...
0:02:53 > 0:02:55and no-one had mapped.
0:02:57 > 0:02:59It had acquired an adjective...
0:03:00 > 0:03:02Darkest Africa.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08During the journey Livingstone would make frequent stops
0:03:08 > 0:03:11so that he could take observations with a sextant and chronometer.
0:03:11 > 0:03:13He was making a map.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19'But he wasn't actually trained in mapmaking or geography.
0:03:19 > 0:03:20'Not properly.'
0:03:20 > 0:03:24He'd had a few lessons from a ship's captain in navigation,
0:03:24 > 0:03:27and a few tips from a professional in Cape Town.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31The equipment he carried was professional, but he wasn't.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36He was, however, a qualified doctor
0:03:36 > 0:03:40and an employee of the London Missionary Society,
0:03:40 > 0:03:42a charity which sent Christian missionaries
0:03:42 > 0:03:46wherever they thought heathens and benighted savages would benefit.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01Four years before discovering the Victoria Falls,
0:04:01 > 0:04:05Livingstone witnessed a scene that would change him for ever.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08In a small town nearby called Sesheke,
0:04:08 > 0:04:12he saw a boy, no more than 14, being traded for a gun.
0:04:14 > 0:04:19And on that day, Livingstone had seen his duty, crystal clear.
0:04:19 > 0:04:21He would stop the slave trade.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34Although the trade in slaves
0:04:34 > 0:04:37had been abolished in Britain for nearly half a century,
0:04:37 > 0:04:40demand on the other side of the Atlantic remained high.
0:04:42 > 0:04:43To counter this,
0:04:43 > 0:04:48the British Navy imposed a blockade on Africa's West Coast,
0:04:48 > 0:04:51but, rather than stopping the slave trade,
0:04:51 > 0:04:54traders started making raids in Central Africa
0:04:54 > 0:04:57and transported the slaves to the East Coast markets instead.
0:05:02 > 0:05:04Livingstone believed to the core of his being
0:05:04 > 0:05:07in the basic equality of the races
0:05:07 > 0:05:14and that it was God's plan for him to save Africans from slavery and themselves.
0:05:15 > 0:05:19The Victoria Falls lay on what Livingstone thought was the solution...
0:05:19 > 0:05:22the Zambezi river itself.
0:05:32 > 0:05:34The Zambezi is one of four great rivers
0:05:34 > 0:05:37that originate in equatorial Africa
0:05:37 > 0:05:40and branch out across the continent like giant tentacles.
0:05:43 > 0:05:49If Livingstone could prove the Zambezi was navigable all the way to the Indian Ocean,
0:05:49 > 0:05:52then Christian traders would bring legitimate commerce
0:05:52 > 0:05:54to replace the slave trade
0:05:54 > 0:05:59and missionaries would come to convert the Africans to Christianity.
0:05:59 > 0:06:03But Livingstone was a poor, obscure missionary,
0:06:03 > 0:06:05he didn't even have a boat.
0:06:05 > 0:06:10So how could he interest his countrymen in East Africa's plight?
0:06:10 > 0:06:12He didn't know.
0:06:12 > 0:06:13Not yet.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20Just imagine Livingstone, the first time he actually saw this river,
0:06:20 > 0:06:26and he looked upon this as being, I think, a magnificent highway,
0:06:26 > 0:06:29like they have in Europe, the Thames bringing up into London,
0:06:29 > 0:06:32opening it up, and he just thought this would be it.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36- It does look like a big blue motorway.- It's incredible.
0:06:36 > 0:06:38What was the walking routine
0:06:38 > 0:06:41and how many miles did they expect to cover on a good day?
0:06:41 > 0:06:46Well, he was... he was an unbelievable optimist.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49He just thought, "Well, yeah, we can do it."
0:06:49 > 0:06:52Some days they would probably do five miles, some days 15, some days 20.
0:06:52 > 0:06:54It all depended on the terrain.
0:06:54 > 0:06:56Other days they probably wouldn't even get a mile
0:06:56 > 0:06:58because they were hacking their way through dense forest.
0:06:58 > 0:07:05How much of a...benefit to him do you think his religion was?
0:07:05 > 0:07:09Was that how he was able to drive himself through the physical?
0:07:09 > 0:07:10I think so.
0:07:10 > 0:07:12Often in his writings he would say,
0:07:12 > 0:07:15"To God be the Glory, God will see us through.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19"If we are in the will of God, then surely no harm will come to us,"
0:07:19 > 0:07:24and he had that unbelievable faith that surely God will take us through
0:07:24 > 0:07:27and he said, "Cannot the faith of the Christian
0:07:27 > 0:07:30"take him further than the hatred of the slaver?"
0:07:34 > 0:07:36Assured of God's will
0:07:36 > 0:07:40and with 114 African tribesmen to guide and support him,
0:07:40 > 0:07:44Livingstone headed downriver, east towards the Indian Ocean.
0:07:53 > 0:07:57With no means of transport on land or river,
0:07:57 > 0:07:59Livingstone and his men walked.
0:07:59 > 0:08:01He was used to walking.
0:08:01 > 0:08:05It was part of the Livingstone method.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08As a youth, working in a cotton factory, south of Glasgow,
0:08:08 > 0:08:10he'd walked everywhere.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14As a trainee missionary he'd walked all the time too.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17Carriages and trains were a wasteful luxury,
0:08:17 > 0:08:19shoe leather was cheap.
0:08:21 > 0:08:26But of course walking in Africa was different from walking in Scotland.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30This part of Africa was hardly known at all.
0:08:30 > 0:08:35Expeditions sent to explore it had a nasty habit of never returning.
0:08:45 > 0:08:48There were hostile tribes and malaria...
0:08:51 > 0:08:53..there were hippos in the river...
0:08:53 > 0:08:55and crocodiles too...
0:08:55 > 0:08:58and if they didn't get you...
0:08:58 > 0:09:01there were the prides of lions lying in wait in the bush.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07On occasion, Livingstone was forced to hide from these predators
0:09:07 > 0:09:10in the most surprising of places.
0:09:11 > 0:09:16- It's quite a monster, that tree. - Yeah, you can see it's very huge.
0:09:16 > 0:09:17It's a big one!
0:09:17 > 0:09:22Livingstone famously took refuge in this Baobab tree.
0:09:22 > 0:09:24'Actually, there are three trees in one.'
0:09:24 > 0:09:28There's a Baobab and two types of figs.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31- Right, so they're all knotted together?- Yeah.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35But the first tree to grow, it was the baobab,
0:09:35 > 0:09:37but now it seems like the figs, they're taking it over.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39- OK.- Yeah.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42- And do we know for certain that Livingstone was connected to this tree?- Yes.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45This is one of the trees which he spend the night in.
0:09:45 > 0:09:47- Can we go in?- Yeah.- Yeah?
0:09:50 > 0:09:52Right.
0:09:52 > 0:09:53HE CHUCKLES
0:09:53 > 0:09:55Wow, it's huge!
0:09:57 > 0:09:59What an amazing space!
0:10:00 > 0:10:03- There's room for a few people in here.- Yes.
0:10:03 > 0:10:08So, when do people use it now? Do they still come in?
0:10:08 > 0:10:11Yeah, they still come in as they are waiting for the ferry.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14Sometimes they do get elephants, this is the park,
0:10:14 > 0:10:17if they are surrounded by elephants they just come inside here and hide.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21- This is the strangest ferry terminal I have ever been inside!- Is it?
0:10:21 > 0:10:23THEY LAUGH
0:10:28 > 0:10:31Six months after leaving the Victoria Falls,
0:10:31 > 0:10:33exhausted and ill with malaria,
0:10:33 > 0:10:36Livingstone approached the Indian Ocean.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40It was an astounding achievement.
0:10:40 > 0:10:42Livingstone was the first European
0:10:42 > 0:10:45to cross the entire African continent from west to east.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51Accompanied only by Africans, he had discovered the Victoria Falls
0:10:51 > 0:10:55and mapped the entire journey with incredible accuracy...
0:10:55 > 0:10:58but as Livingstone reached the coast,
0:10:58 > 0:11:00the accomplishment was soured.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07Bands of slave traders were ravaging the countryside
0:11:07 > 0:11:11and the people behind them were the Portuguese,
0:11:11 > 0:11:13through whose territory he now travelled.
0:11:13 > 0:11:17Together with the Arabs, the Portuguese were capturing slaves
0:11:17 > 0:11:20and sending them to markets on the east coast.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25The Portuguese had a reputation
0:11:25 > 0:11:28as some of the most brutal and merciless slave traders in Africa.
0:11:32 > 0:11:37These jagged rocks were the end of the road for slaves
0:11:37 > 0:11:40who had defied their masters or sought to escape.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43They'd be brought here, thrown onto the rock
0:11:43 > 0:11:45and then, with their arms and legs broken,
0:11:45 > 0:11:47they'd be taken by the Indian Ocean.
0:11:52 > 0:11:57This was the stark reality of the ownership of one people by another.
0:12:12 > 0:12:13Livingstone arrived
0:12:13 > 0:12:18in the Portuguese colonial seaport of Quelimane in May 1856.
0:12:21 > 0:12:27With brightly painted facades, leafy streets and attractive squares,
0:12:27 > 0:12:31he found Quelimane to be a picturesque town.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34It was founded by the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama
0:12:34 > 0:12:37350 years before.
0:12:37 > 0:12:41The thriving slave market had been there for almost as long.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48But freeing Africa from slavery would have to wait.
0:12:50 > 0:12:53Livingstone was now seriously ill with malaria
0:12:53 > 0:12:56and the Portuguese treated him with exceptional generosity.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59The irony wasn't lost on Livingstone,
0:12:59 > 0:13:03but it was outweighed by his gratitude.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06In the house of a Portuguese commandant,
0:13:06 > 0:13:09he slowly began to recover from his ordeal.
0:13:09 > 0:13:10While he was there,
0:13:10 > 0:13:14Livingstone received some letters bearing some extraordinary news.
0:13:14 > 0:13:16He was no longer an insignificant missionary...
0:13:16 > 0:13:18he was famous now.
0:13:20 > 0:13:21'Early in the journey,'
0:13:21 > 0:13:24he had managed to send maps and letters back to Britain.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27Word began to spread about this lonely, destitute,
0:13:27 > 0:13:30humble Scots missionary
0:13:30 > 0:13:33who had travelled from one end of the continent to another.
0:13:33 > 0:13:38He had drawn a line across the least known and most dangerous quarter of the world.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41It was as explosive as man walking on the moon.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03One of the letters he received was an offer,
0:14:03 > 0:14:05from the publisher John Murray,
0:14:05 > 0:14:08to print Livingstone's account of his journey.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12There was a letter too from the head of the Royal Geographic Society
0:14:12 > 0:14:13telling him he had accomplished,
0:14:13 > 0:14:16"the greatest triumph in geographical research of our times".
0:14:17 > 0:14:21Back in Britain, David Livingstone was a national hero.
0:14:21 > 0:14:23Glory awaited.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29For months, Livingstone swung back and forth,
0:14:29 > 0:14:32between life and death's door.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35When he recovered he took a ship for Britain.
0:14:35 > 0:14:39He arrived in December 1856.
0:14:39 > 0:14:40He had been away for 16 years.
0:14:43 > 0:14:45It seemed unreal...
0:14:46 > 0:14:48..it was like a fever dream.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52And here were his wife and children.
0:14:52 > 0:14:54They were hard to speak to...
0:14:54 > 0:14:57he had lost touch with his own language.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00Five years previously he'd sent them home from Africa.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03Mary had fallen out with his parents.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05She'd needed handouts to survive.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07They had suffered.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10No money, sometimes no home...
0:15:10 > 0:15:12always no father.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15And now here he was, transformed...
0:15:15 > 0:15:18received as a hero, bathed in glory.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26Just three weeks after Livingstone returned to England,
0:15:26 > 0:15:30he settled down to write an account of his first great journey across Africa.
0:15:30 > 0:15:36As well as being an adventure story, Livingstone used the book to make
0:15:36 > 0:15:37an impassioned appeal.
0:15:37 > 0:15:40A Christian vision for Africa's future.
0:15:41 > 0:15:45"There must be an all-out assault on slavery," he wrote.
0:15:45 > 0:15:47"On its supply, and its demand."
0:15:51 > 0:15:53Legitimate trade in African cotton
0:15:53 > 0:15:57would replace the illegitimate trade in African flesh.
0:15:57 > 0:15:59Cotton from Africa,
0:15:59 > 0:16:02produced by Africans paid a decent wage,
0:16:02 > 0:16:06would replace American cotton produced by the labour of slaves.
0:16:09 > 0:16:13This was Livingstone's master plan to stop the slave trade in Africa.
0:16:13 > 0:16:15He called it the three Cs.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18Christianity would save their souls,
0:16:18 > 0:16:22commerce would open up the region for legitimate trade
0:16:22 > 0:16:25and civilisation would enlighten the so-called savage.
0:16:25 > 0:16:31Livingstone's personal recipe for the final end of slavery.
0:16:41 > 0:16:47Missionary Travels made Livingstone a small fortune and even more fame.
0:16:47 > 0:16:49All that he needed to return to Africa.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53Fame had transformed everything.
0:16:53 > 0:16:57His cause was now as famous as he was himself.
0:16:58 > 0:17:04The success of Missionary Travels led to lectures at Oxford and Cambridge,
0:17:04 > 0:17:07audiences with the Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston,
0:17:07 > 0:17:10and with the Queen herself.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13It also led to a brand-new expedition.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19Livingstone was granted two years of government funding.
0:17:19 > 0:17:23The plan was to sail up the Zambesi to the Barotse Highlands,
0:17:23 > 0:17:26which lay just north of the Victoria Falls.
0:17:27 > 0:17:32The Highlands, hoped Livingstone, would be fertile, healthy and free of malaria.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39Here in the dark heart of Africa, commerce, Christianity
0:17:39 > 0:17:43and civilisation would be made real.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45David Livingstone's promised land.
0:17:51 > 0:17:58On the 14th of May 1858, a large British steamer, the HMS Pearl,
0:17:58 > 0:18:02approached the mouth of the Zambesi, on the east coast of Africa.
0:18:02 > 0:18:05Livingstone was back and every inch the explorer.
0:18:07 > 0:18:12The team that Livingstone had gathered together was a bit like Mission: Impossible
0:18:12 > 0:18:15and here are the members...
0:18:15 > 0:18:20Richard Thornton, miner and geologist. he was just 20 years old.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25Then there was John Kirk. He was a botanist.
0:18:25 > 0:18:29He was a respected scientist, recommended by the experts at Kew.
0:18:31 > 0:18:33Then there was Charles Livingstone.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36The name was no coincidence, he was Livingstone's younger brother.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39He was the expedition photographer.
0:18:41 > 0:18:43Thomas Baines.
0:18:43 > 0:18:47He was a storekeeper and he was also the expedition artist.
0:18:47 > 0:18:48Unknown to Livingstone,
0:18:48 > 0:18:53years previously he'd been in the habit of shooting the natives in South Africa.
0:18:56 > 0:19:00One person who wasn't there was Mary.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03She had gone aboard the Pearl in Liverpool with the rest of the team,
0:19:03 > 0:19:09but during the journey south it'd become apparent that she was pregnant with their sixth child.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12Livingstone described Mary as "the main spoke in my wheel".
0:19:12 > 0:19:15But he left her behind at Cape Town to give birth.
0:19:18 > 0:19:22It was not like his first great journey at all.
0:19:22 > 0:19:27He had Europeans for company. He had funds, food, and equipment.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34In the hold of the Pearl there was another ship waiting to be assembled -
0:19:34 > 0:19:38a collapsible steamer, 75 feet long,
0:19:38 > 0:19:41one of the very first steel ships ever constructed.
0:19:41 > 0:19:43She was named the Ma Robert.
0:19:44 > 0:19:49This expedition was like an exercise in the application of cutting-edge techniques.
0:19:49 > 0:19:53It was the Apollo moonshot of its day.
0:19:53 > 0:19:58Livingstone had been allowed to write the instructions for the expedition himself,
0:19:58 > 0:20:00and objective number one read,
0:20:00 > 0:20:06"To make the Zambesi a path for commerce into the Interior and thus end the slave trade."
0:20:15 > 0:20:17On reaching the delta,
0:20:17 > 0:20:23Livingstone ordered the assembly of the Ma Robert and headed up the Zambesi.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30It's difficult to imagine what it must have been like
0:20:30 > 0:20:33for Livingstone's men to enter this strange landscape
0:20:33 > 0:20:35of sounds and smells.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40It must have felt like an alien world...
0:20:43 > 0:20:45..to be presented with an intoxicating place
0:20:45 > 0:20:49of possibility and potential,
0:20:49 > 0:20:53but at the same time, having to face danger,
0:20:53 > 0:20:57extreme heat and the great unknown.
0:20:58 > 0:21:03But Livingstone's Missionary Travels did promise one certainty -
0:21:03 > 0:21:07a Zambesi that should be navigable for a good 600 miles inland.
0:21:07 > 0:21:12This is what he said. "The river has not been surveyed,
0:21:12 > 0:21:16"but at the time I came down, there was abundance of water for a large vessel.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19"If a steamer were sent to examine the Zambesi,
0:21:19 > 0:21:22"I would recommend one of the lightest draught,
0:21:22 > 0:21:27"and the months of May, June and July for passing through the Delta.
0:21:27 > 0:21:31"In the months referred to no obstruction would be incurred in the channel below Tete.
0:21:31 > 0:21:35"20 or 30 miles above that point we have a small rapid,
0:21:35 > 0:21:39"of which I regret my inability to speak, as I did not visit it."
0:21:39 > 0:21:41So...
0:21:41 > 0:21:42no problem.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47But the problems started as soon as they left the Delta.
0:21:56 > 0:22:00The Zambesi was too shallow even for the Ma Robert.
0:22:00 > 0:22:04She's been specially designed and constructed for the expedition,
0:22:04 > 0:22:05and she drew just three feet of water.
0:22:05 > 0:22:10But at certain points, and for stretches hundreds of yards long,
0:22:10 > 0:22:14the Zambesi resolutely refused to be any deeper than two.
0:22:14 > 0:22:18She had to be dragged through those parts.
0:22:34 > 0:22:39This is probably as close to Africa as I've been on the trip so far.
0:22:40 > 0:22:45So I am tricking myself into feeling I'm quite close to nature.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48But look at the reality.
0:22:48 > 0:22:53I'm in this fantastically well-designed chalet,
0:22:53 > 0:22:57I've got all home comforts. hot and cold running water,
0:22:57 > 0:23:01flushing toilets, mosquito screens, electric light.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05And so the truth of it all is,
0:23:05 > 0:23:10I am just pretending to be out in the wilds.
0:23:10 > 0:23:14They had no IDEA of the reality of the world they were coming out to,
0:23:14 > 0:23:20and far less bringing all the home comforts and medicines that I take for granted.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23They were out here with little more than
0:23:23 > 0:23:27they would have taken with them on a trip around the British countryside.
0:23:32 > 0:23:37After several months, the expedition only got as far as Tete.
0:23:37 > 0:23:41Livingstone was behind schedule and growing impatient.
0:23:41 > 0:23:45He'd heard rumours that upriver there were some small rapids
0:23:45 > 0:23:47in a gorge called the Kebrabasa.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50Heavy rains had prevented Livingstone visiting them
0:23:50 > 0:23:54during his first expedition, and the success of the second
0:23:54 > 0:23:58rested on the Zambesi being navigable by boat.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06Anxious to put his mind at rest, Livingstone decided to lead
0:24:06 > 0:24:09an advance party to investigate, on foot.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16That's the path!
0:24:16 > 0:24:17It is.
0:24:17 > 0:24:18Is that legal?
0:24:18 > 0:24:21THEY LAUGH
0:24:21 > 0:24:24I don't think Livingston would've had it this easy, though.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26No ladders.
0:24:26 > 0:24:27No, no ladders.
0:24:28 > 0:24:30'As they progressed towards the gorge,
0:24:30 > 0:24:34'Livingstone noted the temperature was 130 degrees.'
0:24:34 > 0:24:38It's broken-ankle territory right there.
0:24:39 > 0:24:43'The rocks cooked any hand or foot that rested on them for more than a few seconds.
0:24:46 > 0:24:48'Finally they came here.'
0:24:53 > 0:24:57"Things look dark for our enterprise," wrote Livingstone.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00"This Kebrabasa is what I never expected.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03"No hint of its nature ever reached my ears."
0:25:05 > 0:25:09Does the landscape around the river give you any warning or any clues
0:25:09 > 0:25:12about what's about to happen on the approach to the gorge?
0:25:12 > 0:25:14Yeah, very, very much so.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17Leaving Tete, the area is quite flat,
0:25:17 > 0:25:20it's very vegetated all the way down to the river bank
0:25:20 > 0:25:23and, as you leave, you start to get this feeling that you're entering a gorge
0:25:23 > 0:25:27and you can physically see it as the area rises on either side.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30The narrowing of the river,
0:25:30 > 0:25:32the speed of the river,
0:25:32 > 0:25:36everything about it tells you that you're going to run into trouble around the next corner.
0:25:38 > 0:25:40What was the view that they beheld?
0:25:40 > 0:25:43Just sheer cliffs of dark, shiny rocks and white water
0:25:43 > 0:25:46pretty much straight into your face.
0:25:46 > 0:25:52The amount of water that pours through the Kebrabasa gorges a year,
0:25:52 > 0:25:54it's COMPLETELY unnavigable.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02And he had told the entire British population
0:26:02 > 0:26:05and the Royal Geographical Society that it was navigable
0:26:05 > 0:26:09and that he had found a highway into the Interior.
0:26:09 > 0:26:14I don't know whether he could, sort of, face the fact that it was all untrue.
0:26:23 > 0:26:25The expedition was government-funded.
0:26:25 > 0:26:30Livingstone was painfully aware that he was accountable.
0:26:30 > 0:26:34On the 17th of December he wrote a letter to the Foreign Secretary.
0:26:34 > 0:26:36"We are all of the opinion," he wrote,
0:26:36 > 0:26:40"that a steamer of light draught would pass the rapids without difficulty
0:26:40 > 0:26:42"when the river is in full flood."
0:26:46 > 0:26:49And after he'd sent that letter to the Foreign Secretary,
0:26:49 > 0:26:52David Livingstone became something else.
0:26:53 > 0:26:55He was a liar.
0:26:55 > 0:26:57He had to lie.
0:26:57 > 0:26:59The lie was anything but selfish, though.
0:26:59 > 0:27:03Honesty would have led to the cancellation of the entire expedition.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07And that was something that Livingstone simply couldn't allow.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10He was here to end slavery and save souls.
0:27:10 > 0:27:12And save lives too.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16The lie wasn't the real problem.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19Much worse was the wishful thinking.
0:27:20 > 0:27:27Very well, Livingstone's promised land would have to be found somewhere else.
0:27:27 > 0:27:32He announced the Kebrabasa rapids were a signpost, not an obstacle,
0:27:32 > 0:27:35and that God was directing them not up the Zambesi,
0:27:35 > 0:27:37but to another river.
0:27:37 > 0:27:38The Shire.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42The Shire joined the Zambesi from the north,
0:27:42 > 0:27:45little more than 100 miles from the coast.
0:27:45 > 0:27:51It flowed through territory that Livingstone had not explored at all.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54But it was a river, and it was flowing in Africa.
0:27:54 > 0:27:55And that would have to do.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11On New Year's Day 1859,
0:28:11 > 0:28:13they began their cruise up the Shire.
0:28:16 > 0:28:18Unlike the troublesome Zambesi,
0:28:18 > 0:28:22the peace and beauty of this river was beguilingly seductive.
0:28:23 > 0:28:28"It was very pleasant to be away again from all civilisation," wrote Livingstone.
0:28:31 > 0:28:33I think I understand what he meant.
0:28:36 > 0:28:40This lush and verdant landscape,
0:28:40 > 0:28:43and the wild animals that live here, have barely changed
0:28:43 > 0:28:47since Livingstone passed this way 150 years ago.
0:28:47 > 0:28:49I can see why Livingstone at last
0:28:49 > 0:28:53believed this to be the Promised Land he'd been searching for.
0:29:06 > 0:29:11As the expedition progressed up the Shire, Livingstone's hopes rose.
0:29:11 > 0:29:14The land was impressively fertile.
0:29:14 > 0:29:17Cotton, tea and coffee could be grown in the soil
0:29:17 > 0:29:20and to the east was an area of higher land that could well
0:29:20 > 0:29:23prove a healthy place, free of fever,
0:29:23 > 0:29:25to establish a settlement.
0:29:26 > 0:29:30A village chief told Livingstone that several days' journey upstream
0:29:30 > 0:29:34would take him to a great lake.
0:29:34 > 0:29:37The thought of another great discovery, like the Victoria Falls,
0:29:37 > 0:29:41spurred Livingstone onwards.
0:29:46 > 0:29:48But, just a few miles upriver,
0:29:48 > 0:29:52Livingstone discovered something else...
0:29:53 > 0:29:56..yet more rocks on God's highway.
0:29:56 > 0:29:58They were 30 miles long.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03The thought that it took Livingstone and his men 11 months
0:30:03 > 0:30:07and hundreds of miles of blood, sweat and tears to get this far,
0:30:07 > 0:30:10only to find yet another enormous obstruction,
0:30:10 > 0:30:14I honestly don't know what that would have done to my head.
0:30:15 > 0:30:19To any normal man, these falls would have spelled disaster,
0:30:19 > 0:30:22the end to the expedition.
0:30:22 > 0:30:25But reading his journals,
0:30:25 > 0:30:29it seems that Livingstone was not a normal man, rather a blind one.
0:30:29 > 0:30:33A man blinded by sheer determination.
0:30:33 > 0:30:36Neither rocks nor people would stand in his way.
0:30:39 > 0:30:43This cross is a memorial to Richard Thornton,
0:30:43 > 0:30:46who was an engineer in Livingstone's service.
0:30:46 > 0:30:48Livingstone sacked him for laziness
0:30:48 > 0:30:52and he subsequently died of fever and dysentery.
0:30:54 > 0:30:58And there were other casualties. Thomas Baines, the artist
0:30:58 > 0:31:00and storekeeper of the expedition.
0:31:00 > 0:31:01He was cut adrift.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05There was a Makololo stoker on the Ma Robert who had
0:31:05 > 0:31:08the misfortune to break part of the ship's engine,
0:31:08 > 0:31:13and Livingstone dealt him a severe beating in punishment.
0:31:14 > 0:31:19Livingstone would not hesitate to get rid of and leave behind
0:31:19 > 0:31:25anyone who was in the way or was lacking in spirit or determination.
0:31:34 > 0:31:38Standing still was not an option, so Livingstone walked.
0:31:38 > 0:31:43Up past the cataracts and beyond.
0:31:43 > 0:31:46Looking for the real fuel on which his expedition, reputation
0:31:46 > 0:31:47and future truly depended.
0:31:49 > 0:31:50A great discovery.
0:31:55 > 0:31:59On the 17th September, 1859,
0:31:59 > 0:32:02Livingstone stood on the shores of Lake Nyasa.
0:32:02 > 0:32:05350 miles long, 50 miles wide,
0:32:05 > 0:32:08this was the very great lake of which the village chief
0:32:08 > 0:32:12had spoken. The fourth largest lake in the world.
0:32:12 > 0:32:17Strictly speaking, Lake Nyasa had been discovered before,
0:32:17 > 0:32:19by Portuguese traders.
0:32:19 > 0:32:23But Livingstone knew very well how much great discoveries
0:32:23 > 0:32:25could help maintain his fame.
0:32:25 > 0:32:29Behind the tranquil scenes and balmy waters, however,
0:32:29 > 0:32:31lurked some horrifying realities.
0:32:31 > 0:32:36Livingstone saw Arab slave ships plying back and forth,
0:32:36 > 0:32:40forcing African people for hundreds of miles around to flee the slavers.
0:32:40 > 0:32:43He also discovered that the tribes
0:32:43 > 0:32:46around the lake were locked in tribal war.
0:32:46 > 0:32:51One in particular, the Yao, sought to dominate the entire Shire region.
0:32:55 > 0:32:58Livingstone had walked into a war zone.
0:33:00 > 0:33:02But he chose to ignore these realities.
0:33:02 > 0:33:06Instead, in a series of extraordinary letters,
0:33:06 > 0:33:08he recommended it.
0:33:08 > 0:33:10It was an excellent area,
0:33:10 > 0:33:14he insisted in letter after letter, for commerce.
0:33:14 > 0:33:20Not only that, Livingstone asked for an extension on the expedition's funding.
0:33:20 > 0:33:23He asked the Foreign Office to appeal for colonists.
0:33:23 > 0:33:29He even recommended the area to the Universities' Mission to Central Africa.
0:33:31 > 0:33:35Livingstone had convinced himself that the arrival of colonists,
0:33:35 > 0:33:37the mission, a British vessel,
0:33:37 > 0:33:40would change everything, would change the Shire Highlands
0:33:40 > 0:33:42into what they could be.
0:33:42 > 0:33:44A stable and prosperous place,
0:33:44 > 0:33:48from which the ending of the slave trade could ripple outwards.
0:33:48 > 0:33:51He wrote his letters of recommendation believing
0:33:51 > 0:33:56they could bring about a better world, they would become true.
0:33:56 > 0:34:00The most important lies he told were always to himself.
0:34:19 > 0:34:22He was forced to wait, of course, for answers.
0:34:24 > 0:34:26But the lies worked.
0:34:26 > 0:34:30The Foreign Office sent word at last, congratulating him
0:34:30 > 0:34:34on the discovery of Lake Nyasa. A new boat was coming,
0:34:34 > 0:34:38and so too were the members of the Universities' Mission to Central Africa.
0:34:38 > 0:34:42Good news? It certainly sounded like it.
0:34:42 > 0:34:46And if the Shire Highlands had actually been the place he'd described in all the letters,
0:34:46 > 0:34:48it would have been good news indeed.
0:34:48 > 0:34:53But the Highlands he'd described existed only in his imagination.
0:35:06 > 0:35:10The members of the new mission arrived early in 1861,
0:35:10 > 0:35:14led by a newly appointed bishop, Charles Mackenzie,
0:35:14 > 0:35:17and a young missionary, Henry Burrup.
0:35:17 > 0:35:19Their first task was to establish a mission.
0:35:22 > 0:35:26The Shire River was manifestly not the God-given highway into
0:35:26 > 0:35:30the Interior that Livingstone had stated it to be, but nevertheless,
0:35:30 > 0:35:34he led the sorry band of evangelists into the Promised Land
0:35:34 > 0:35:38to find a location for the Universities' Mission in the hills above.
0:35:42 > 0:35:463,000 feet above the heat of the valley floor,
0:35:46 > 0:35:49the Highlands proved to be cool and well watered.
0:35:58 > 0:36:03As the party passed through the territory of the Mang'anja people,
0:36:03 > 0:36:08it became increasingly clear the pace of the slave trade had quickened.
0:36:10 > 0:36:15Palls of smoke rising from the hills and valleys were clearly to be seen.
0:36:16 > 0:36:22A steady stream of refugees told of attacks by Yao fighters,
0:36:22 > 0:36:25and bands of slave raiders ravaging the countryside nearby.
0:36:30 > 0:36:34Soon word arrived that a large gang of slave traders
0:36:34 > 0:36:36was moving in their direction.
0:36:36 > 0:36:40This proved to be a defining moment for Livingstone. What should he do?
0:36:40 > 0:36:44Free the slaves and the Portuguese might retaliate,
0:36:44 > 0:36:48let the slave gang pass unopposed and the local tribes would see
0:36:48 > 0:36:52Livingstone and the missionaries as supporting this evil practice.
0:36:52 > 0:36:55In the end, the slave gang made the decision for them.
0:36:55 > 0:36:57They turned and fled,
0:36:57 > 0:37:01leaving 84 captives for the missionaries to look after.
0:37:01 > 0:37:05The legend of David Livingstone, liberator of slaves, was born.
0:37:12 > 0:37:17Despite the volatile situation, Livingstone and Mackenzie
0:37:17 > 0:37:20chose a site for the Universities' Mission.
0:37:20 > 0:37:25Fertile, cool, and malaria-free, Magomero was perfect
0:37:25 > 0:37:28apart from one thing - it was in the middle of a war zone.
0:37:35 > 0:37:37Mackenzie wasn't fazed, however.
0:37:37 > 0:37:39With a cross in one hand and a gun in the other,
0:37:39 > 0:37:42his brand of Christianity was particularly muscular.
0:37:47 > 0:37:49Once again, Livingstone appeared blind to reality.
0:37:49 > 0:37:54Rather than staying to help, he set off for further explorations around
0:37:54 > 0:37:58Lake Nyasa, leaving Bishop Mackenzie and his fellow missionaries
0:37:58 > 0:38:02to blunder into a tribal civil war he didn't fully understand.
0:38:27 > 0:38:31In mid-January 1862, Bishop Mackenzie
0:38:31 > 0:38:34and Henry Burrup paddled in a dugout canoe down the Shire
0:38:34 > 0:38:37to these marshes for a meeting with Livingstone.
0:38:41 > 0:38:43They were 11 days late.
0:38:47 > 0:38:51After five months in Livingstone's Shire Highlands, Bishop Mackenzie
0:38:51 > 0:38:55was a different man. More experienced,
0:38:55 > 0:38:57more tired, a better fighter.
0:38:57 > 0:39:01He had been forced to lead his staff in several violent sallies
0:39:01 > 0:39:03against the Yao.
0:39:03 > 0:39:06But by helping the Mang'anja defeat their enemy,
0:39:06 > 0:39:09Mackenzie didn't stop the slave trade.
0:39:09 > 0:39:10Quite the opposite.
0:39:10 > 0:39:14The Mang'anja proved every bit as willing as the Yao to prey
0:39:14 > 0:39:17on those weaker than themselves.
0:39:17 > 0:39:22The missionaries soon realised the human trade they so deplored
0:39:22 > 0:39:23was universal.
0:39:29 > 0:39:31Now here they were,
0:39:31 > 0:39:37stuck beside this mosquito-infested river in a mosquito-infested marsh.
0:39:37 > 0:39:40Mackenzie and Burrup's canoe had overturned.
0:39:40 > 0:39:44They lost all their quinine. So on the 16th January they settled down to wait,
0:39:44 > 0:39:47without preventative medicine.
0:39:58 > 0:40:02What Mackenzie and Burrup didn't realise was that Livingstone
0:40:02 > 0:40:05had sailed past here three days before.
0:40:06 > 0:40:10Livingstone had been delayed, stuck on a sandbank for almost a month.
0:40:10 > 0:40:14He'd stopped to look for Mackenzie and Burrup,
0:40:14 > 0:40:16seen no sign of them, and sailed on,
0:40:16 > 0:40:20downstream, leaving them to their fate.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25Livingstone had another appointment to keep.
0:40:26 > 0:40:31On the 31st January, 1862, he was reunited with his beloved Mary.
0:40:41 > 0:40:45To Livingstone, it must have seemed like a new beginning.
0:40:45 > 0:40:48Here was his wife. They'd been so long apart.
0:40:49 > 0:40:52In some ways, it was a new beginning.
0:40:53 > 0:40:55It was the beginning of the end.
0:40:58 > 0:41:03200 miles away, here on the River Shire, Bishop Charles Mackenzie
0:41:03 > 0:41:05died of malaria on the very same day.
0:41:07 > 0:41:12Henry Burrup was still alive, but only barely. The African tribesmen
0:41:12 > 0:41:15carried him back to the Magomero mission on a litter,
0:41:15 > 0:41:17where he later died.
0:41:18 > 0:41:22Those deaths would be laid at Livingstone's door.
0:41:30 > 0:41:32The dream was over.
0:41:32 > 0:41:36It was supposed to have been about Christianity,
0:41:36 > 0:41:38commerce and civilisation.
0:41:40 > 0:41:44But Christianity had failed to take root in East Africa.
0:41:44 > 0:41:50And the Shire Highlands were not a promised land for trade.
0:41:50 > 0:41:53And as for civilisation,
0:41:54 > 0:41:57Africa stubbornly refused to be tamed.
0:41:59 > 0:42:04Livingstone should have opened his eyes to reality
0:42:04 > 0:42:07when the people around him started to die.
0:42:07 > 0:42:12But by then he was no longer a man on a mission,
0:42:12 > 0:42:17he was a man in the grip of an obsession.
0:42:30 > 0:42:33Livingstone received the news
0:42:33 > 0:42:36that Mackenzie and Burrup were dead some weeks later.
0:42:36 > 0:42:38He was hardly sympathetic.
0:42:38 > 0:42:40"This will hurt us all," he said.
0:42:52 > 0:42:55Livingstone never hesitated to judge others.
0:42:55 > 0:42:58His body was a part of his world.
0:42:58 > 0:43:04It did its walking in the better place he was trying to bring about.
0:43:04 > 0:43:08It was a beast of burden that he whipped to the edge of extremity
0:43:08 > 0:43:10and beyond.
0:43:10 > 0:43:13He always found it hard to understand why other people
0:43:13 > 0:43:15could not do likewise.
0:43:15 > 0:43:20That other people lived in the real world, and died there, too.
0:43:20 > 0:43:22His wife was a case in point.
0:43:29 > 0:43:32They sailed a little way inland,
0:43:32 > 0:43:34to a place called Shupanga.
0:43:34 > 0:43:38Livingstone was desperate to get his wife out of the unhealthy,
0:43:38 > 0:43:41malarial district in which they were now moored,
0:43:41 > 0:43:46but the steamer's engines were damaged and in need of repair.
0:43:47 > 0:43:51After three months, they were still there,
0:43:51 > 0:43:55and on April 21st, Mary Livingstone went down with fever.
0:44:08 > 0:44:11Her decline was horrifyingly rapid.
0:44:11 > 0:44:15On the evening of the 27th, Livingstone knelt beside her.
0:44:15 > 0:44:17She had lost the power of speech.
0:44:17 > 0:44:19He embraced her and said,
0:44:19 > 0:44:22"My dearie, my dearie, you're going to leave me.
0:44:22 > 0:44:23"Are you resting on Jesus?"
0:44:23 > 0:44:26And of course, she couldn't answer.
0:44:29 > 0:44:31She died later that night.
0:44:33 > 0:44:36She was buried beneath a baobab tree.
0:44:36 > 0:44:40In his journal, Livingstone wrote, "I loved her when I married her,
0:44:40 > 0:44:44"and the longer I lived with her, I loved her the more.
0:44:44 > 0:44:46"For the first time in my life,
0:44:46 > 0:44:49"I feel willing to die."
0:44:58 > 0:45:02News of the deaths and disappointments accumulated back in England.
0:45:02 > 0:45:05Livingstone's reputation slowly putrefied.
0:45:06 > 0:45:08On the 20th of January 1863,
0:45:08 > 0:45:10The Times published an anonymous assault
0:45:10 > 0:45:13on everything Livingstone had offered.
0:45:13 > 0:45:15"We were promised cotton, sugar, and indigo,
0:45:15 > 0:45:17"and of course we get none.
0:45:17 > 0:45:20"We were promised converts to the Gospel,
0:45:20 > 0:45:22"and not one has been made.
0:45:22 > 0:45:24"The thousands subscribed by the universities,
0:45:24 > 0:45:27"the thousands contributed by the government,
0:45:27 > 0:45:31"have been productive only of the most fatal results."
0:45:31 > 0:45:34The glory was gone at last. There was no more fame.
0:45:40 > 0:45:44Everything Livingstone had promised
0:45:44 > 0:45:47tuned out to be an expensive failure.
0:45:47 > 0:45:54On 3rd July 1863, a letter from the Foreign Office arrived recalling the mission.
0:45:57 > 0:45:58He was ruined.
0:45:58 > 0:46:02And of course his fame hadn't just evaporated.
0:46:02 > 0:46:06He just became famous for something else.
0:46:06 > 0:46:09Famous for recklessness, dishonesty,
0:46:09 > 0:46:14the waste of public money, and several deaths.
0:46:20 > 0:46:24Back in England, there were no crowds,
0:46:24 > 0:46:28no welcoming committees, no cheers, and no wife, of course.
0:46:28 > 0:46:32There was just a hotel in Covent Garden, which he booked into himself.
0:46:32 > 0:46:37There was a meeting with the Prime Minister, the next day, but it was secretive.
0:46:37 > 0:46:42Livingstone was no longer the sort of company you kept openly if you were seeking re-election.
0:46:59 > 0:47:02He produced an account of what had happened.
0:47:02 > 0:47:06Called A Narrative Of An Expedition To The Zambezi,
0:47:06 > 0:47:09it entered the minefield of the last six years very carefully,
0:47:09 > 0:47:12and avoided anything explosive.
0:47:12 > 0:47:15Sales were moderate.
0:47:15 > 0:47:21Even so, the narrative made enough money to set aside, for the children, in trust.
0:47:22 > 0:47:24Their futures were secure.
0:47:32 > 0:47:36But what was Livingstone to do with himself?
0:47:40 > 0:47:44He would go back to Africa to find the source of the Nile.
0:47:44 > 0:47:47There were currently two contenders.
0:47:47 > 0:47:50Lake Victoria, or Lake Tanganyika, further south.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53But Livingstone had a sneaking suspicion
0:47:53 > 0:47:57that there might be a connection with his old friend, the Zambezi River.
0:47:57 > 0:48:01Livingstone knew that if he could return from Africa
0:48:01 > 0:48:06having discovered the source of the Nile, he would restore his fame,
0:48:06 > 0:48:08and also his leverage.
0:48:08 > 0:48:14He would once again be able to apply pressure to bring the slave trade to an end.
0:48:16 > 0:48:22He had several photographs taken with his youngest daughter, Anna Mary.
0:48:22 > 0:48:24Looking at her...
0:48:26 > 0:48:31..looking down on her, as though he was the moon.
0:48:32 > 0:48:34He would be going very far away.
0:48:34 > 0:48:37And, very likely, not returning.
0:48:53 > 0:48:58On 22nd March 1866, Livingstone arrived back in Africa.
0:48:58 > 0:49:04He was glad to return, but this time the wonderful country would kill him,
0:49:04 > 0:49:08but it would take seven years of increasing agony to do so.
0:49:08 > 0:49:11Illness and fever set in and his mind became muddled.
0:49:12 > 0:49:16He looked for evidence that Moses had visited Africa,
0:49:16 > 0:49:18and finding the source of the Nile
0:49:18 > 0:49:22became increasingly confused with myths and ancient writings.
0:49:25 > 0:49:29Livingstone found himself a prophet lost in the wilderness,
0:49:29 > 0:49:31a man failing in every way.
0:49:32 > 0:49:37When Henry Morton Stanley found Livingstone, he was a shell of a man.
0:49:37 > 0:49:39Not the legend,
0:49:39 > 0:49:41someone altogether more tragic.
0:49:42 > 0:49:46- Hi, Jack.- Good to meet you. - You, too.
0:49:46 > 0:49:51'It was this meeting that would give rise to the mythic words, "Dr Livingstone, I presume?"'
0:49:51 > 0:49:55By the time that Stanley's encountering Livingstone,
0:49:55 > 0:49:58what do you think is Livingstone's state of mind?
0:49:58 > 0:50:01What's his psychological condition?
0:50:01 > 0:50:05He'd become obsessive. In fact, he was always obsessive.
0:50:05 > 0:50:09Those who are very sympathetic to Livingstone would call him single-minded,
0:50:09 > 0:50:12and those who aren't quite so sympathetic
0:50:12 > 0:50:14might call him bloody-minded.
0:50:14 > 0:50:18He just wanted to keep going, whether it made rational sense or not.
0:50:18 > 0:50:22He was in extremely bad health, chronically bad health,
0:50:22 > 0:50:25dysentery, internal disorders of various sorts,
0:50:25 > 0:50:29all his teeth were falling out, his feet had ulcers on them.
0:50:29 > 0:50:33Though he did his best right up until the very end
0:50:33 > 0:50:37to make notes in his pocket notebook he carried everywhere.
0:50:37 > 0:50:41His favourite expression about himself was he was a missionary explorer,
0:50:41 > 0:50:45and he liked to put those two together, so right to the very end he was a sort of scientist,
0:50:45 > 0:50:51but a scientist with failing health, and perhaps one might even say with failing faculties.
0:50:53 > 0:50:56Stanley spent five months with Livingstone,
0:50:56 > 0:51:00and his respect for him grew into adoration.
0:51:00 > 0:51:03He saw Livingstone as a kind of saint,
0:51:03 > 0:51:07a man, he said, "without spleen or misanthropy".
0:51:07 > 0:51:10But Stanley was a journalist and he had a story to file.
0:51:10 > 0:51:15When the article was published, on 2nd July 1872, in the New York Herald,
0:51:15 > 0:51:19he gave himself equal billing. "How I Found Doctor Livingstone."
0:51:19 > 0:51:25It's not even clear that he ever actually uttered the words, "Dr Livingstone, I presume,"
0:51:25 > 0:51:29because he tore from his own journal the only pages that might have confirmed the fact.
0:51:29 > 0:51:34But in any case, the article's effect on Livingstone's fame was like an electric shock.
0:51:34 > 0:51:37It brought it back to life.
0:51:37 > 0:51:38"He is no angel," wrote Stanley,
0:51:38 > 0:51:44"but he approaches to that being as near as the nature of a living man will allow."
0:51:50 > 0:51:55The angel was still in Africa, but his infirmity was increasing.
0:51:55 > 0:52:00Through it all, an image of the better world he was working for burnt brightly in his head.
0:52:05 > 0:52:10At last the words "I don't know where we are" appeared in his journal.
0:52:10 > 0:52:14The bleeding from his intestines was constant now.
0:52:14 > 0:52:20And then, in a village called Ilala, on the 1st of February 1873, he died.
0:52:20 > 0:52:22His servants found him knelt by his bed,
0:52:22 > 0:52:28in an attitude of prayer, his face buried in his hands, and cold.
0:52:29 > 0:52:34They buried his heart beneath a tree, and then hung his body over a branch to dry it.
0:52:34 > 0:52:40Then they embalmed it by wrapping it in bark, and sailcloth coated in tar.
0:52:40 > 0:52:46Then they collected up his notes and journals and instruments, and began to march.
0:52:48 > 0:52:52The party reached the coast in February 1874.
0:52:52 > 0:52:57Ten had died on the way. They had marched for nine months.
0:52:57 > 0:52:59One of the bearers, Jacob Wainwright,
0:52:59 > 0:53:03accompanied the coffin all the way back to London.
0:53:07 > 0:53:10THEY SING
0:53:26 > 0:53:31David Livingstone was buried in Westminster Abbey on the 18th of April 1874.
0:53:31 > 0:53:36The Queen herself sent wreaths to be laid by the coffin.
0:53:42 > 0:53:45As the congregation stood there, they forgot the failures and deaths,
0:53:45 > 0:53:49and instead remembered his wishful thinking.
0:53:49 > 0:53:52What he'd been working for - the end of slavery.
0:53:52 > 0:53:56And just a few weeks after the funeral,
0:53:56 > 0:54:00the British government brought pressure to bear on the Arabs of Zanzibar,
0:54:00 > 0:54:05the centre of the slave trade in East Africa, and secured a commitment to end it.
0:54:20 > 0:54:23This church is in the city of Blantyre.
0:54:23 > 0:54:28It's named after David Livingstone's home town of Blantyre in Scotland.
0:54:28 > 0:54:34Some years after his death, missionaries returned to Lake Nyasa and the territory around it,
0:54:34 > 0:54:37known today as the Republic of Malawi.
0:54:37 > 0:54:40They established a colony and built this church,
0:54:40 > 0:54:44of which Livingstone would wholeheartedly have approved.
0:54:44 > 0:54:48A Christian community, whose aim was not the extension of empire.
0:54:48 > 0:54:52A colony whose purpose was to set an example,
0:54:52 > 0:54:55a Christian one, of course, for the Africans nearby.
0:54:59 > 0:55:04But what followed was less attractive.
0:55:04 > 0:55:07Other European empires became interested in Africa,
0:55:07 > 0:55:12at least in part because explorers like Livingstone had mapped great swathes of it.
0:55:15 > 0:55:18The scramble for Africa was an opportunity,
0:55:18 > 0:55:22and also a ruse to throw tribal populations under the yoke
0:55:22 > 0:55:28and create a system of exploitation that was legal, but every bit as shameful as the slave trade.
0:55:28 > 0:55:31Livingstone's fame had drawn all of Europe's eyes to Africa.
0:55:31 > 0:55:34He'd made their maps for them.
0:55:34 > 0:55:37So it was altogether a blessing that he couldn't see the ugly future
0:55:37 > 0:55:41when he died that night in May 1873.
0:55:41 > 0:55:46That night, he could see what he had done, and why he had done it, but not the consequences.
0:55:51 > 0:55:54During the second half of the 20th century,
0:55:54 > 0:55:57Europe's African empires unravelled.
0:55:57 > 0:56:01One nation after another achieved independence.
0:56:01 > 0:56:03Look at the map today.
0:56:03 > 0:56:08Look at all those straight lines, the mad post-imperial patchwork,
0:56:08 > 0:56:11evidence of negotiations and agreements
0:56:11 > 0:56:14that rarely had much to do with tribal realities.
0:56:24 > 0:56:27Zambia was one of those new nations.
0:56:27 > 0:56:33By 1964, they were very glad indeed to be free of the imperialist yoke.
0:56:35 > 0:56:36They celebrated.
0:56:45 > 0:56:49And one of Zambia's first great celebrations
0:56:49 > 0:56:54took place at the village of Ilala, where Livingstone had died.
0:56:58 > 0:57:00President Kenneth Kaunda gave a speech
0:57:00 > 0:57:06in which he described Dr David Livingstone as "their first freedom fighter".
0:57:12 > 0:57:16You can see the people here around us today, you know,
0:57:16 > 0:57:22when they hear the name David Livingstone, what does he make them think of?
0:57:22 > 0:57:26Well, er, he is renowned for having fought against the slave trade.
0:57:26 > 0:57:30For that reason, you'll find that, after independent Africa,
0:57:30 > 0:57:34the tendency was to remove all colonial names,
0:57:34 > 0:57:39but here in this part of the world, we kept the name Livingstone and kept the name Victoria Falls.
0:57:41 > 0:57:44At that time, besides slavery, there were tribal wars.
0:57:44 > 0:57:50With the will of God, we became brothers. There was no need to fight each other.
0:57:52 > 0:57:57We stopped the tribal wars. We started living in peace among ourselves.
0:58:00 > 0:58:03For that reason, he's a saint in this part of the world.
0:58:03 > 0:58:05We have sanctified him here.
0:58:08 > 0:58:11Livingstone was blind to the present tense,
0:58:11 > 0:58:19and that made life difficult for the several Europeans who died as a result, his wife among them.
0:58:19 > 0:58:24But what the people of East Africa remember is his vision, of a future without slavery,
0:58:24 > 0:58:30the fundamental equality of the races and the rights of Africans to independent lives.
0:58:31 > 0:58:33For all his human weaknesses,
0:58:33 > 0:58:39Livingstone's greatest strength was that he believed in something better.
0:58:58 > 0:59:01Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:59:01 > 0:59:03E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk