Model of Hut where Livingstone died

Model of Hut where Livingstone died.

Livingstone sailed for Algoa Bay, South Africa, in December 1840. His first stop was a mission station in Kruman in what is now Botswana, and it was there that he met Mary Moffat whom he married in 1845. After Mary died in 1862, Livingstone was commissioned by the British Government and the Royal Geographical Society to locate the source of the Nile.

The journalist Henry M. Stanley came across the explorer in Ujiji at Lake Tanganyika in 1871. Despite being too weak to continue his expedition safely, Livingstone refused to return home and died two years later in a hut in Chambito’s Village, similar to this replica (photographed in the 1950’s).

His body was disguised as a package (corpses were considered unlucky) and carried on a nine month journey to the coast before being returned to Britain.

1874 wood engraving Joseph Nash by Jacob Wainright of Livingstone’s Coffin on ship

With thanks for the kind permission of Rhona Wilson and Richard Stenlake Publishers to publish photos from the book, “Old Blantyre“.

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