Reinterpreting Exploration by Kennedy Dane

Author:Kennedy, Dane
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 2014-05-03T04:00:00+00:00

Figure 5.1 British explorer David Livingstone

the interest in this country about you is as intense as I ever would wish it to be and no one has a better chance of grasping it than yourself. The Geographical Society might in short be called the Livingstone Society for the last two years.25

The high level of expectation raised by Livingstone’s endeavor, and the anxiety surrounding his apparent disappearance in the heart of Africa, ensured that his name remained in the public eye. Waller did not hide his enthusiasm when he saw the explorer’s statue at the Royal Academy in 1869:

You were exhibited in the Royal Academy this year, clad in knicker bockers, gaiters, a huge revolver strapped around your abdomen and a sword by your side—o’ you did look so beautiful! and I need not say so, natural!26

Livingstone’s death in Africa and his African servants’ decision to carry his remains to the coast gave much material for his sensationalist promoters. The RGS organized a highly publicized and deeply symbolic burial ceremony for Livingstone in Westminster Abbey. The legend was further entrenched by Horace Waller, who took charge of the publication of the Last Journals and organized many meetings and conferences to promote his memory. The Journals (1874) were heavily pruned, with Waller removing or altering any statement he felt threatened the standing of his hero.27 Waller was eager to spread a hagiographic vision of Livingstone as an exemplary figure in the cause of the Christian missionary advance and the fight against slavery in Africa.

David Livingstone epitomizes the hero of exploration of the period prior to the New Imperialism, when travelers, explorers, and members of the geographical establishment believed they had a key educational task to perform in society. During his lifetime, Livingstone used his iconic status to promote several ideas he feared were not popular enough in Britain: namely, the abolition of the slave trade, free trade, white emigration to Africa, and the promotion of technology in less advanced societies. Livingstone’s example also directly inspired several leading figures in the scramble for Africa, such as Sir Bartle Frere, Sir Harry Johnston, John Smith Moffat, and the Rev. John Mackenzie.28 With Victorian ministers cautious about embarking upon expensive colonial projects, lobbyists sought to use public opinion to pressure Parliamentary action, and heroes of exploration were particularly good at it. As John Darwin has argued, “foreign policy could easily be derailed by a press campaign or an appeal to patriotic prejudices.”29 Horace Waller and his successors made full use of the evocative power of the Livingstone legend in support of British imperial intervention in tropical Africa (notably Nyasaland and the east African coast).30 More than twenty years elapsed between Murchison’s initial support for Livingstone and Waller’s entrenchment of the posthumous legend: this left time for European powers to become more involved in African affairs and to contemplate colonial rule more seriously. From then on, legends of exploration would develop against a much more imperial backdrop.

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