David Livingstone

  • The Bombay Africans

    The Bombay Africans The Royal Geographical Society (RGS) tells us: “Originally forced into slavery in Africa, the group who came to be known as the ‘Bombay Africans’ were liberated by the British Royal Navy from Arab slaving boats and taken… Continue reading

    The Bombay Africans
  • James Chuma after 1874

    The Return of the Black Explorer James Chuma was the most famous of the liberated slaves whose early life at the Magomero mission and contribution to Livingstone’s last expedition 1865-74, is described in a previous article (here). After returning to… Continue reading

    James Chuma after 1874
  • Magomero and The Nasik Boys

    The Black Explorers This is not the story of famous white explorers, it is the story of some of the black African men, boys and women, many of whom were freed slaves, who walked with them. It is often suggested… Continue reading

    Magomero and  The Nasik Boys
  • Rigby, Livingstone & The UMCA

    Introduction Between 1808 and 1900 tens of thousands of liberated slaves, African men, women and children, predominantly from central and eastern Africa, were disembarked by the Royal Navy at Aden, Bombay, Cape Town, the Seychelles, Mauritius and Freretown in Kenya.… Continue reading

    Rigby, Livingstone & The UMCA
  • An Image of Slavery

    This photograph was taken in Stone Town, Zanzibar by an unknown missionary around 1890. The original is a lantern slide measuring just 83 x 83 mm, the width of a credit card, yet in that tiny space, it exemplifies the… Continue reading

    An Image of Slavery
  • The Demise of Malawi’s Elephants: Part 2 – The Nightmare Years

    We are watching a breeding herd of elephants at a muddy wallow, babies frolicking in the mud, tumbling over each other as they spray muddy water in all directions. Their aunts are just behind and often standing over them as… Continue reading

    The Demise of Malawi’s Elephants: Part 2 – The Nightmare Years
  • Elephant Marsh

    In the south of Malawi close to the Mozambique border there is a glorious wetland formed by the seasonal flooding of the River Shire that, depending on the river’s flow, can spread to over 1,000 square kilometres of waterways, lagoons,… Continue reading

    Elephant Marsh