Browsing by Author "Zambezi, Livingstone"

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    The Zambezi Papers of Richard Thornton
    (Fosbrooke, 1858) Zambezi, Livingstone
    David Livingstone’s Zambezi Expedition is, with the possible exception of the search for the sources of the White Nile, the most fascinating interlude in the history of African exploration. It ground along for something over five years, a long time as expeditions went, subject to many stresses and strains and labouring under many handicaps; it drew into its orbit many people and influenced their lives for good and evil, and the interplay of human character and emotion exhibited during and after its existence is its most interesting facet. Its results have yet to be completely assessed. At the time it was thought a failure by many, yet much was accomplished in geography and the other natural sciences, and Great Britain and Portugal were alerted to the potential value of the Shire Highlands and the area round Lake Nyasa.The stories of many of those connected in one way or another with the Expedition have been published. With the appearance of the present volumes by and about Richard Thornton, the geologist and mining engineer, only the diaries of Thomas Baines and Charles Livingstone remain as the most important unpublished personal documents. Thornton gives another report, and from s. fresh standpoint, of that fascinating drama that was played on the Zambezi and Shire rivers. The Thornton papers are presented as a contribution to the history of the Zambezi Expedition and to that of South-East Africa, and as an addition to the source material for a book that has long been needed, a critical and definitive biography of David Livingstone.