David Livingstone (clip 1)
Life of the famous Victorian explorer
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Description
Content advisory: Depiction of enslaved people
An account of the life of David Livingstone (1813 – 1873). This Docu-drama depicts the life of the famous Victorian explorer and missionary including a dramatised account of his expedition through Africa.
Shots include indigenous African people dancing, a dramatisation of Livingstone's missionary work; an exploration team walking beside a wagon through the Kalahari Desert; vultures feeding on dead animals; a reenactment of slave driving; snakes, lions, crocodiles; the exploration team hacking through the forest.
Questions & Activities
Questions
- Why did people in the past call Africa "the Dark Continent"?
- What was the transatlantic slave trade and when was it abolished?
- What language is used in this clip (and clip 2) to describe the indigenous people?
- How is malaria spread?
- What kinds of wildlife did Livingstone encounter?
Activities
Find out where Kuruman is and what the landscape is like.
Write a story from the perspective of one of the indigenous people about Livingstone's arrival.
Research the beliefs of indigenous South African tribes.
Research Scotland's role in the slave trade. Develop a presentation.
Scotland profited from slavery. How should we make amends?
Imagine you were David Livingstone setting off on your expedition. Write a diary entry for how you felt about the expedition and what you encountered.
Research famous Scots and Africans of the Victorian period - who were they and what did they do?
Updated March 2020
Clip Details
| Record Id | 007-000-002-033-C |
|---|---|
| Resource Rights Holder | National Library of Scotland |
| Project Ref | 0192 |
| Date | 1956 |
| Genre | Drama Documentary |
| School Subject | History, Economic History, Modern Studies, Geography, Health and Wellbeing, Religious and Moral Education, International Studies |
| Subject Matter | Victorians; Exploration; Slavery; Missionaries |
| Who | David Middlemas (director), G-B Instructional Ltd (distributor, sponsor), Rev James McNair BD, Chairman of the Livingstone Memorial, Blantyre, Lanarkshire and CM Green MA (supervisors), The J Arthur Rank Organisation Limited (production company) |
| Where | Africa, Kuruman, Kalahari Desert, Port Elizabeth, Zambezi, Linyanti, Blantyre |
| Event | Exploration, Slavery |
| Attributes | Black and White, Sound |
| Clip Length | 7:17 |
| Film Length | 16:00 |
| References | [Livingstone Online ](https://www.livingstoneonline.org/) |