Explorers and Missionaries (AQA A-Level History): Revision Notes
Explorers and Missionaries
The opening up of Africa's interior
Before 1850, Africa's interior remained largely inaccessible to Europeans. The continent appeared to offer limited opportunities for rapid commercial gain, whilst the threat of tropical diseases and hostile environments deterred penetration beyond coastal regions. However, from the 1850s onwards, a combination of medical and technological developments made inland exploration increasingly feasible.
The dramatic shift from the 1850s onwards transformed Africa from an impenetrable continent into a focus of European exploration and expansion. This change was driven not by sudden political will, but by practical breakthroughs in medicine and technology that made survival and travel possible.
Advances enabling exploration
Three developments transformed the practicability of African exploration:
Quinine was identified as an effective treatment against several tropical diseases by the 1850s. This anti-malarial drug allowed Europeans to venture into regions previously considered deadly, significantly reducing mortality rates among explorers.
Steamships revolutionised transportation by enabling Europeans to navigate Africa's major river systems. Unlike sailing vessels, steamships could move upstream against currents, opening access to previously unreachable areas.
Breech-loading rifles became widespread during the 1850s and 1860s. These firearms loaded at the side rather than down the barrel (unlike muskets), providing Europeans with vastly superior firepower compared to African weapons. This technological advantage proved decisive in encounters with local populations.
Breech-loading rifles: Firearms that loaded at the side rather than down the barrel (like a musket). This design allowed for much faster reloading and greater accuracy, giving European explorers a significant military advantage in hostile encounters.
European explorers mapping Africa (1860s-1870s)
During the 1860s and 1870s, a small group of explorers filled in substantial gaps on the European map of Africa. Their expeditions focused particularly on identifying the sources of major river systems:
John Hanning Speke discovered Lake Victoria in 1858, establishing it as the main source of the River Nile. On a successful visit in 1860, Speke confirmed this discovery.
Richard Burton accompanied Speke on the 1857-8 expedition that discovered Lake Tanganyika. Burton had previously served in the military in India and travelled extensively in Arabia and Somalia.
Samuel White Baker discovered Lake Albert (later renamed Lake Mobutu) in 1864. Accompanied by his wife, Baker set out from Cairo to find the (still disputed) source of the Nile. He subsequently served as Egypt's governor-general from 1869 to 1874, where he led efforts to abolish slavery in the South Nile basin region.
Joseph Thomson was a Scottish geologist whose expeditions to East Africa during the late 1870s established the groundwork for Britain's subsequent territorial claims to Kenya and Uganda. Cecil Rhodes later employed Thomson to explore north of the Zambezi River.
The race to discover the source of the Nile captured Victorian imagination and national pride. These expeditions were not merely geographical exercises—they represented European powers mapping territories for future colonial expansion, with discoveries often leading directly to territorial claims.
David Livingstone
Whilst most British explorers pursued adventure, personal advancement or commercial opportunity, others sought to combine exploration with humanitarian and religious objectives. The most renowned of these missionary-explorers was David Livingstone (1813-73), who spent the 1850s and 1860s exploring south-central Africa.
Livingstone came from a working-class background in Glasgow, where he had been sent to work in a cotton mill at age ten. His expeditions across the Zambezi, Shire and Rovuma Rivers led to the discovery of the Victoria Falls and Lake Ngami. Driven by dual motivations to end slavery and spread Christianity among African populations, Livingstone differed from profit-seeking explorers in his fundamental aims.
Livingstone's unique combination of anti-slavery activism and Christian evangelism set him apart from other explorers of his era. Unlike those seeking commercial profit or personal glory, he genuinely believed that African peoples could benefit from exposure to Christianity and Western commerce, whilst being freed from the slave trade that devastated communities.
An efficient missionary press ensured Livingstone's exploits received extensive publicity throughout Britain, making him a household name. When he went missing, the American newspaper sent journalist Henry Stanley to locate him. Stanley successfully tracked Livingstone down on the shore of Lake Tanganyika in 1871. Livingstone died in Africa in 1873, having never returned home after his final expedition.
The growth of missionary work
Livingstone's well-publicised adventures inspired numerous Victorians to view Africa through a romantic lens. His work generated momentum behind the notion that Christianity and commerce together would bring civilisation to the continent. Consequently, missionary societies expanded substantially during the second half of the nineteenth century. Initially hundreds, then eventually thousands, of salaried missionaries travelled to Africa with the express purpose of converting local populations to Christianity. These missionaries were predominantly male at first, though female missionaries became increasingly common over time.
Missionaries adopted a distinctive approach to their work. Rather than remaining in European settlements, they lived and worked directly among indigenous communities. In remote regions, they frequently provided the only access to Western healthcare and education available to local populations. Missionaries established schools, treated diseases, and offered literacy instruction alongside religious teaching.
A critical distinction: Missionaries were not official representatives of the British state. They often found themselves in disagreement with colonial bureaucrats, though this did not necessarily mean they opposed imperialism itself. Rather, missionaries tended to criticise imperial administrators for failing to pursue policies that would facilitate the spread of Christianity more effectively.
Challenges facing missionaries
Converting Africans to Christianity proved more difficult than many missionaries anticipated. Local communities defending traditional religious practices consistently resisted missionary efforts. Recognising this obstacle, missionaries often chose to establish schools first, calculating that educational provision would build credibility within communities before attempting direct religious conversion. This proved a more effective strategy for gaining trust.
Despite these efforts, the substantial growth in professed Christian believers across Africa did not materialise until after 1900. The missionary movement's impact remained limited throughout most of the period covered by this study.
The strategy of establishing schools before pursuing direct conversion proved more successful than aggressive evangelism. By providing practical benefits like education and healthcare, missionaries could demonstrate value to communities and gradually build trust, rather than immediately challenging deeply held traditional beliefs.
Missionaries and social reform
Missionaries pursued an agenda extending well beyond religious conversion. They actively promoted Western values as part of what they perceived as Britain's civilising mission. Working alongside feminists, humanitarians, doctors and teachers, missionaries pressed colonial governments to reform a wide range of indigenous practices they deemed unacceptable.
These reform efforts targeted customs missionaries classified as barbaric. They lobbied for the abolition of practices they found incompatible with Christian morality and Western social norms. Most missionaries genuinely believed that colonised peoples derived benefit from colonial administrations. In their view, colonial rule provided access to education, reduced disease prevalence, alleviated poverty, and improved prospects for salvation in the afterlife.
The missionary reform agenda represented a sincere, if paternalistic, belief system. Missionaries truly believed they were helping 'uncivilised' peoples through colonial administration, seeing themselves as moral agents whose work complemented territorial acquisition. This worldview justified imperial expansion as a humanitarian endeavour, even when they criticised specific colonial policies.
This reformist impulse formed an integral component of imperial expansion. Missionaries saw themselves as moral agents whose work complemented territorial acquisition, even when they criticised specific colonial policies for inadequately supporting their religious objectives.
Key Figure: John Hanning Speke (1827-64)
Speke accompanied Richard Burton on an expedition to discover the source of the Nile during 1857-8. The pair discovered Lake Tanganyika together. Speke then continued alone and discovered Lake Victoria, which he established during a successful return visit in 1860 as the main source of the River Nile.
Key Figure: Richard Burton (1821-90)
After military service in India, Burton travelled extensively in Arabia and Somalia. He undertook two attempts (1855 and 1857-8) to discover the source of the Nile, discovering Lake Tanganyika (with Speke) in 1858. Burton subsequently worked as a British diplomat and produced acclaimed translations of oriental literature, including the Arabian Nights.
Key Figure: Samuel White Baker (1821-93)
In 1861, accompanied by his wife, Baker departed from Cairo to discover the (still disputed) source of the Nile. In 1864, he located Lake Albert (now Lake Mobutu). He subsequently led an expedition to annex the South Nile basin region whilst serving as Egypt's governor-general (1869-74), where he actively worked to abolish slavery.
Key Figure: Joseph Thomson (1858-95)
A Scottish geologist, Thomson led an important expedition to East Africa during the late 1870s. He was subsequently employed by Cecil Rhodes to explore territory north of the Zambezi River. Thomson's expeditions established the foundation for Britain's later territorial claims to Kenya and Uganda.
Key Figure: David Livingstone (1813-73)
Livingstone was a Scottish missionary and explorer who investigated extensive areas of south-central Africa. He traced long stretches of the Zambezi, Shire and Rovuma Rivers and discovered the Victoria Falls and Lake Ngami. Despite limited success in converting Africans to Christianity, accounts of his 'good work' inspired numerous Britons to pursue missionary vocations in Africa. After American journalist Henry Stanley 'found' Livingstone in 1871, he died in Africa two years later in 1873.
Key Points to Remember:
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Medical advances (quinine) and technological developments (steamships, breech-loading rifles) made African exploration practicable from the 1850s onwards, transforming what had previously been a hostile and impenetrable environment.
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Key explorers during the 1860s-1870s mapped Africa's interior and identified major geographical features: Speke located Lake Victoria (1858), Burton discovered Lake Tanganyika (1858), Baker found Lake Albert (1864), and Thomson's work established grounds for claims to Kenya and Uganda.
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David Livingstone combined missionary work with exploration from the 1850s-1860s, driven by anti-slavery convictions and Christian evangelism rather than commercial profit, and his well-publicised expeditions inspired widespread British interest in Africa.
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Missionary work expanded substantially in the second half of the nineteenth century, with hundreds then thousands travelling to Africa to live among local communities, providing healthcare and education whilst attempting religious conversion, though significant growth in Christian adherents only occurred after 1900.
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Missionaries promoted Western values and social reform as part of imperial expansion, pressuring colonial governments to abolish practices they considered barbaric, whilst sincerely believing that colonial rule benefited indigenous peoples through education, disease control and poverty reduction.