Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-gq7q9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-16T20:20:20.907Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Some late nineteenth-century Scottish travellers in Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2011

Derek A. Dow
Derek A. Dow
Affiliation:
Archivist, Greater Glasgow Health Board
Get access

Synopsis

In the late eighteenth century the Scottish Highlands were attractive to travellers eager to test themselves against climatic, dietetic and other deprivations. From the early nineteenth century, the Scots themselves became more adventurous and Scottish medical men, notably Mungo Park and David Livingstone, played a prominent part in the exploration of Africa. In the 1860s Livingstone's prolonged travels through the Dark Continent and his belief that he had conquered malarial fever led to the dispatch of the first Christian Mission to the Zambesi region, a venture which failed largely as a result of the missionaries' ignorance of hygiene and medicine.

The establishment of the European presence in British Central Africa (now Malawi) was accomplished by representatives of the Scottish Presbyterian Churches in the 1870s. This paper examines some of the problems encountered during the ensuing half century. Specific themes include the impact of developments in transport systems; housing and sanitation; hints on suitable clothing; the presence of trained medical personnel in both Mission and Government and their role in the study of tropical disease; use and abuse of alcohol.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Section B: Biological Sciences , Volume 82 , Issue 1-2: Travel: Disease and Other Hazards , 1982 , pp. 7 - 15
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1982

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, D. E. 1899. Dangers to Health on Board of Passenger Steamers. J. Trop. Med. 2, 69.Google Scholar
Baker, C. 1976. The Government Medical Service in Malawi: An Administrative History 1891–1974. Med. Hist. 20, 296–311.Google Scholar
Blair, M. C. 1904. Blackwater Fever. Caledon. Med. J. 6, 45–58.Google Scholar
Brown, A. J. 1907. The Foreign Missionary. New York: F. H. Revell.Google Scholar
Buchanan, J. 1885. The Shire Highlands as Colony and Mission. Edinburgh & London: W. Blackwood & Sons.Google Scholar
Chadwick, O. 1959. Mackenzie's Grave. London: Hodder & Stoughton.Google Scholar
Church of Scotland. 1872–1900. Home and Foreign Missionary Record.Google Scholar
Clendennen, G. W. and Cunningham, I. C. 1979. David Livingstone: A Catalogue of Documents. Edinburgh: National Library of Scotland for the David Livingstone Documentation Project.Google Scholar
Comrie, J. D. 1932. History of Scottish Medicine. London: Wellcome Historical Medical Museum.Google Scholar
Crawford, D. 1912. Thinking Black. London: Morgan & Scott.Google Scholar
Crawford, D. 1922. Back to the Long Grass. My Link with Livingstone. London: Hodder & Stoughton.Google Scholar
Cross, D. K. 1897. Health in Africa. London: Nisbet.Google Scholar
Dow, D. A. 1977. Domestic Response and Reaction to the Foreign Missionary Enterprises of the Principal Scottish Presbyterian Churches 1873–1929. Unpublished Ph.D.: Univ. of Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Duff, H. L. 1903. Nyassaland Under the Foreign Office. London: George Bell & Sons.Google Scholar
Fraser, A. R. 1934. Donald Fraser of Livingstonia. London: Hodder & Stoughton.Google Scholar
The Gartnavel Christmas Number. 1882. Glasgow. Printed at the Glasgow Royal Asylum for Lunatics.Google Scholar
Gelfand, M. 1957. Livingstone the Doctor. Oxford: Basil Blackwell & Mott.Google Scholar
Gelfand, M. 1964. Lakeside Pioneers. Oxford: Basil Blackwell & Mott.Google Scholar
Harrison, (Mrs) J. W. 1890. Mackay of Uganda. London.Google Scholar
Henderson, J. 1900. Northern Nyasaland. Scott. Geogr. Mag. 16, 82–89.Google Scholar
Johnston, H. H. 1894. Report by Commissioner Johnston on the First Three Years Administration of British Central Africa. In Parliamentary Papers, 1894 c.7504, LVII.Google Scholar
Johnston, H. H. 1897. British Central Africa. London: Methuen.Google Scholar
Laws, R. 1878–1905. Unpublished Diaries. Edinburgh University MSS. Gen. 561.Google Scholar
Laws, R. 1934. Reminiscences of Livingstonia. Edinburgh, London: Oliver & Boyd.Google Scholar
Life and Work in British Central Africa. 1888–1919.Google Scholar
Livingstone, W. P. [1921]. Laws of Livingstonia. London: Hodder & Stoughton.Google Scholar
McCracken, K. J. 1967. The Livingstonia Mission and the Evolution of Malawi, 1875–1939. Unpublished Ph.D.: Univ. of Cambridge.Google Scholar
McCracken, K. J. 1973. Scottish Medical Missions in Central Africa. Med. Hist. 17, 188–191.Google Scholar
Macdonald, D. 1882. Africana. London: Simpkin, Marshall.Google Scholar
Macfarlane, R. M. 1916. The Sanitation of a Small European Settlement in Portuguese East Africa. Trans. Soc. Trop. Med. & Hyg. 9, 129–156.Google Scholar
McMillan, H. W. 1970. The Origins and Development of the African Lakes Company 1878–1908. Unpublished Ph.D.: Univ. of Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Macnish, R. 1859. The Book of Aphorisms. Glasgow & London.Google Scholar
Meebelo, H. S. 1971. Reaction to Colonialism. Manchester: University Press.Google Scholar
Meller, C. J. 1864. On the fever of East Central Africa Encountered by Livingstone's Zambesi Expedition. Lancet 2, 459–461, 520 522.Google Scholar
Moir, F. L. M. 1885. Eastern Route to Central Africa. Scott. Geogr. Mag. 1, 95–112.Google Scholar
Moir, F. L. M. [1923]. After Livingstone. London: Hodder & Stoughton.Google Scholar
Moir, J. W. 1887. Family Letters, Edinburgh University Mss. Gen. 717/11.Google Scholar
Morrison, F. T. 1882–1886. Unpublished Diaries. Edinburgh University MSS. Gen. 1803–9.Google Scholar
Rankin, D. J. 1892. The Discovery of the Chinde Entrance to the Zambesi River. Form. Rev. 52, 824–829.Google Scholar
Rankin, D. J. 1893. The Zambesi Basin and Nyassaland. Edinburgh: W. Blackwood & Sons.Google Scholar
Rankine, W. M. 1896. A Hero of the Dark Continent. Edinburgh: W. Blackwood & Sons.Google Scholar
Ross, A. C. 1968. The Origins and Development of the Church of Scotland Mission, Blantyre, Nyasaland 1875–1926. Unpublished Ph.D.: Univ. of Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Smith, G. 1879 and 1881. The Life of Alexander Duff, 2 Vols. London: Hodder & Stoughton.Google Scholar
United Free Church. 1925. Livingstonia Jubilee Issue of Missionary Record, p. 449.Google Scholar