Expert: Joseph Logue - 6/1/2009

Question
I need to find information on what supplies Stanley and Livingstone would have taken on their expeditions to Africa in the mid 1800's. Any ideas where to look?

Answer
Hello Megan,

There are a couple of books you may want to start with:

Stanley : the impossible life of Africa's greatest explorer, by Tim Jeal.  This is an excellent biography that covers the preparations for his expeditions well.

Into Africa : the epic adventures of Stanley & Livingstone, by Martin Dugard.

The Mammoth book of explorers / edited by John Keay ; with a foreword by Wilfred Thesiger.

Next, I would try your local library for books related to exploration and discovery.  It may not give you exactly what Stanley and Livingstone carried, but these resources can probably approximate what needed to be taken along (food, clothing, medicine, water, tools, etc.).  This is from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morton_Stanley%27s_first_trans-Africa_exploration#P...):

>>On September 21, 1874 he left for Zanzibar. From England he took with him Frederick Barker and the brothers Francis Pocock, Edward Pocock and Kalulu, an African he had token to England on his earlier trip and who was educated in England. He also took 60 pound of cloth, copper wire and beads (Sami Sami) for trading. Instruments: barometer, watches, chronometers (carefully packed), sextant, compasses, photography, Snider rifles elephant gun(s) and automatic rifles. In Zanzibar he completed his troupe to the total 224 people, including 16 women and 5 to 10 boys. He recruited mainly from the Wangwara, given their trustworthiness and endurance in earlier travels.<<

While you always need to double check items on Wikipedia, this description strikes me as being representative of what needed to be taken along on a trip to unexplored Africa.

Good luck in your search, Megan.

Sincerely,

Joseph Logue