Summer - Royal Scottish Geographical Society

On the Map
David Livingstone’s Map Of Lake Malawi
David Livingstone
made three
journeys to
the area around what
was then called Lake
Nyasa, today Lake
Malawi, in 1859, 1861
and 1863, and was
the first European to
map it accurately. He
was probably the first
European to visit the
area and produced this
large sketch map of the
south west corner of the
lake on thin, squared
graph paper, using both
pencil and pen, with
blue watercolour added
to indicate the edges of
the lake.
It is thought Livingstone
compiled the map in stages,
possibly adding to it during
or after his three journeys
there, rather than drawing
it all after completion of this
phase of his explorations.
Indeed in places he includes
the same information, first
in pencil and then – not
specifically overwriting it
but adjacent to it - in pen.
It is thought that the hand
written pencil notes on the
map relating to Livingstone’s
calculations of the latitude
and longitude of the area and
citing comparison with those
on John Arrowsmith’s map,
must have been added a little
later, following his return
from Africa and around the
time of publication in 1865 of
Arrowsmith’s map in David
and Charles Livingstone’s,
Narrative of an Expedition to the
Zambezi and its Tributaries.
Livingstone explored the west
coast of Lake Malawi in 1861
and in annotations on the
lake’s shoreline he gives the
dates he was there, 2 – 28 / 29
September. He was careful
to include geographical data
describing the terrain such
as the ‘high sandy shores’,
‘high plains’ and indicates
where the terrain was
‘marshy’ or ‘rocky’. He did not
personally explore the east
coast though he obviously
used local knowledge to add
his pencilled-in indications
of some of the peoples who
lived there and the names
they gave to their lands.
He also took great pains to
record local place names.
Between July and October
1863 Livingstone explored the
area from the lakeside near
Marenga westwards towards
Chinya’nga, returning to the
lake at Molamba (names
rendered here as portrayed on
his map) and this journey is
depicted in dotted black lines.
At the extreme northwest
corner of his map he inscribes,
‘Bemba Lake (?)’, presumably
added from information
gained locally. It was near
Lake Bemba that Livingstone
was to die ten years later.
Margaret Wilkes
I am indebted to Ian C
Cunningham, former Keeper
of Manuscripts in the National
Library of Scotland for detail on
the background to Livingstone’s
compilation of this map.
Map reproduced with kind
permission of the Trustees of the
National Library of Scotland.