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Why did David Livingstone avoid the route through Boer territory during his 1853 journey?
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David Livingstone
Portrait of Scottish missionary. physician, and explorer David Livingstone, albumen silver print by John Jabez Edwin Mayall, c. 1857; in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
During his 1853 journey, David Livingstone sought to establish a route to the Atlantic coast that would facilitate legitimate commerce and help undermine the slave trade. He specifically avoided the route through Boer territory because it was hostile and unsuitable for his mission.
The relationship between Livingstone and the Boers had become severely strained by 1852, when the Boers destroyed his home at Kolobeng and attacked his African friends. Due to this direct aggression and their general treatment of Indigenous peoples, which Livingstone detested, he prioritized finding an alternative path to reach the Makololo peoples with whom he worked.12