African Exploration And British Cognitive Changes In Africa ——A Case Study Of David Livingstone’s Exploration

As a typical case of African exploration activities,David Livingstone was a famous British explorer and missionary in the mid-19 th century,and he was also regarded as the most important imperial travel writer in Britain in the 19 th century.His works illuminate European imperialism and colonialism,African history,and the slave trade in the 19 th century.Himself,his books,and his career have become a huge symbol of Victorian Britain’s perception of Africa imagery.Livingstone’s fame,legendary expeditions,and his messianic zeal for exporting British values and culture constructed a "myth" that provided a huge moral foundation for massive imperial expansion.This article uses Livingstone’s expeditions and travel writings as clues to explore how the African exploration influenced Britain’s perception of Africa.This thesis is mainly divided into three parts.The first chapter mainly explores the reasons for the British exploration of Africa,the expedition institutions that played an important role in the process of African exploration,and the travel writing that had a significant impact on the British people’s cognition of Africa.The second chapter mainly studies how Livingstone’s expedition,as an important part of the African exploration,was shaped into a "myth" and had an important impact on the British cognition of Africa.The third chapter explores the changes in Britain’s cognition of Africa in three ways,such as the colonial discourse analysis of Livingstone’s travels,the origin of Livingstone’s thoughts on Africa and the changes of Livingstone’s image.From the end of the 18 th century to the 19 th century,African exploration activities and travel writings changed Britain’s perception of Africa largely.It makes the image of Africa gradually emerged from the fog which covers a strange and wild continent.At the same time,these travel writings shaped Britain’s exotic gaze on Africa,making Britain a sense of civilizational superiority to Africa which becomes the potential driving force for imperial expansion.The explorers,as agents of knowledge and power,their expeditions become the bridge of the collision between British and African values,interests and ways of seeing the world.The British public obtained a large amount of knowledge of African geography and indigenous information with the help of explorers and travel writings.On this basis,they cultivated their own sense of civilizational superiority.Britain’s exotic gaze on Africa is permeated with civilizational conquest and imperial ambitions.The sense of civilizational superiority brought about the intensified infiltration of British imperialism into Africa after the 1870 s.The role of explorers who advocated the use of "civilization and Christianity" to open up Africa would be more inclined to the pioneers and spiritual ancestors of new African imperialism.In the process of cognition,the British Empire discovered its own desire for exploration,national ambition,and ability to transform foreign lands.It regarded itself as a representative of "civilization",and established an "informal" empire in Africa.