David Livingstone and the Myth of African Poverty and Disease

This study about David Livingstone is different from all other publications about him. Here, Livingstone is not the main topic of interest; the focus of the author is on nutrition and health in pre-colonial Africa and Livingstone is his key informant.
David Livingstone and the Myth of African Poverty and Disease is an unusual book. After a close examination of Livingstone’s writings and comparative reading of contemporary authors, Sjoerd Rijpma has been able to draw cautious conclusions about the relatively favourable conditions of health and nutrition in southern and central Africa during the pre-colonial period. His findings shed new light on the medical history of Sub-Saharan Africa. The surprise awaiting travellers in and also before 19th century Africa was that the inhabitants of the interior, even the ‘slaves’, were healthier and better fed than many of their contemporaries in Europe’s Industrial Revolution.

“An impressive piece of scholarship, truly forensic in its close reading and re-reading of Livingstone’s published works and those of other travellers during the same era, clearly a labour of love which has taken years to complete” (Joanna Lewis).

Sjoerd Rijpma (1931-2015) worked as a medical doctor in Africa and the Netherlands and held a PhD degree in agricultural sciences.

"[...] this volume would be of interest to the student of southern African history pre-1880, especially Africans themselves in order to appreciate their heritage (rather than just the often negative colonial version of it), and those interested in re-thinking how agricultural practices could be environmentally sensitive and appropriate to southern African soils." - Margaret O’Callaghan, Australian National University, in: Australasian Review of African Studies 37.2 (December 2016), pp. 149-151
"[...] In conclusion it may be said that Rijpma provided a modified depiction of the historical significance of Livingstone as explorer. In his data the author found confirmation for many things reported by others, but he was unable to accept Livingstone’s plea for the colonization of Africa. Because of this plea the explorer did not do justice to the authentic value of African culture and society." - Jaap van Slageren, in: Exchange 46.1 (2017) pp. 85-87