The Bizarre History Of The Nile River

Henry Morton Stanley, who, according to The New Yorker, was an inexperienced trekker but a savvy self-promoter and total legend when it came to doing crazy stuff, somehow managed to survive the dangers of 1870s Africa (like malaria and crocodiles). Just 30 years old when The Herald sent him in search of Livingstone, Stanley had spent most of his life getting gigs wherever he could, including fighting on both sides of the American Civil War ... despite being Welsh by birth, as History relates.

On his biggest mission up to that date, Stanley actually succeeded in tracking down Livingstone, who had been missing for more than five years. His expedition ravaged by disease, regional fighting, and raids by Arab slavers, Livingstone wasn't having the greatest time of it. At a few points, he spent some time hanging out in a cosmopolitan African city, broke but seemingly enjoying his time there, according to his journal, as referenced in Smithsonian Magazine. But every time he ventured out on a mini-expedition, he ran into bad luck, slave raids on local villages, or worse.

By the time Stanley hit this part of Africa and heard rumors of a grubby white guy bumming around the local villages, Livingstone was definitely ready to be rescued. We don't know that Stanley actually said his famous line, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume," upon finding the white guy he'd been tracking through the African interior, but he told the newspapers he did, and that's probably good enough.