David Livingstone (1813-1873) was born on 19th March 1813 into a modest Scottish family in a small industrial town of Blantyre. He was the second son of Neil Livingstone, a small tea-dealer, and Agnes Hunter. His parents were protestants, who educated their five sons and two daughters in the doctrines of Christianity.

From the age of ten he had to work at a cotton mill 14 hours each day, while combining his work with studying in the evening school. With a certain ingenuity David managed to read scientific books at the factory by placing them on the spinny-jenny. In this manner he mastered Virgil and Horace, studied botany, zoology and geology.

At nineteen his wages of a cotton-spinner permitted him to study medicine and theology in Anderson College and to attend the Greek class in Glasgow University, 7 or 8 miles away from his home Blantyre.

His choice of medical profession was inspired by an appeal of Karl Gutzlaff, German doctor and missionary to China. In 1838 David Livingstone left for London where he pursued his studies. In this period he devoted himself to medical and scientific study.

In 1839 he volunteered to the London Missionary Society for service in China. However, Opium wars prevented him from going to Middle Kingdom. In London through LMS he met Dr. Robert Moffat, an outstanding South African missionary. Moffat's words on one of the organization meetings became a motto of Livingstone's work:
"Many a morning have I stood on the porch of my house, and looking northward, have seen the smoke arise from villages that have never heard of Jesus Christ. I have seen, at different times, the smoke of a thousand villages—villages whose people are without Christ, without God, and without hope in the world ... The smoke of a thousand villages ... The smoke of a thousand villages."

In 1840 Dr. David Livingstone was sent to South Africa. So, began his exploration of the largely unknown African continent.