Encounters in Africa: When Livingstone Met Welwitsch

From 1851 onwards, coinciding with a period of relative political stability, Portugal achieved the necessary conditions for the development of its imperial plan. The Portuguese Government believed in the wealth of its African possessions, despite several public discussions about the future of the territories in the 1860s. The expedition Iter Angolense (1853–1860), led by Friedrich Martin Joseph Welwitsch (1806–1872) an Austrian doctor and botanist, occurred at a time when the imperial plan became established. Welwitsch was sent by the Portuguese Crown to what is known today as Angola. The objective was to collect data, plants, animals, and minerals for scientific analysis and to ascertain their economic potential. On 3 September 1859, Welwitsch was the first European to describe the famous Namib Desert plant, later named Welwitschia mirabilis in his honour. During this expedition, the botanist met David Livingstone (1813–1873), the famous explorer, doctor, geographer and missionary. Although the fact Welwitsch and Livingstone met while they were in Angola is recognized, this encounter has hitherto been studied in depth. These famous explorers met at Golungo Alto in 1854, and this encounter would affect both of them in different ways. This work in progress intends to explore the networks of knowledge and the impact of this encounter in a period that preceded the formation of the Society of Geography, Lisbon (1875) and the Scramble for Africa.