Females Hoeing
This image shows a group of women from the Great Lakes region. One had a child on her back, while working with short-handled hoes. Another woman carried a basket on her head. Houses were in the background. Livingstone described how "the only instrument of husbandry here is the short-handled hoe; and about Tette the labour of tilling the soil, as represented in the woodcut, is performed entirely by female slaves" (Livingstone, p. 499). David Livingstone (1813–1873) was a famous Scottish physician, Christian missionary, explorer and abolitionist. His interest was to locate the source of the Nile River. His missionary work also reinforced the European “Scramble for Africa” and the colonization of the continent.
Image Title
Females Hoeing
RegID
SI-OB-628
Date
1858-1864
Title
Females Hoeing
Source
David and Charles Livingstone, Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambesi and its Tributaries; and of the Discovery of the Lakes Shirwa and Nyassa, 1858-1864 (London, 1865; reprinted New York, 1866), p. 499. Copy in Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library.
Language
English
Item sets
Pre-Colonial Africa: Society, Polity, Culture
Spatial Coverage
Africa--Great Lakes
Reproduced In
David and Charles Livingstone, Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambesi and its Tributaries; and of the Discovery of the Lakes Shirwa and Nyassa, 1858-1864 (London, 1865; reprinted New York, 1866), p. 499.
Researchers
Jerome Handler; Michael Tuite; Henry B. Lovejoy Graduate Research Assistants: Tiffany Beebe; Travis May
Last Updated
18-Jan-11
Identifier
Livingstone-499