#HenryMortonStanley found, on #ThisDayInHistory in 1871, fellow explorer #DavidLivingstone at Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania. Both men spent years hunting for the sources of the #Nile River, and both contributed substantially to the violent 19th century European conquest of #Africa.
The battery also found some unusual uses. It was said that the African explorer and journalist #HenryMortonStanley (of “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” fame) carried a small battery during his 1870s African expedition that gave tribal leaders a shock when they shook hands in order to instill in them a sense of his superiority and power. When the trick received criticism, one defender wrote, “It is beyond understanding why fault should be found with this harmless and efficient method of teaching a #truth.” (h s)