Sir Robert Williams

Born and educated in Aberdeen, Sir Robert Williams was a Scottish mining engineer, railroad developer and - like Livingstone - was hailed in his time as a pioneering explorer of Africa. He is associated with the discovery of vast copper deposits in Katanga Province (now Democratic Republic of Congo) and Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia); the creation of the Benguela railway through then Portuguese West Africa (now Angola); and the railway connection to Luau at the border to the Belgian Congo (now Democratic Republic of Congo).