Livingstone was a doctor in Africa, but he was not the Cape doctor. That term—which refers to the Cape of Good Hope—specifies not a person but a strong southeast wind such as the one that blows at the Cape of Good Hope in the summer. The coinage is credited to British colonials posted in India, who would recuperate from the severe climate of their protectorate by holidaying on Africa's southernmost cape.

Before we head out of Africa, we'll challenge Africanists with one final question. Do you know the original (and short-lived) name of the Cape of Good Hope? In 1488, when Portuguese navigator Bartholmeu Dias came upon that extension of land, he christened it "Cape of Storms." In less than a decade, the astute king of Portugal, who was himself dubbed "John the Perfect" and who clearly appreciated the advantages of an upbeat approach, renamed that stormy point "Cape of Good Hope."