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75-466: The explorer Henry Morton Stanley visited the area in 1883, and established a station that became the city of Kisangani below the Boyoma Falls , a 56 miles (90 km) series of cataracts. The river was navigable from Léopoldville up to this point. The station was known first as Falls Station and then as Stanleyville, and the falls were known as Stanley Falls . A decree of 3 September 1886 by

150-805: A conference . Leopold wanted the International Association of the Congo boundaries drawn by Stanley to be officially confirmed, thus giving the Association an official status. On 26 February 1885, the Berlin Act was signed. The Act regulated an immense free trade zone in the Congo Basin and made it a neutral territory. Furthermore, the Act declared war on slavery. The act contained only one article that Leopold disliked: Article 17 gave

225-515: A 10-year-old girl and offered her to cannibals to document and sketch how she was cooked and eaten. Stanley found out only when Jameson had died of fever. The spread of sleeping sickness across areas of central and eastern Africa that were previously free of the disease has been attributed to this expedition, but this hypothesis has been disputed. Sleeping sickness had been endemic in these regions for generations and then flared into epidemics as colonial trade increased trade throughout Africa during

300-701: A book about his experiences: How I Found Livingstone; travels, adventures, and discoveries in Central Africa (1872). In 1874, the New York Herald and the Daily Telegraph financed Stanley on another expedition to Africa. His ambitious objective was to complete the exploration and mapping of the Central African Great Lakes and rivers, in the process circumnavigating Lakes Victoria and Tanganyika and locating

375-518: A calmness of exterior before the Arabs which was hard to simulate as he reached the group, Mr. Stanley said: – "Doctor Livingstone, I presume?" A smile lit up the features of the pale white man as he answered: "Yes, and I feel thankful that I am here to welcome you." Stanley joined Livingstone in exploring the region, finding that there was no waterway from Lake Tanganyika to the Nile. On his return, he wrote

450-517: A century after his death, Stanley's legacy remains the subject of enduring controversy. Although he personally had high regard for many of the native African people who accompanied him on his expeditions, the exaggerated accounts of corporal punishment and brutality in his books fostered a public reputation as a hard-driving, cruel leader, in contrast to the supposedly more humanitarian Livingstone. His contemporary image in Britain also suffered from

525-485: A few days after a bite from a tsetse fly , many of his porters deserted, and the rest were decimated by tropical diseases. Stanley found David Livingstone on 10 November 1871 in Ujiji , near Lake Tanganyika in present-day Tanzania . He later claimed to have greeted him with the now-famous line, " Dr. Livingstone, I presume? " However, this line does not appear in his journal from the time—the two pages directly following

600-626: A few days' journey". Professor James Newman has written that "establishing the connection between the Lualaba and Congo Rivers and locating the source of the Victoria Nile" justified him (Newman) in stating that: "In terms of exploration and discovery as defined in nineteenth-century Europe, he (Stanley) clearly stands at the top." On 15 April 1877, King Leopold II of the Belgians sent his first expedition to Central Africa, then still under

675-404: A few tons of rubber per year here. You only have to sail up such a river and the branches with rubber hang almost up to your ship." In 1891, rubber extraction was divided among concessionaires. This soon led to abuses, when the switch was made to "forced labour". Stanley, who had left from a post at Vivi near Matadi on 21 February 1880, arrived at Stanley pool on 3 December 1882. Building

750-512: A field of work could best dispense with, and whose nobility is too nice to be stained with toil." About society women, Stanley wrote that they were "toys to while slow time" and "trifling human beings." When he met the American journalist and traveller May Sheldon , he was attracted because she was a modern woman who insisted on serious conversation and not social chit-chat. "She soon lets you know that chaff won't do," he wrote. The authors of

825-592: A great trading empire in the eastern Congo region. Stanley told him Leopold II of Belgium wanted to make peace with the Arabs, and offered Tippu Tip the position of governor of Stanley Falls District (the king had approved this offer by telegram, but it originated with Stanley). Tippoo Tib accepted the offer, which gave a monthly salary of £30. He promised to raise the Belgian flag and to restrain his fellow Arabs from slaving and other depredations. A European officer would be attached to him, and would make regular reports to

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900-598: A group of his Wangwana assistants, he was surprised: "They were an exceedingly fine looking body of men, far more intelligent in appearance than I could ever have believed African barbarians could be". Kirundu, Democratic Republic of the Congo Kirundu is a settlement in the Democratic Republic of the Congo . It is on the right bank of the Lualaba River , upstream from Ubundu . In

975-530: A journalist in the days of frontier expansion in the American West . He then organised an expedition to the Ottoman Empire that ended catastrophically when he was imprisoned. He eventually talked his way out of jail and received restitution for damaged expedition equipment. In 1867, the emperor of Ethiopia , Tewodros II , held a British envoy and others hostage, and a force was sent to effect

1050-467: A large piece of granite inscribed with the words "Henry Morton Stanley, Bula Matari, 1841–1904, Africa". Bula Matari translates as "Breaker of Rocks" or "Breakstones" in Kongo and was Stanley's name among locals in Congo. It can be translated as a term of endearment for, as the leader of Leopold's expedition, he commonly worked with the labourers breaking rocks with which they built the first modern road along

1125-705: A number of treaties curated there (and gathered by Stanley himself from what is present-day Uganda during the Emin Pasha Expedition), ostensibly gaining British protection for a number of African chiefs. Amongst these were a number that have long been identified as possible frauds. A good example is treaty number 56, supposedly agreed upon between Stanley and the people of "Mazamboni, Katto, and Kalenge". These people had signed over to Stanley, "the Sovereign Right and Right of Government over our country for ever in consideration of value received and for

1200-537: A portion of East African coast, of which Mombasa and Malindi were the principal towns. For eight years, to my knowledge, the matter had been placed before His Highness, but the Sultan's signature was difficult to obtain. The records at the National Archives at Kew, London, offer an even deeper insight and show that annexation was a purpose he had been aware of for the expedition. This is because there are

1275-480: A road from Vivi to Isangila , Stanley took almost 2 years to traverse the rapids towing with him 50 tonnes of equipment, including 2 dismantled steamboats and a barge. After he arrived at Stanley pool, a local king, Makoko of the Anziku Kingdom , gave him a site near Kintambo to build a city. Despite hostilities from another nearby king, Ngaliema , he decided to start the construction of Léopoldville on

1350-564: A short time, but he was eventually sent to the St Asaph Union Workhouse for the Poor. The overcrowding and lack of supervision resulted in his being frequently abused by older boys. Historian Robert Aldrich has alleged that the headmaster of the workhouse raped or sexually assaulted Rowlands, and that the older Rowlands was "incontrovertibly bisexual". When Rowlands was 10 years old, his mother and two half-siblings stayed for

1425-481: A short while in this workhouse, but he did not recognise them until the headmaster told him who they were. Rowlands emigrated to the United States in 1859 at age 18. He disembarked at New Orleans and, according to his own declarations, became friends by accident with Henry Hope Stanley, a wealthy trader. He saw Stanley sitting on a chair outside his store and asked him if he had any job openings. He did so in

1500-433: A summary of Stanley's letters published by The New York Times on 2 July 1872. Stanley biographer Tim Jeal argued that the explorer invented it afterwards to help raise his standing because of "insecurity about his background", though ironically the phrase was mocked in the press for being absurdly formal for the situation. The Herald 's own first account of the meeting, published 1 July 1872, reports: Preserving

1575-649: Is mainly known for his search for the sources of the Nile and Congo rivers, the work he undertook as an agent of King Leopold II of the Belgians which enabled the occupation of the Congo Basin region, and his command of the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition . He was knighted in 1897, and served in Parliament as a Liberal Unionist member for Lambeth North from 1895 to 1900. More than

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1650-410: Is necessary for their own well-being, even more than ours." Unexpectedly, France had sent its own expedition to the Congo Basin . Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza had undermined Stanley's mission by concluding contracts himself with native heads of state. The creation of a station that would later be called Brazzaville could not be prevented. Leopold was furious, writing angrily to Strauch: "The terms of

1725-475: Is not explicit on the agenda but it is clear enough: We then entered heartily into our business; how absolutely necessary it was that he should promptly enter into an agreement with the English within the limits assigned by Anglo-German treaty. It would take too long to describe the details of the conversation, but I obtained from him the answer needed. A few pages further in the same book, Stanley explains what

1800-665: Is very unlikely that he ever met rich Henry Hope Stanley, and that an ordinary grocer, James Speake, was Rowlands' true benefactor until his (Speake's) sudden death in October 1859. Stanley reluctantly joined in the American Civil War , first enrolling in the Confederate States Army 's 6th Arkansas Infantry Regiment and fighting in the Battle of Shiloh in 1862. After being taken prisoner there, he

1875-514: The Comité d'études du Haut-Congo , under Leopold's orders. King Leopold gave Stanley clear instructions: "It is not about Belgian colonies. It is about establishing a new state that is as large as possible and about its governance. It should be clear that in this project there can be no question of granting the Negroes the slightest form of political power. That would be ridiculous. The whites, who lead

1950-512: The Congo Free State showed the huge Stanley Falls District where the later Stanleyville and Katanga districts would be created. It covered an area of about 270,000 square miles (700,000 km). It was bounded by Uellé District to the northeast and Aruwimi District to the northwest, then by Lualaba Kassai District to the southwest. To the south and east it was bordered by English and German possessions. The district covered almost

2025-514: The Congo River . Author Adam Hochschild suggested that Stanley understood it as a heroic epithet, but there is evidence that Nsakala, the man who coined it, had meant it humorously. Having survived for ten years of his childhood in the workhouse at St Asaph , it is postulated that he needed as a young man to be thought of as harder and more formidable than other explorers. This made him exaggerate punishments and hostile encounters. It

2100-481: The Congo River . Having succeeded with this second objective, they then traced the river to the sea. During this expedition, Stanley used sectional boats and dug-out canoes to pass the large cataracts that separated the Congo into distinct tracts. These boats were transported around the rapids before being reassembled to travel on the next section of river. In passing the rapids many of his men were drowned, including his last white colleague, Frank Pocock. The expedition

2175-834: The First Battle of Fort Fisher and the Second Battle of Fort Fisher , which led him into freelance journalism. Stanley and a junior colleague jumped ship on 10 February 1865 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire , in search of greater adventures. Stanley was possibly the only man to serve in the Confederate Army, the Union Army, and the Union Navy. Following the American Civil War, Stanley became

2250-728: The Lualaba under Tippu Tip's friendship. Now, Stanley discovered that Tippu Tip's men had reached still further west in search of fresh populations to enslave. Four years earlier, the Zanzibaris had thought the Congo deadly and impassable and warned Stanley not to attempt to go there, but when Tippu Tip learned that Stanley had survived, he was quick to act. Villages throughout the region were burned and depopulated. Tippu Tip had raided 118 villages, killed 4,000 Africans, and, when Stanley reached his camp, had 2,300 slaves, mostly young women and children, in chains ready to transport halfway across

2325-593: The New York Herald , however, he stated that his expedition numbered only 111. This was in line with figures in his diaries. James Gordon Bennett Jr. , publisher of the New York Herald and funder of the expedition, had delayed sending to Stanley the money he had promised, so Stanley borrowed money from the United States Consul . During the 700-mile (1,100 km) expedition through the tropical forest, his thoroughbred stallion died within

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2400-786: The Order of the Bath in the 1899 Birthday Honours , in recognition of his service to the British Empire in Africa. In 1890, he was given the Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold by King Leopold II. Stanley died at his home at 2 Richmond Terrace, Whitehall , London on 10 May 1904. At his funeral, he was eulogised by Daniel P. Virmar. His grave is in the churchyard of St Michael and All Angels' Church in Pirbright , Surrey , marked by

2475-515: The Royal Museum of Central Africa in Tervuren , Belgium in 1954. He died in 1959. Mainly at his wife's behest, Stanley took up British citizenship and entered Parliament as a Liberal Unionist member for Lambeth North , serving from 1895 to 1900. He disliked politics and made little impression on Parliament. He became Sir Henry Morton Stanley when he was made a Knight Grand Cross of

2550-518: The Ruwenzori Range and Lake Edward , and emerged from the interior with Emin and his surviving followers at the end of 1890. Despite its success, this expedition tarnished Stanley's name because of the conduct of the other Europeans on the expedition. Army Major Edmund Musgrave Barttelot was killed by an African porter after behaving with extreme cruelty. James Sligo Jameson , heir to Irish whiskey manufacturer Jameson's , allegedly bought

2625-426: The American journalist May Sheldon , and between him and his wife Dorothy Tennant , shows that he enjoyed close relationships with those women, but both Roberts and Pike ultimately rejected him when he refused to abandon his protracted travels. When Stanley married Dorothy , he invited his friend, Arthur Mounteney Jephson , to visit while they were on their honeymoon. Dr. Thomas Parke also came because Stanley

2700-561: The Belgian king. King Leopold II collaborated with the Arabs at first, but disagreements arose over control of ivory and compliance with Leopold II's pledges to the Berlin Conference to end slavery. Leopold II's stance turned confrontational against his once-allies. The Congo–Arab War took place between the forces of King Leopold II of Belgium 's Congo Free State and various Zanzibari Arab slave traders led by Sefu bin Hamid ,

2775-736: The British style: "Do you need a boy, sir?" The childless man had indeed been wishing he had a son, and the inquiry led to a job and a close relationship between them. Out of admiration, John took Stanley's name. Later, he wrote that his adoptive parent died two years after their meeting, but in fact the elder Stanley did not die until 1878. This and other discrepancies led John Bierman to argue that no adoption took place. Tim Jeal goes further, and, in his biography, subjects Stanley's account in his posthumously published Autobiography to detailed analysis. Because Stanley got so many basic facts wrong about his purported adoptive family, Jeal concludes that it

2850-586: The Congo Free State administrator general Camille Janssen defined nine districts in the colony, each headed by a district commissioner, including Stanley Falls District. Article 3 of the decree of 16 April 1887 provided for the Congo Free State to be divided into administrative districts headed by district commissioners, assisted by one or more deputies. The decree of 1 August 1888 divided the Congo Free State into eleven districts including Stanley Falls District with capital at Stanley Falls. An 1897 map of

2925-463: The Dark Continent (1878) (in which he coined the term "Dark Continent" for Africa), Stanley said that his expedition had numbered 356, the exaggeration detracting from his achievement. Stanley attributed his success to his leading African porters, saying that his success was "all due to the pluck and intrinsic goodness of 20 men ... take the 20 out and I could not have proceeded beyond

3000-477: The French and Germans that, behind this professedly humanitarian quest, we might have annexation projects. However, Stanley's other writings point to a secondary goal which was precisely territorial annexation. He writes in his book on the expedition about his meeting with the Sultan of Zanzibar, when he arrived there at the start of the expedition, and a certain matter that was discussed at that meeting. At first, he

3075-478: The Nile via Lake Albert and thus be the river's primary source. It was therefore essential that Stanley should trace the course of the Lualaba downstream (northward) from Nyangwe , the point where Livingstone had left it in July 1871. Between November 1876 and August 1877, Stanley and his men navigated the Lualaba up to and beyond the point where it turned sharply westward, away from the Nile, identifying itself as

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3150-839: The Stanley Falls station (now Kisangani ) when it was on the point of falling to the Swahilis. He defeated the Arab-led forces on 18 May 1893. After defeating them again at Kirundu , the Arabs were expelled from the region. The war ended in January 1894 with a victory of Leopold's Force Publique . On 15 July 1898 the Stanley Falls District became the Orientale Province , with Stanleyville as its headquarters. The Apostolic Prefecture of Stanley Falls

3225-584: The Wangwana. He described the history of Boma as "two centuries of pitiless persecution of black men by sordid whites". He also wrote about what he thought was the superior beauty of black people in comparison with whites. According to Jeal, Stanley was not a racist, unlike his contemporaries Sir Richard Burton and Sir Samuel Baker . The Wangwana of Zanzibar were of mixed Arabian and African ancestry : "Africanized Arabs", in Stanley's words. They became

3300-592: The backbone of all his major expeditions and were referred to as "his dear pets" by sceptical young officers on the Emin Pasha Expedition, who resented their leader for favouring the Wangwana above themselves. "All are dear to me", Stanley told William Grant Stairs and Arthur Jephson, "who do their duty and the Zanzibaris have quite satisfied me on this and on previous expeditions." Stanley came to think of an individual Wangwana as "superior in proportion to his wages to ten Europeans". When Stanley first met

3375-961: The battle from an American newspaper. Subsequently, he was assigned to report on Spain's Glorious Revolution in 1868. In 1870, Stanley undertook several assignments for the Herald in the Middle East and the Black Sea region, visiting Egypt, Jerusalem, Constantinople, the Crimea, the Caucasus, Persia and India , during which time he apparently carved his name into a stone of the ancient palace at Persepolis in Persia . Stanley travelled to Zanzibar in March 1871, later claiming that he outfitted an expedition with 192 porters . In his first dispatch to

3450-447: The book The Congo: Plunder and Resistance tried to argue that Stanley had "a pathological fear of women, an inability to work with talented co-workers, and an obsequious love of the aristocratic rich," This is not only at odds with his opinions about society women, but Stanley's intimate correspondence in the Royal Museum of Central Africa , between him and his two fiancées, Katie Gough Roberts and Alice Pike , as well as between him and

3525-459: The continent to the markets of Zanzibar. Having found the new ruler of the Upper Congo, Stanley had no choice but to negotiate an agreement with him, to stop Tip coming further downstream and attacking Leopoldville and other stations. To achieve this, he had to allow Tip to build his final river station just below Stanley Falls , which prevented vessels from sailing further upstream. At

3600-660: The end of his physical resources, Stanley returned home, to be replaced by Lieutenant Colonel Francis de Winton , a former British Army officer. In 1886, Stanley led the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition to "rescue" Emin Pasha , the governor of Equatoria in the southern Sudan , who was threatened by Mahdist forces. King Leopold II demanded that Stanley take the longer route via the Congo River, hoping to acquire more territory and perhaps even Equatoria After immense hardships and great loss of life, Stanley met Emin in 1888, mapped

3675-406: The ensuing decades. In a number of publications made after the expedition, Stanley asserts that the purpose of the effort was singular; to offer relief to Emin Pasha. For example, he writes the following while explaining the final route decision. The advantages of the Congo route were about five hundred miles shorter land journey, and less opportunities for deserting. It also quieted the fears of

3750-489: The entire Congolese situation. The key question was how the Free State could become profitable. Stanley pointed out to the monarch, among other things, the potential of rubber production. Stanley wrote: "You can find it on almost any tree. As we made our way through the forest, it was literally raining rubber juice. Our clothes were full of it. The Congo has so many tributaries that a well-organized company can easily extract

3825-606: The flag of the International African Association . The members of the expedition, four Belgians, departing from Zanzibar , had the goal of establishing a scientific post in Karema , in today's Tanzania , but even before the group entered Central Africa , two of them had already died, one from a sun stroke, the other from a severe fever, upon which the other members of the expedition resigned. Because of these difficulties, Leopold realised how important it

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3900-421: The hillside of Khonzo Izulu . Today Kinshasa 's population is 17,000,000, and it is one of the world's fastest growing megacities . Tippu Tip , the most powerful of Zanzibar 's slave traders of the 19th century, was well known to Stanley, as was the social chaos and devastation brought by slave-hunting . It had only been through Tippu Tip's help that Stanley had found Livingstone, who had survived years on

3975-599: The inaccurate perception that he was American. In the 20th century, his reputation was also seriously damaged by his role in establishing the Congo Free State for King Leopold II. Nevertheless, he is recognised for his important contributions to Western knowledge of the geography of Central Africa and for his resolute opposition to the slave trade in East Africa . Henry Stanley was born as John Rowlands in Denbigh , Denbighshire , Wales . His mother Elizabeth Parry

4050-760: The interior of the African continent. Leopold eagerly received a disenchanted Stanley at his palace in June 1878, and signed a five-year contract with him in November. Stanley persuaded Leopold that the first step should be the construction of a wagon trail around the Congo rapids and a chain of trading stations on the river. To avoid discovery, materials and workers were shipped in by various roundabout routes, and communications between Stanley and Leopold were entrusted to Colonel Maximilien Strauch . In 1879, Stanley left for Africa for his first mission, ostensibly working for

4125-418: The late nineteenth century the town was capital of a slaving state headed by Kibonge, from the Comoro Islands , who was joined by a young Arab named Said ben Adeb who had been expelled from Nyangwe after his father died. In 1893 the Congo Free State officer Louis Napoléon Chaltin defeated the Swahili/Arab forces at Kirundu and expelled them from the Stanley Falls region. This Democratic Republic of

4200-498: The matter was about and this time, he makes it clear that indeed, it had to do with annexation. I have settled several little commissions at Zanzibar satisfactorily. One was to get the Sultan to sign the concessions which Mackinnon tried to obtain a long time ago. As the Germans have magnificent territory east of Zanzibar, it was but fair that England should have some portion for the protection she has accorded to Zanzibar since 1841 ... The concession that we wished to obtain embraced

4275-482: The posts, have all the power." Stanley described in writings his dismay with the terrible scenes taking place in Congo. At the same time, his "findings" conveyed an idea that the Dark Continent must submit, willingly or otherwise. Stanley's writings show that he, too, held this view. "Only by proving that we are superior to the savages, not only through our power to kill them but through our entire way of life, can we control them as they are now, in their present stage; it

4350-403: The protection he has accorded us and our Neighbours against KabbaRega and his Warasura." On his return to Europe, Stanley married English artist Dorothy Tennant . They adopted a child named Denzil, who was the son of one of Stanley's first cousins, though Stanley concealed this fact from the public and possibly even from Dorothy. Denzil later donated around 300 items to the Stanley archives at

4425-412: The recording of his initial spotting of Livingstone were torn out of the journal at some point—and it is likely that Stanley simply embellished the pithy line sometime afterwards. Neither man mentioned it in any of the letters they wrote at this time, and Livingstone tended to instead recount the reaction of his servant, Susi, who cried out: "An Englishman coming! I see him!" The phrase is first quoted in

4500-402: The release of the hostages. Stanley accompanied that force as a special correspondent of the New York Herald . His report on the Battle of Magdala in 1868 was the first to be published, as he had bribed a telegraph operator to send his story first, even before the official army report. After his message was sent, the cable broke; British government officials were greatly irritated to learn of

4575-415: The son of Tippu Tip. Fighting occurred in the eastern Congo between 1892 and 1894. It was a proxy war , with most of the fighting being done by native Congolese, who aligned themselves with either side and sometimes switched sides. The causes of the war were largely economic based, since Leopold and the Arabs were contending to gain control of the wealth of the Congo. In 1893 Louis-Napoléon Chaltin reached

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4650-445: The source of the Nile . Between 1875 and 1876 Stanley succeeded in the first part of his objective, establishing that Lake Victoria had only a single outlet, the one discovered by John Hanning Speke on 21 July 1862 and named Ripon Falls . If this was not the Nile's source, then the separate massive northward flowing river called by Livingstone , the Lualaba , and mapped by him in its upper reaches, might flow on north to connect with

4725-429: The superpowers the right to establish an international commission to supervise the freedom of trade and navigation in Congo. As a result, Leopold would not be able to collect customs duties on the Congo River In 1890, on the 25th anniversary of Leopold's reign as Belgian monarch, Stanley was taken from one banquet hall to another, proclaimed a hero. Leopold honoured him with the Order of Leopold . Together they examined

4800-447: The treaties Stanley has made with native chiefs do not satisfy me. There must at least be an added article to the effect that they delegate to us their sovereign rights ... the treaties must be as brief as possible and in a couple of articles must grant us everything." Since everything in Central Africa was about the balance of power between the Great Powers , Leopold considered his next moves and sent an envoy to Berlin to press for

4875-497: The vicinity of Stanley Pool (Kinshasa), they will go home thoughtful men, and may return again to this land to put to good use the wisdom they should have gained ... during their peaceful sojourn." In How I Found Livingstone (1872), he wrote that he was "prepared to admit any black man possessing the attributes of true manhood, or any good qualities ... to a brotherhood with myself." Stanley insulted and shouted at William Grant Stairs and Arthur Jephson for mistreating

4950-414: The whole Congo Basin south of the Stanley Falls . The boundary with Aruwimi District was defined by the Lomami River . From north to south, the eastern border included Lake Albert Nyassa , Lake Albert-Edward , Lake Tanganyika , Lake Moero and Lake Bangwelo . Later, Lake Bangweulu was determined to be within Northern Rhodesia . Lake Kivu was shown as contained within the district, although later it

5025-478: Was 18 years old at the time of his birth. She abandoned him as a very young baby and cut off all communication. Stanley never knew his father, who died within a few weeks of his birth. There is some doubt as to his true parentage. As his parents were unmarried, his birth certificate describes him as a bastard ; he was baptised in the parish of Denbigh on 19 February 1841, the register recording that he had been born on 28 January of that year. The entry states that he

5100-611: Was a serious error of judgement for which his reputation continues to pay a heavy price. In the conclusion to his account of a fight with a fellow boy while in the workhouse, Stanley remarked, "Often since have I learned how necessary is the application of force for the establishment of order. There comes a time when pleading is of no avail." He was accused of indiscriminate cruelty against Africans by contemporaries, which included men who served under him or otherwise had first-hand information. Stanley himself acknowledged, "Many people have called me hard, but they are always those whose presence

5175-483: Was created on 3 August 1904 out of territory taken from the Apostolic Vicariate of Congo Belge. Henry Morton Stanley Sir Henry Morton Stanley GCB (born John Rowlands ; 28 January 1841 – 10 May 1904) was a Welsh-American explorer, journalist, soldier, colonial administrator, author and politician who was famous for his exploration of Central Africa and his search for missionary and explorer David Livingstone . Besides his discovery of Livingstone, he

5250-515: Was found to be on the border between Rwanda and the Belgian Congo. A 1910 map of the Belgian Congo shows the districts after Stanley Falls District had been separated into Stanleyville District to the north and the vice-government general of Katanga to the south, with the Lualaba portion of Lualaba Kassai District transferred to Katanga. The reorganization had been done that year. In February 1887 Henry Morton Stanley arrived in Zanzibar . There he met Tippu Tip , his former opponent and head of

5325-399: Was recruited at Camp Douglas, Illinois , by its commander Colonel James A. Mulligan as a " Galvanized Yankee ." He joined the Union Army on 4 June 1862 but was discharged 18 days later because of severe illness. After recovering, he served on several merchant ships before joining the US Navy in July 1864. He became a record keeper on board the USS  Minnesota , and participated in

5400-563: Was repeatedly attacked by natives in canoes. Stanley and his men reached the Portuguese outpost of Boma , around 100 kilometres (62 mi) from the mouth of the Congo River on the Atlantic Ocean, after 999 days on 9 August 1877. Muster lists and Stanley's diary (12 November 1874) show that he started with 228 people and reached Boma with 114 survivors, with him the only European left alive out of four. In Stanley's Through

5475-507: Was seriously ill at the time. Stanley's good relations with these two colleagues from the Emin Pasha Expedition could possibly be seen as demonstrating that he could get along with colleagues. In Through the Dark Continent , Stanley observed the peoples of the region, and wrote that "the savage only respects force, power, boldness, and decision". Stanley further wrote: "If Europeans will only ... study human nature in

5550-426: Was the bastard son of John Rowland of Llys Llanrhaidr and Elizabeth Parry of Castle. The stigma associated with illegitimacy weighed heavily upon him all his life. The boy was given his father's surname of Rowlands and brought up by his grandfather Moses Parry, a once-prosperous butcher who was living in reduced circumstances. He died when John was five. Rowlands then stayed with families of cousins and nieces for

5625-538: Was to find experienced men to lead his expeditions. He first tried to persuade Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza , but he had already entered French service; his eye now fell on Stanley. Stanley had first hoped to continue his pioneering work in Africa under the British flag. But neither the Foreign Office nor Edward, the Prince of Wales, felt called to receive Stanley after the many rumours of his looting and killing in

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