H. M. Stanley

(Sir Henry Morton Stanley)

1841–1904

Henry Morton Stanley was the first European explorer of one of the most inhospitable regions of equatorial Africa—the region surrounding the Congo river, which had defied penetration by civilized man for thousands of years. During his most famous excursion, between 1874 and 1877, he began with several hundred men at the Lualaba river in the Lakes region of Africa, and followed the river all the way to mouth of the Congo. On his route he dealt with hostile natives, wild animals, disease, enormous water-falls, starvation, porter-revolts, cannibals, poisoned arrows, traps, and a myriad of other exceedingly difficult problems. He earned a reputation for brutality in some of his dealings with natives, but no more so than may be expected for a man in constant danger of his life. As it was, he lost dozens of his men on the expedition, including all three of the white men in his original party, and on several occasions escaped death himself by only a hair. When he returned to civilization, however, he was able to provide a great deal of detailed information on a region of Africa which upto that time had remained utterly mysterious and unknown.

HENRY MORGAN STANLEY

H. M. Stanley, (born John Rowlands), was orphaned at an early age, and spent his youth in a workhouse in Wales. He obtained passage to America as a young man and for a time worked for a merchant in Arkansas named Stanley, and it was from this employer, who had befriended and adopted him, that he took his name. He fought for the South during the Civil War, but after being captured, he changed sides and eventually joined the Federal Navy. He enjoyed travel, and eventually became a newspaper correspondent for the New York Herald. He specialized as a traveling war correspondent and in this context traveled to Colorado, Abyssinia, and the Gold Coast of Africa, to report on on-going military campaigns.

Eventually his editor proposed that he go to Zanzibar and attempt to locate the famous explorer Livingstone, who was thought to be in the interior of Africa, but had not been heard from in several years. During the subsequent expedition into the heart of Africa, Stanley succeeded in finding Livingstone, and spent several months assisting him in his explorations. It was, in fact, Livingstone's idea to undertake an expedition which followed the Lualaba river from its source to its mouth (which turned out to be the Congo), but he was too ill-equipped and infirm to undertake the project himself. He did, however, inspire Stanley's interest in exploring the mysterious regions of central Africa.

When Stanley returned to America he wrote a book about his exploits with Livingstone and eventually obtained a sponsor for a mission to explore "Livingstone's river". The expedition itself was extremely grueling and took nearly three years, but it succeeded in answering a great many questions about the unknown regions of the "Dark Continent".

Even after Stanley's expedition, most European countries with interests in Africa still considered the Congo basin uninhabitable, and did not pursue colonization. King Leopold II however, was deeply interested in developing the region as a colony of Belgium and after two years, convinced Stanley to return to the area and help "negotiate treaties" with the natives and set up trading stations. Stanley therefore returned to Africa and spent several years in the region on behalf of the king of Belgium. He also participated in the infamous Berlin Conference in 1884 where Africa was "partitioned" between European imperial interests.

Stanley's final expedition to the interior of Africa, from 1886 to 1888 involved a British mission to rescue Emin Pasha, a German doctor who was serving as governor of Soudan, and had been cut-off by tribal wars. The route that Stanley took, cutting through the jungle north of the Congo had never been explored and was particularly dangerous. The losses on this final mission amounted over two-thirds of his force, and only succeeded in its objectives with great difficulty. After Stanley returned to Britain from this disastrous final expedition, he was elected to Parliament, but it did not suit his disposition. He spent his final years in retirement and died in 1904.

Stanley was a controversial figure in his own age, and even more so today because his methods were considerably more brutal than his predecessor, Livingstone, and there were few positive outcomes to the colonization of the Congo region. At the time however, it was thought that exploration and discovery of unknown regions was an inherent good, just as many people today believe that freedom of inquiry in terms of scientific investigation is an inherent good, and should not be hindered. The negative outcomes that are apparent in retrospect were unforeseen ahead of time, then as now.

Key events during the life of H. M. Stanley:

Year	Event
1841	Birth of John Rowlands (later H. M. Stanley) to an unmarried woman in Wales.
1846	Sent to a workhouse
1856	Worked briefly as a student teacher.
1859	Gained passage to the United States.
1860	Began working for a merchant names Stanley. Assumed his name.
1861	Served for the south during the first year of the civil war.
1862	Taken prisoner by the north but escaped. Returned to wales.
1863	Enlisted in the navy, this time fighting for the north.
1868	Sent as a war correspondent to Abyssinia, for the New York Herald.
1869	Embarks on a mission to find Livingstone in Africa.
1871	Locates Livingstone at Ujiji in Tanzania.
1873	Accompanied Wolsey's trip to Ashanti.
1874	Embarked on journey of Exploration to the Congo.
1877	Returned to Britain after following the Congo from the Lualaba to is mouth.
1879	Returned to the Congo to negotiate 'treaties' for the King of Belgium.
1884	Attended Berlin conference on the partition of Africa.
1886	Led and expedition to rescue Emin Pasha, governor of Sudan.
1897	Final trip to Africa.
1899	Made a Knight.
1904	Died in London.

Book Links
Story of H. M. Stanley  by  Vautier Golding

Other Resources

Story Links	Book Links
Through the Dark Continent  in	A Book of Discovery  by  M. B. Synge
Preparing the Empire  in	The Reign of Queen Victoria  by  M. B. Synge

Image Links
Bula Matari.  in With Stanley on the Congo	Parleying with the Aruwimi native  in With Stanley on the Congo	Meeting of Stanley and Emin Pasha  in With Stanley on the Congo
Sir H. M. Stanley  in The Story of H. M. Stanley	Popcock was drawn down  in The Story of H. M. Stanley	Stanley and his men marching through Unyoro  in A Book of Discovery
Toward's the Unknown Stanley's canoes starting from Vinya Njara  in A Book of Discovery	Sir H. M. Stanley  in The Reign of Queen Victoria

Contemporary	Short Biography
David Livingstone	As a medical missionary, he explored uncharted regions of the interior of Africa.
Leopold II	King of Begium who tried to create a Belgian colony in the Congo.
Gordon Bennett	Editor of the New York Herald, financed Stanley's trips to Africa.
Dorothy Tennant	Well known London artist. Wife of H. M. Stanley.
Tipoo Tib	Arab guide who deserted Stanley half-way through the expedition.
Uledi	Native guide who was an invaluable aid to Stanley.
Emin Pasha	German born doctor who served as governor of the Eygptian province of Sudan.