Sir Henry Morton Stanley (1841 - 1904), Central African Explorer and Journalist

Sir Henry Morton Stanley (1841 - 1904).
- Central African Explorer and Journalist

Stanley of Africa

The illegitimate son of John Rowlands, Stanley until 15 years of age was raised in a workhouse and then by relatives, afterwhich he left for New Orleans. There he was befriended by a merchant, Henry Stanley, whose name he took. For the next few years Henry Morton Stanley wandered, fighting in the American Civil War and working as a seaman and a journalist.In 1867 Stanley became special correspondent for the New York Herald.

Two years later the Newspaper gave him a commission that included covering the search for Dr. David Livingstone, with whom little had been heard since 1866, when he went to search for the source of the Nile. Henry Morton Stanley reached Zanzibar in January 1871 and proceeded to Lake Tanganyika, Livingstone's last known location. There he found the sick explorer,greeting him with the famous words Dr. Livingstone, I presume?

When Livingstone died in 1873,Henry Morton Stanley resolved to take up his search for the source of the Nile. Leaving Zanzibar in November 1874, he circumnavigated Lake Victoria and explored Lake Tanganyika before pressing on to the Lualaba River. There he fought his way first to Stanley Pool and then down to the waterfalls he named Livingstone Falls. He reached the sea in August 1877, after an epic journey described in Joseph Conrads Through the Dark Continent (1878).

Failing to gain British support to develop the Congo region, Stanley took up with King Leopold II of Belgium, who wanted it for himself. From 1879 to 1884, Stanley was in the Congo basin, building a road from the lower Congo up to Stanley Pool and launching steamers on the upper river. His work paved the way for the creation of the Congo Free State. Stanley's last expedition was to relieve Mehmed Emin Pasha, governor of Equatoria - at that time a province of Egyptian Sudan. He had been cut off by the Mahdist revolt of 1882 near Lake Albert. In April 1889, some 1,500 people set out from Lake Albert for the east coast, arriving in December. On the way, they found the Ruwenzori Range and proved that the Semliki River linked Lakes Edward and Albert, clearing up the last mysteries of the Nile sources.

In 1895, Stanley Morton Stanley was elected MP for North Lambeth and was knighted in 1899. His last years were spent mainly at his estate near Pirbright in Surrey. Notable books written by Henry Morton Stanley are as follows:
Through the Dark Continent Volume 1
In Darkest Africa Volume 2
In darkest Africa or the quest, rescue and retreat of Emin Governor of Equatoria
The Congo and the founding of its free state a story of work and explration

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