Colonization of the Congo

Colonization of the Congo refers to the period of Henry Morton Stanley's first exploration of the Congo (1876) until its annexation as a personal possession of King Leopold II of Belgium (1885).

The Congo River was the last part of the African continent to yield to European explorers.

One by one the other great mysteries had been investigated:

Though the Congo had been one of the first to be attempted, it remained a mystery.

Since the 15th century, European explorers had sailed into the broad Congo estuary, planning to fight their way up the falls and rapids that begin only 100 miles (160 km) inland, and then travel up the river to its unknown source. All failed. The rapids and falls, had they known it, extended for 220 miles (350 km) inland, and the terrain close by the river was impassable, and remains so to this day.

Repeated attempts to travel overland were repulsed with heavy casualties, accidents, conflicts with natives, and, above all, disease saw large and well-equipped expeditions got no further than 40 miles (60 km) or so past the western-most rapid, the legendary Cauldron of Hell.

It was not until 1867 that the Congo was explored by Europeans, and even then it was not from the sea, but from the other side of the African continent. Setting out from Zanzibar, Henry Morton Stanley, a British-born American journalist and explorer aimed to find the famous Dr. Livingstone. Livingstone had not been heard from in several years and was, in fact, exploring the upper reaches of a great navigable inland river called the Lualaba, which Livingstone hoped was connected to the Nile, but which turned out to be the upper Congo.

After leaving Livingstone, Stanley sailed for 1,000 miles (1,600 km) down the Lualaba (Upper Congo) to the large lake he named Stanley Pool (now called Pool Malebo). Then, rather than perish in the impenetrable country of the cascades, Stanley took a wide detour overland to come within striking distance of the Portuguese trading station at Boma on the Congo estuary.

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