Henry Morton Stanley: Explorer Of The Very First Rank

Stanley’s expedition travelled 700 miles in 236 days, before finally locating an ailing David Livingstone on the island of Ujiji near Lake Tanganyika on 10th November 1871. On first meeting his hero Livingstone, Stanley apparently tried to hide his enthusiasm by uttering his now famous, aloof greeting: “Doctor Livingstone, I presume”. Together Livingstone and Stanley explored the northern end of Lake Tangayika but Livingstone, who had been travelling extensively throughout Africa since 1840, was now suffering the ill-effects. Livingstone eventually died in 1873 on the shores of Lake Bagweulu. His body was shipped back to England and buried in Westminster Abbey – Stanley was one of the pall-bearers.

Stanley decided to continue Livingstone’s research on the Congo and Nile river systems and started his second African expedition in 1874. He journeyed into central Africa circumnavigating Victoria Nyanza, proving it to be the second-largest freshwater lake in the world, and discovered the Shimeeyu River. After sailing down the Livingstone (Congo) River, he reached the Atlantic Ocean on 12th August 1877. Stanley’s three white travelling companions, Frederick Barker, Francis and Edward Pocock, along with expedition’s dogs from Battersea Dogs’ Home, all died during the gruelling 7,000-mile long trek. It was following this expedition that King Leopold II of Belgium employed Stanley. Stanley returned to the area establishing the trading stations that would ultimately lead to the founding of the Congo Free State in 1885.

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