The Congo

First edition of Stanley's famous account of his travels in the Congo, prompted by a meeting with King Leopold of the Belgians in 1879.

In 1879 Stanley went to the Congo after a meeting with King Leopold to explore the possibilities of development of the region. He secured for the Belgian Association Internationale the whole south bank of the River Congo and the north and west shores as well beyond the confluence with the Mobangi. He set up trading posts, etc. and established treaties with the local rulers and went on steadily with his political and pioneering work along the thousand miles of the navigable Congo from Stanley Pool to Stanley Falls, laying the foundations of that vast administrative system, extending from the Atlantic to the great lakes, and from the Sudan to Barotseland, which became the Congo State.