Birdblog: Henry Morton Stanley

By Aussiegirl

Along with my post about David Livingstone (scroll down to last Friday's "Doctor Livingstone, I presume?"), you should also read Tim Birdnow's excellent article about Livingstone's "discoverer", Stanley, that I have linked to below. I have posted only the first two paragraphs, but the whole article is long and very exciting to read, as well as being very well written, so I urge you to read the whole thing.!

Birdblog: Henry Morton Stanley

Friday was the anniversary of the 1871 meeting between Henry Morton Stanley and Dr. David Livingstone, and Aussiegirl has a piece over at Ultima Thule about the legendary African explorer and missionary whom newsman Stanley was so presumptuous toward.

Livingstone went to Africa to explore and win souls for Christ, but Stanley went for more Earthly reasons, and he, more than anyone, opened the Dark Continent to eventual European colonization. He helped Belgian Emperor Leopold establish a personal kingdom in what is now Zaire (the Belgian government was not interested in colonizing Africa, so their king sent Stanley to claim it for his personal estate) and he discovered the great falls which form the ultimate end of the Congo river (Stanley Falls). Stanley was the last of the great explorers. [....]