Henry Morton Stanley
By Illa Vij

HENRY Morton Stanley became world famous for devoting his life to opening up the Dark Continent. Henry was earlier called John Rowland. He was born in Denbigh, Wales, in 1841. A few weeks after his birth, his father died.

Poverty stricken, his mother abandoned him and he was put in a foster home. Henry remained there till the age of six and was then sent to St Asaph Union Workhouse, near Denbigh. At the workhouse, he underwent many hardships. He was even cruelly beaten up. It was a home for the unwanted and no compassion was shown to any child. Henry bore the cruelty, till one day he could not resist beating up one of the sadist members in charge of the workhouse. Then he escaped by jumping over the workhouse wall. Looking for food and work was no easy task. Fighting against all odds, he first worked for a haberdasher, then for a butcher and finally found a job on a ship as a cabin boy. All the hardships in life taught him to work hard, never to give up and have an undying faith in God.

The ship took him to New Orleans, where he happened to meet a kind merchant, Henry Morton Stanley. This kind merchant gave Henry work, adopted him informally and also gave him his name. (Thus John Rowlands became Henry Morton Stanley). Henry fought in the American Civil War and then became a journalist. He covered Red Indian forays in the American west. He also went to Asia Minor as a correspondent.

James Gordon Bennett, Managing Editor of New York Herald, heard about his abilities and invited him. He asked him to cover a British expedition in Abyssinia. His remarkable reporting earned him a job as a permanent correspondent for the Herald.

In 1869, Bennett instructed Henry to lead an expedition into the heart of Africa to search for the missing missionary, David Livingstone. Henry had some other assignments to cover before he could really get started. In 1871, Stanley assembled the members of the expedition at Zanzibar. The expedition team consisted of 192 men of which only three were White. They set across the wild Savannah (now Tangayinka) in intense heat as well as overflooding rivers. Mutiny and desertification, diseases like smallpox and elephantiasis, limited food supplies were the other hindrances. On November 10, 1871, he reached the village of Ujiji where he met the ailing-grey haired missionary. Living-stone was overjoyed to meet Stanley. For four months, the two travelled together.

Stanley learned the African lore and piety from the aged and experienced explorer. Livingstone gave all his papers to Stanley and they parted in March, 1872. Livingstone wanted to go his own way. He died in 1873.

Stanley carried on his friend’s work in Africa. When Stanley returned to London, he found himself famous and was honoured for his feats. At the same time, a lot of people doubted his achievements and charged him with forgery of Livingstone’s paper till they were authenticated by Livingstone’s relatives. Queen Victoria congratulated Stanley on his achievements. In 1874, he led yet another expedition. He explored the head-waters of the Nile and circumnavigated Lake Victoria. He surveyed Lake Tanganyika and then led his men into the Congo river. Despite attacks from hostile tribes, he returned to Europe, emaciated yet victorious. He was acclaimed as the first explorer to have followed the 2,900-mile course of the Congo and to have crossed the African continent from east to west.

Determined to civilise the tribes in Congo and explore the commercial possibilities of rubber and ivory available there, Stanley led a Belgian expedition to Congo. Leopold II of Belgium had commercial interests and he supported the expedition. For five-and-a-half-years, Stanley struggled against the hostile savages, some of whom were cannibals, and the intolerable heat. Stanley established 22 stations on the Congo river and its tributaries. He built roads where required. He worked with labourers. Africans named him Bula Matari which in their language means ‘Rock Breaker’. The name clung to him forever.

When Stanley returned home, he gave lectures and wrote books. He wrote How I Found Livingstone, Through The Dark Continent, The Congo and the Founding of Its Free States.

In 1887, Stanley was sent on yet another mission to Africa. He had to pass through thick forests of Congo — where hardly any sunlight penetrated through the trees. Many men died, but Henry had managed to bring more territories to the attention of the world. He met Dorothy Tenant, whom he married in 1890. He was so obsessed with Africa that Dorothy felt that she would lose him to the Dark Continent. So she convinced him to stand for Parliament and then pursue work in the interest of Africa. Stanley lost the first campaign, but three years later, he won and served as a member of Parliament for five years. The couple adopted a baby boy. They selected a house near Pirbright in Surrey, where Stanley spent his remaining years. At the of 58, he was knighted. Honours and a happy family made his life complete. On May 10,1904, he died, with the dark woods on his mind. He was buried at Pirbright. A great stone rests over his burial place. The stone bears his name and dates along with his native name Bula Matari. And at the base is engraved. Africa.