Slavery and the Slave Trade in Africa

Henry M. Stanley - Explorer and journalist; born 28 January 1841 at Denbigh, Wales, where baptised John Rowlands. After troubled childhood, including eight years in workhouse at St Asaph, travelled to Liverpool and embarked as cabin-boy on American packet ship 1858; in New Orleans adopted name Henry Morton Stanley (ostensibly after early benefactor); pursued a variety of occupations and enlisted on both sides in American Civil War before beginning career in journalism; special correspondent for New York Herald 1867, reporting on British Expedition to Abyssinia, followed by frequent reports from Europe and the Middle East; from March 1871 led search (funded by the Herald) to ‘find’ David Livingstone, whom he encountered at Ujiji on the shores of Lake Tanganyika November 1871; returned to controversy and censure by Royal Geographical Society August 1872, though subsequently awarded its gold medal; wrote How I Found Livingstone in Central Africa (1872); led trans-African expedition November 1874 to August 1877, successfully solving remaining uncertainties concerning source of the Nile; wrote Through the Dark Continent (1878); returned to Congo August 1879 to September 1884 at the behest of King Leopold II of Belgium, establishing trading stations along the river and paving the way for the founding of Congo Free State; led Emin Pasha Relief Expedition to support besieged governor of equatorial Sudan March 1887 to December 1889; wrote In Darkest Africa (1890).NPG.Org.uk