   #copyright

Henry Morton Stanley

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Geographers and explorers

           Stanley
   Journalist and explorer
   Born January 28, 1841
        Denbigh, Wales
   Died May 10, 1904
        London, England

   Sir Henry Morton Stanley, also known as Bula Matari (Breaker of Rocks)
   in the Congo, born John Rowlands ( January 28, 1841 – May 10, 1904),
   was a 19th-century Welsh-born journalist and explorer famous for his
   exploration of Africa and his search for David Livingstone.

History

   He was born in Denbigh, Denbighshire, Wales. His parents were not
   married, his father died when he was two years old and his mother, a
   butcher's daughter, refused to look after him, and he was brought up in
   a workhouse (now HM Stanley Hospital, St Asaph) until the age of 15.
   After completing an elementary education, he was employed as a pupil
   teacher in a National School. In 1859, at the age of 18, he made his
   passage to the United States on a ship, and upon arriving in New
   Orleans, he became friendly with a wealthy trader named Stanley, whose
   name he later assumed.

   After military service with both sides in the American Civil War,
   Stanley was recruited in 1867 by Colonel Samuel Forster Tappan (a
   one-time journalist) of the Indian Peace Commission to serve as a
   correspondent to cover the work of the Commission for several
   newspapers. Stanley was soon retained exclusively by James Gordon
   Bennett (1795-1872), founder of the New York Herald. This early period
   of his professional life is described in Volume I of his book My Early
   Travels and Adventures in America and Asia (1895). He became one of the
   Herald's overseas correspondents and, in 1869, was instructed by
   Bennett's son to find the Scottish missionary and explorer David
   Livingstone, who was known to be in Africa but had not been heard from
   for some time. According to Stanley's account, he asked James Gordon
   Bennett, Jr. (1841-1918), who had succeeded to the paper's management
   at his father's retirement in 1867, how much he could spend. The reply
   was "Draw £1,000 now, and when you have gone through that, draw another
   £1,000, and when that is spent, draw another £1,000, and when you have
   finished that, draw another £1,000, and so on — BUT FIND LIVINGSTONE!""
   "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" A contemporary illustration.
   Enlarge
   "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" A contemporary illustration.

   Stanley traveled to Zanzibar and outfitted an expedition with the best
   of everything, requiring no fewer than 200 porters. He located
   Livingstone on November 10, 1871, in Ujiji near Lake Tanganyika in
   present-day Tanzania, and greeted him (at least according to his own
   journal) with the now famous, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" (which was
   tongue-in-cheek because Livingstone was the only white person for
   hundreds of miles). Stanley joined him in exploring the region,
   establishing for certain that there was no connection between Lake
   Tanganyika and the river Nile. On his return, he wrote a book about his
   experiences. The New York Herald, in partnership with Britain's Daily
   Telegraph, then financed him on another expedition to the African
   continent, one of his achievements being to solve the last great
   mystery of African exploration by tracing the course of the river Congo
   to the sea.

   Controversy followed Stanley for most of his life. In later years he
   spent much energy defending himself against charges that his African
   expeditions had been marked by callous violence and brutality. Despite
   Stanley's efforts, the facts gradually emerged: his opinion was that
   "the savage only respects force, power, boldness, and decision."
   Stanley would eventually be held responsible for a number of deaths and
   was indirectly responsible for helping establish the rule of Léopold II
   of Belgium over the Congo Free State.
   Portrait of Stanley by Alice Pike Barney.
   Enlarge
   Portrait of Stanley by Alice Pike Barney.

   In 1886, Stanley led the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition to "rescue" Emin
   Pasha, the governor of Equatoria in the southern Sudan. After immense
   hardships and great loss of life, Stanley met Emin in 1888, discovered
   the Ruwenzori Range and Lake Edward, and emerged from the interior with
   Emin and his surviving followers at the end of 1890.

   On his return to Europe, he married Welsh artist Dorothy Tennant, and
   entered Parliament as Unionist member for Lambeth, serving from 1895 to
   1900. He died in London on May 10, 1904; at his funeral, he was
   eulogized by Daniel P. Virmar. His grave, in the graveyard of St.
   Michael's Church in Pirbright, Surrey, is marked by a large piece of
   granite.

Trivia

     * In 1939, a popular film called Stanley and Livingstone was
       released, with Spencer Tracy as Stanley and Cedric Hardwicke as
       Livingstone.
     * Ray Thomas, flautist and vocalist with the Moody Blues, wrote a
       song entitled, "Dr. Livingstone, I Presume," which was released on
       their 1968 album, In Search Of The Lost Chord.
     * An NES game based on him was released in 1992 and called "Stanley:
       The Search for Dr. Livingston"
     * Stanley Electric Co., Ltd - in short: Stanley Electric - located in
       Tokyo, Japan - obtained the right to use Stanley's family name in
       honour of his discoveries "that have brought light into many spots
       of the world undiscovered and hitherto unknown to mankind". The
       company produces light emitting diodes, liquid crystal displays and
       all kinds of lamps, including automotive headlamps.
     * His great grandson, Richard Stanley,is a highly regarded South
       African filmmaker and director of documentaries.

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