Who Is Leopold's Exploration Of Africa?

To begin Leopold’s exploration of Africa, he began to pine after Henry Morton Stanley. At the time Stanley was exploring Africa and had crossed the entire continent, east to west. He became the first white man to chart the Congo’s course and find where it came from. In 1878 Stanley and Leopold met to discuss the things Stanley had found in Africa. Stanley told Leopold that the Congo held the potential of a powerful transportation system, that there was no military threat from the tribal people, and that there was no central political state there. Stanley agreed to work for Leopold for five years and explore the Congo. They agreed that Stanley would create a base at the Congo’s mouth and construct a road. Stanley would use porters to carry steamboats pieces that he would assemble and travel upstream. Stanley was a brutal
At the time Leopold was very interested in the ivory present in Africa. Ivory was easily carved and had a high value at low bulk (62-64). At this time Leopold had a trading monopoly and needed some countries to recognize his claim on Africa. Leopold did this with the help of General Henry Shelton Sanford, the man who helped him recruit Stanley. Sanford lobbied to the U.S. congress to get America to acknowledge Leopold’s right to rule the Congo. Sanford told the congress that Leopold supported free trade and American settlement in the Congo, but Leopold had lied about his real intentions in order to get America’s approval (77-81).
In 1890, people began using rubber in tires for bicycles just in time for the automobile craze. Leopold found that the value of ivory surpassed ivory’s value greatly, which was a godsend for him because he was already greatly in debt with his Congo investments (158-159). Leopold’s privately controlled state got half of the concession-company profits but the king made more money than the