John Rowlands / Henry Morton Stanley Character Analysis in King Leopold’s Ghost

Henry Morton Stanley was the first European explorer to sail all the way across the Congo River. An ambitious yet intensely insecure man, he was born into a poor Welsh family and he worked hard to establish himself, first as a reporter, then as an explorer. After tracking down David Livingstone, Stanley entered the employ of Leopold II, who paid him large sums to secure landholdings in the Congo and build infrastructure there. Stanley is a complex character: he was desperate for acceptance among the English elite, and Hochschild argues that, in many ways, he worked hard throughout his life to ensure that he would receive this acceptance. At times, Stanley criticized Leopold’s cruelty toward the Congolese, but it’s also clear that Stanley himself was a cruel master to the Congolese: he didn’t shy away from using torture and intimidation when he thought it was necessary.

John Rowlands / Henry Morton Stanley Quotes in King Leopold’s Ghost

The King Leopold’s Ghost quotes below are all either spoken by John Rowlands / Henry Morton Stanley or refer to John Rowlands / Henry Morton Stanley. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

).

By the time Stanley and others working for the king were done, the blue flag with the gold star fluttered over the villages and territories, Stanley claimed, of more than 450 Congo basin chiefs. The texts varied, but many of the treaties gave the king a complete trading monopoly, even as he placated European and American questioners by insisting that he was opening up Africa to free trade. More important, chiefs signed over their land to Leopold, and they did so for almost nothing.

Related Characters: John Rowlands / Henry Morton Stanley

Page Number and Citation: 71

Explanation and Analysis: