Emin Pasha Relief Expedition
Encyclopedia
The Emin Pasha Relief Expedition of 1886 to 1889 was one of the last major European expeditions into the interior of Africa
in the nineteenth century, ostensibly to the relief of Emin Pasha
, General Charles Gordon
's besieged governor of Equatoria
, threatened by Mahdist
forces. Led by Henry Morton Stanley
, the expedition came to be both celebrated, for its ambition in crossing "darkest Africa", and notorious, for the bloodshed and death left in its wake.
in 1885, Egypt
ian administration of the Sudan collapsed, and the extreme southern province Equatoria, located on the upper reaches of the Nile
near Lake Albert was nearly cut off from the outside world. Emin Pasha was a German
doctor and naturalist who had been appointed Governor of Equatoria. He was able to send and receive letters via Buganda
and Zanzibar
and had been informed in February 1886 that the Egyptian government would abandon Equatoria. In July, encouraged by the missionary Alexander Mackay
, he had invited the British government to annex Equatoria itself. Although the government was not interested in such a doubtful venture, the British public came to see Emin as a second General Gordon
in mortal danger from the Mahdists.
By November, Scottish businessman and philanthropist William Mackinnon, who had been involved in various colonial ventures, had approached Stanley about leading a relief expedition. Stanley declared himself ready "at a moment's notice" to go. Mackinnon then approached J. F. Hutton
, a business acquaintance also involved in colonial activities, and together they organized the "Emin Pasha Relief Committee", mostly consisting of Mackinnon's friends, whose first meeting was on 19 December 1886. The Committee raised a total of about 32,000 pounds.
Stanley was officially still in the employment of Léopold II of Belgium
, whom he had been employed by in carving out Léopold's 'Congo Free State
'. As a compromise for letting Stanley go, it was arranged in a meeting in Brussels
between Stanley and the king, that the expedition would take a longer route up the Congo River
, contrary to plans for a shorter route inland from the eastern African coast. In return, Léopold would provide his Free State steamers for the transportation of the expedition up the river, from Stanley Pool (now Pool Malebo
) as far as the mouth of the Aruwimi River
.
By 1 January 1887 Stanley was back in London
preparing the expedition, to widespread public acclaim.
The plan of the expedition was to go to Cairo
, then to Zanzibar to hire porter
s, then south of Africa, around the Cape, to the mouth of the Congo, up the Congo by Leopold's steamers
, branching off at the Aruwimi River
. Stanley intended to establish a camp on the Aruwimi, then go east overland through unknown territory to reach Lake Albert and Equatoria. He then expected that Emin would send the families of Emin's Egyptian employees back along the just-pioneered route, along with a large store of ivory
accumulated in Equatoria, while Stanley, Emin, and Emin's soldiers would proceed eastward to Zanzibar. Ironically, public doubts over the plan centered around whether it could be achieved; the possibility that Emin might not want to leave seems not to have been considered.
The expedition was the largest and best-equipped to go to Africa; a 28-foot steel boat named the Advance was designed to be divided into 12 sections for carrying over land, and Hiram Maxim presented the expedition with one of his recently invented Maxim gun
s, which was the first to be brought to Africa. Merely 'exhibiting' the gun was thought to be a scare, which would spare the expedition for problems with troublesome natives.
The Relief Committee received 400 applications by hopeful participants. Among these, Stanley chose the officers, who were to accompany him to Africa:
Stanley departed London on 21 January 1887, and arrived in Cairo on 27 January. Egyptian objections to the Congo route were overridden by a telegram from Lord Salisbury
, and the expedition was permitted to march under the Egyptian flag. Stanley also met with Mason Bey, Schweinfurth, and Junker
, who had more up-to-date information about Equatoria.
Stanley left Cairo on 3 February, joined up with expedition members during stops in Suez
and Aden
, and arrived in Zanzibar on 22 February. The next three days were spent packing for the expedition, loading the Madura
, and negotiating; Stanley acted as a representative of Mackinnon in convincing the Sultan of Zanzibar to grant a concession for what later became the Imperial British East Africa Company
(I.B.E.A.C.), and made two agreements with Tippu Tib. The first included appointing him as Governor of Stanley Falls, an arrangement much criticized in Europe as a deal with a slave-trader, and the second agreement regarding the provisions of carriers for the expedition. In addition to transporting stores, the carriers were now also expected to bring out some 75 tons of ivory stored in Equatoria. Stanley posted letters to Emin predicting his arrival on Lake Albert around August.
at the mouth of the Congo on 18 March, somewhat unexpectedly because a telegraph cable had broken, and local officials had received no instructions. Chartered steamers brought the expedition to Matadi
, where the carriers took over, bringing some 800 loads of stores and ammunition to Leopoldville
on the Stanley Pool. Progress was slow, since the rainy season was at its height, and food was short - a problem that was to be persistent throughout the expedition (as a subsistence economy
, the area along the route rarely had spare food for 1,000 hardworking men).
On 21 April the expedition arrived at Leopoldville. Although King Leopold had promised a flotilla of river steamers, only one (the Stanley) worked; Stanley requisitioned two (Peace and Henry Reed) from missionaries, whose protests were overridden, and the Florida, which was still under construction and so used as a barge. Even these were insufficient, so many of the stores were left at Leopoldville and more at Bolobo
. At this point Stanley also announced the division of the expedition into a "Rear Column" and an "Advance Column", the former to encamp at Yambuya
on the Aruwimi, while the Advance Column pressed on to Equatoria.
The voyage up the Congo started 1 May and was generally uneventful. At Bangala
, Barttelot and Tippu Tib continued up to Stanley Falls in the Henry Reed, while Stanley took the Aruwimi to Yambuya. The inhabitants of Yambuya refused permission to reside in their village, so Stanley attacked and drove the villagers away, turning the deserted village into a fortified camp. Meanwhile, at Stanley Falls, Tippu Tib attempted to acquire carriers, but he believed that Stanley had broken his part of their agreement by leaving ammunition behind, and Barttelot came to Yambuya with only an indefinite promise that carriers would arrive in several weeks.
The forest eventually gave way to grassland, and on 13 December the expedition was looking down on Lake Albert. However, Emin was not there, and the locals had not seen a European in many years. Stanley decided to return to the village of Ibwiri on the plateau above the lake, where they built Fort Bodo. Stairs went back to Ipoto to collect men and equipment, and returned 12 February. A second trip went back of Ugarrowwa's to collect more equipment, meanwhile on 2 April Stanley returned to Lake Albert, this time with the Advance. On 18 April they received a letter from Emin, who had heard about the expedition a year earlier, and had come down the lake in March after hearing rumors of Stanley's arrival.
At this point things became difficult. Emin was primarily interested in ammunition and other supplies, and a communications route, all of which would assist him in remaining in Equatoria, while Stanley's main goal was to bring Emin out. A month of discussion produced no agreement, and on 24 May Stanley went back to Fort Bodo, arriving there 8 June and meeting Stairs, who had returned from Ugarrowwa's with just fourteen surviving men. On the way Stanley saw the Ruwenzori Mountains for the first time (although Parke and Jephson had seen them on 20 April).
bringing Barttelot's total to 560, set off in search of Stanley.
But the march soon disintegrated into chaos, with large-scale desertion, multiple trips to try to bring up stores, and then on 19 July Barttelot was shot while trying to interfere with a Manyema festival. Jameson decided to go down to Bangala to bring up extra loads and left on 9 August, shortly before Stanley's arrival. Stanley was incensed at the state of the Rear Column, blaming them for lack of motion despite his previous orders that they wait for him at Yambuya. After the dispatch of a number of letters down-Congo, the expedition returned to Fort Bodo, taking a different route that proved no better for food supply, and it reached the Fort on 20 December, now reduced to 412 men, of whom 124 were too ill to carry any loads.
On 16 January 1889, near Lake Albert, Stanley received letters from Emin and Jephson, who had been made prisoner by Emin's officers for several months, while at the same time the Mahdists had been capturing additional stations of Equatoria. Since Stanley's arrival, numerous rumors had gone around about Emin's intentions and the likely fate of the soldiers, and in August of the previous year matters had come to a head; a number of officers rebelled, deposed Emin as governor, and kept him and Jephson under a sort of house arrest in Dufile
until November. Even so, Emin was still reluctant to abandon the province.
The trip to the coast passed first south, along the western flank of the Ruwenzoris, and Stairs attempted to ascend to a summit, reaching 10,677 ft before having to turn around. They then passed by Lake Edward
and Lake George
, then across to the southernmost point of Lake Victoria
, passing through the kingdoms of Ankole
and Karagwe
. Stanley made "treaties" with the various rulers; although it is most likely that these were not regarded as such by the locals, they were later used to establish I.B.E.A claims in the area.
Lake Victoria was seen on 15 August, and the expedition reached Mackay's missionary station at Usambiro on 28 August. At this point they began to learn of the complicated changing situation in East Africa, with British and German interests scrambling to stake their claims, and a second relief expedition under Frederick John Jackson. After waiting fruitlessly for news of the Jackson expedition, Stanley left on 17 September, with a party now reduced to some 700 by a combination of death and desertion.
As the expedition approached the coast, they encountered parties of Germans and other signs of German activity in the interior, and were met by commissioner Wissmann on 4 December and escorted into Bagamoyo
. That evening a banquet was held, during which an inebriated Emin fell out of a 2nd-story window he mistook for a balcony, and from which he did not recover until the end of January 1890. In the meantime, the rest of the expedition had dispersed; Stanley went to Zanzibar and then to Cairo, where he wrote the 900 pages of In Darkest Africa in just 50 days. The Zanzibari carriers were paid off or (in the case of prisoners) returned to their masters, the Sudanese and Egyptians were transported back to Egypt, some later returning to work for the I.B.E.A. Emin took service with the Germans in February, and the other Europeans returned to England.
From 1898 to 1900, a devastating sleeping sickness epidemic spread into territories that are now Democratic Republic of Congo, western Uganda
and south of Sudan
. Native cattle traveling with the expedition may have introduced the parasite into previously-unaffected regions. However, not all authors agree.
's 1978 play The Rear Column
, which features Barttelot
, Jameson, Ward, Bonny, Troup and Stanley
as characters.
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
in the nineteenth century, ostensibly to the relief of Emin Pasha
Emin Pasha
Mehmed Emin Pasha — he was born Isaak Eduard Schnitzer and baptized Eduard Carl Oscar Theodor Schnitzer — was a physician, naturalist, and governor of the Egyptian province of Equatoria on the upper Nile...
, General Charles Gordon
Charles George Gordon
Major-General Charles George Gordon, CB , known as "Chinese" Gordon, Gordon Pasha, and Gordon of Khartoum, was a British army officer and administrator....
's besieged governor of Equatoria
Equatoria
Equatoria is a region in the south of present-day South Sudan along the upper reaches of the White Nile. Originally a province of Egypt, it also contained most of Northern part of present day Uganda including Albert Lake...
, threatened by Mahdist
Mahdi
In Islamic eschatology, the Mahdi is the prophesied redeemer of Islam who will stay on Earth for seven, nine or nineteen years- before the Day of Judgment and, alongside Jesus, will rid the world of wrongdoing, injustice and tyranny.In Shia Islam, the belief in the Mahdi is a "central religious...
forces. Led by Henry Morton Stanley
Henry Morton Stanley
Sir Henry Morton Stanley, GCB, born John Rowlands , was a Welsh journalist and explorer famous for his exploration of Africa and his search for David Livingstone. Upon finding Livingstone, Stanley allegedly uttered the now-famous greeting, "Dr...
, the expedition came to be both celebrated, for its ambition in crossing "darkest Africa", and notorious, for the bloodshed and death left in its wake.
Anxiety about Equatoria
When the Mahdists captured KhartoumKhartoum
Khartoum is the capital and largest city of Sudan and of Khartoum State. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile flowing north from Lake Victoria, and the Blue Nile flowing west from Ethiopia. The location where the two Niles meet is known as "al-Mogran"...
in 1885, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian administration of the Sudan collapsed, and the extreme southern province Equatoria, located on the upper reaches of the Nile
Nile
The Nile is a major north-flowing river in North Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. It is long. It runs through the ten countries of Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Egypt.The Nile has two major...
near Lake Albert was nearly cut off from the outside world. Emin Pasha was a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
doctor and naturalist who had been appointed Governor of Equatoria. He was able to send and receive letters via Buganda
Buganda
Buganda is a subnational kingdom within Uganda. The kingdom of the Ganda people, Buganda is the largest of the traditional kingdoms in present-day Uganda, comprising all of Uganda's Central Region, including the Ugandan capital Kampala, with the exception of the disputed eastern Kayunga District...
and Zanzibar
Zanzibar
Zanzibar ,Persian: زنگبار, from suffix bār: "coast" and Zangi: "bruin" ; is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja , and Pemba...
and had been informed in February 1886 that the Egyptian government would abandon Equatoria. In July, encouraged by the missionary Alexander Mackay
Alexander Murdoch Mackay
Alexander Murdoch Mackay was a Presbyterian missionary to Uganda. He studied at the Free Church Training School for Teachers at Edinburgh, then at Edinburgh University, and finally at Berlin...
, he had invited the British government to annex Equatoria itself. Although the government was not interested in such a doubtful venture, the British public came to see Emin as a second General Gordon
Charles George Gordon
Major-General Charles George Gordon, CB , known as "Chinese" Gordon, Gordon Pasha, and Gordon of Khartoum, was a British army officer and administrator....
in mortal danger from the Mahdists.
By November, Scottish businessman and philanthropist William Mackinnon, who had been involved in various colonial ventures, had approached Stanley about leading a relief expedition. Stanley declared himself ready "at a moment's notice" to go. Mackinnon then approached J. F. Hutton
James Frederick Hutton
James Frederick Hutton was a British businessman, colonialist and Conservative politician.He was the son of W M Hutton and Elizabeth Chapman, and inherited the family business importing palm oil from Africa...
, a business acquaintance also involved in colonial activities, and together they organized the "Emin Pasha Relief Committee", mostly consisting of Mackinnon's friends, whose first meeting was on 19 December 1886. The Committee raised a total of about 32,000 pounds.
Stanley was officially still in the employment of Léopold II of Belgium
Leopold II of Belgium
Leopold II was the second king of the Belgians. Born in Brussels the second son of Leopold I and Louise-Marie of Orléans, he succeeded his father to the throne on 17 December 1865 and remained king until his death.Leopold is chiefly remembered as the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free...
, whom he had been employed by in carving out Léopold's 'Congo Free State
Congo Free State
The Congo Free State was a large area in Central Africa which was privately controlled by Leopold II, King of the Belgians. Its origins lay in Leopold's attracting scientific, and humanitarian backing for a non-governmental organization, the Association internationale africaine...
'. As a compromise for letting Stanley go, it was arranged in a meeting in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
between Stanley and the king, that the expedition would take a longer route up the Congo River
Congo River
The Congo River is a river in Africa, and is the deepest river in the world, with measured depths in excess of . It is the second largest river in the world by volume of water discharged, though it has only one-fifth the volume of the world's largest river, the Amazon...
, contrary to plans for a shorter route inland from the eastern African coast. In return, Léopold would provide his Free State steamers for the transportation of the expedition up the river, from Stanley Pool (now Pool Malebo
Pool Malebo
The Pool Malebo , is a lake-like widening in the lower reaches of the Congo River....
) as far as the mouth of the Aruwimi River
Aruwimi River
The Aruwimi River is a tributary of the Congo River, located to the north and east of the Congo.The Aruwimi begins as the Ituri River, which arises near Lake Albert, in the savannas north of the Kibale River watershed. It then runs generally south southwest until it is joined by the Shari River...
.
By 1 January 1887 Stanley was back in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
preparing the expedition, to widespread public acclaim.
Preparations
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, then to Zanzibar to hire porter
Porter (carrier)
A porter, also called a bearer, is a person who shifts objects for others.-Historical meaning:Human adaptability and flexibility early led to the use of humans for shifting gear...
s, then south of Africa, around the Cape, to the mouth of the Congo, up the Congo by Leopold's steamers
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
, branching off at the Aruwimi River
Aruwimi River
The Aruwimi River is a tributary of the Congo River, located to the north and east of the Congo.The Aruwimi begins as the Ituri River, which arises near Lake Albert, in the savannas north of the Kibale River watershed. It then runs generally south southwest until it is joined by the Shari River...
. Stanley intended to establish a camp on the Aruwimi, then go east overland through unknown territory to reach Lake Albert and Equatoria. He then expected that Emin would send the families of Emin's Egyptian employees back along the just-pioneered route, along with a large store of ivory
Ivory
Ivory is a term for dentine, which constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals, when used as a material for art or manufacturing. Ivory has been important since ancient times for making a range of items, from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans, dominoes, joint tubes, piano keys and...
accumulated in Equatoria, while Stanley, Emin, and Emin's soldiers would proceed eastward to Zanzibar. Ironically, public doubts over the plan centered around whether it could be achieved; the possibility that Emin might not want to leave seems not to have been considered.
The expedition was the largest and best-equipped to go to Africa; a 28-foot steel boat named the Advance was designed to be divided into 12 sections for carrying over land, and Hiram Maxim presented the expedition with one of his recently invented Maxim gun
Maxim gun
The Maxim gun was the first self-powered machine gun, invented by the American-born British inventor Sir Hiram Maxim in 1884. It has been called "the weapon most associated with [British] imperial conquest".-Functionality:...
s, which was the first to be brought to Africa. Merely 'exhibiting' the gun was thought to be a scare, which would spare the expedition for problems with troublesome natives.
The Relief Committee received 400 applications by hopeful participants. Among these, Stanley chose the officers, who were to accompany him to Africa:
- James S. Jameson and John Rose Troup had both travelled in Africa before, Jameson a big game hunter, artist and traveller, Troup as an employee of the Congo Free State.
- Robert H. NelsonRobert H. NelsonRobert Henry Nelson was an Officer of the British Army and a young adventurer and African explorer, who accompanied H.M.Stanley on the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition, 1887-1889.-Emin Pasha Relief Expedition:...
, William Bonny, William G. Stairs and Edmund Barttelot were all military men. Barttelot had been doing service in India. - A. J. Mounteney-Jephson, a young 'gentleman of leisure' coming from the merchant marine, was hired on the quality of his face only, but paid, as did Jameson, £1,000 to the Relief Committee, in order to participate in the expedition.
- The expedition's doctor, Thomas Heazle ParkeThomas Heazle ParkeSurgeon-General Thomas Heazle Parke was an Irish doctor, explorer, soldier and naturalist.Parke was born in 1857 at Clogher House in Kilmore, County Roscommon, Ireland, and was brought up in Carrick-on-Shannon, County Leitrim...
, was hired in Alexandria, where he did military service, as a last-minute disposition, while the expedition was underway to Zanzibar. - William Hoffmann was Stanley's personal servant, curiously enough scarcely mentioned at all in Stanley's own account of the events.
Stanley departed London on 21 January 1887, and arrived in Cairo on 27 January. Egyptian objections to the Congo route were overridden by a telegram from Lord Salisbury
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, KG, GCVO, PC , styled Lord Robert Cecil before 1865 and Viscount Cranborne from June 1865 until April 1868, was a British Conservative statesman and thrice Prime Minister, serving for a total of over 13 years...
, and the expedition was permitted to march under the Egyptian flag. Stanley also met with Mason Bey, Schweinfurth, and Junker
Wilhelm Junker
Wilhelm Junker was a Russian explorer of Africa. He was of German descent.He was born in Moscow. He studied medicine at Dorpat, Göttingen, Berlin and Prague, but did not practise for long...
, who had more up-to-date information about Equatoria.
Stanley left Cairo on 3 February, joined up with expedition members during stops in Suez
Suez
Suez is a seaport city in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez , near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same boundaries as Suez governorate. It has three harbors, Adabya, Ain Sokhna and Port Tawfiq, and extensive port facilities...
and Aden
Aden
Aden is a seaport city in Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea , some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000. Aden's ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of an extinct volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a...
, and arrived in Zanzibar on 22 February. The next three days were spent packing for the expedition, loading the Madura
Madura
Madura is an Indonesian island off the northeastern coast of Java. The island comprises an area of approximately 4,250 km². Madura is administered as part of the East Java province. It is separated from Java by the narrow Strait of Madura.-History:...
, and negotiating; Stanley acted as a representative of Mackinnon in convincing the Sultan of Zanzibar to grant a concession for what later became the Imperial British East Africa Company
Imperial British East Africa Company
The Imperial British East Africa Company was the administrator of British East Africa, which was the forerunner of the East Africa Protectorate, later Kenya. The IBEAC was a commercial association founded to develop African trade in the areas controlled by the British colonial power...
(I.B.E.A.C.), and made two agreements with Tippu Tib. The first included appointing him as Governor of Stanley Falls, an arrangement much criticized in Europe as a deal with a slave-trader, and the second agreement regarding the provisions of carriers for the expedition. In addition to transporting stores, the carriers were now also expected to bring out some 75 tons of ivory stored in Equatoria. Stanley posted letters to Emin predicting his arrival on Lake Albert around August.
Up the Congo
The expedition left Zanzibar on 25 February and arrived at BananaBanana, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Banana is a small seaport in Bas-Congo province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the Atlantic coast. The port is situated in Banana Creek, an inlet about 1 km wide on the north bank of the Congo River's mouth, separated from the ocean by a spit of land 3 km long and 100 to 400 m...
at the mouth of the Congo on 18 March, somewhat unexpectedly because a telegraph cable had broken, and local officials had received no instructions. Chartered steamers brought the expedition to Matadi
Matadi
Matadi is the chief sea port of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the capital of the Bas-Congo province. It has a population of 245,862 . Matadi is situated on the left bank of the Congo River from the mouth and below the last navigable point before rapids make the river impassable for a...
, where the carriers took over, bringing some 800 loads of stores and ammunition to Leopoldville
Kinshasa
Kinshasa is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The city is located on the Congo River....
on the Stanley Pool. Progress was slow, since the rainy season was at its height, and food was short - a problem that was to be persistent throughout the expedition (as a subsistence economy
Subsistence economy
A subsistence economy is an economy which refers simply to the gathering or amassment of objects of value; the increase in wealth; or the creation of wealth. Capital can be generally defined as assets invested with the expectation that their value will increase, usually because there is the...
, the area along the route rarely had spare food for 1,000 hardworking men).
On 21 April the expedition arrived at Leopoldville. Although King Leopold had promised a flotilla of river steamers, only one (the Stanley) worked; Stanley requisitioned two (Peace and Henry Reed) from missionaries, whose protests were overridden, and the Florida, which was still under construction and so used as a barge. Even these were insufficient, so many of the stores were left at Leopoldville and more at Bolobo
Bolobo
Bolobo is a town on the Congo River in Kwango District of Bandundu Province in the western part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ....
. At this point Stanley also announced the division of the expedition into a "Rear Column" and an "Advance Column", the former to encamp at Yambuya
Yambuya
Yambuya is a community in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the Aruwimi River, roughly due north of Yangambi. The river is navigable as far as Yambuya, but is blocked by cataracts further upstream....
on the Aruwimi, while the Advance Column pressed on to Equatoria.
The voyage up the Congo started 1 May and was generally uneventful. At Bangala
Congo River
The Congo River is a river in Africa, and is the deepest river in the world, with measured depths in excess of . It is the second largest river in the world by volume of water discharged, though it has only one-fifth the volume of the world's largest river, the Amazon...
, Barttelot and Tippu Tib continued up to Stanley Falls in the Henry Reed, while Stanley took the Aruwimi to Yambuya. The inhabitants of Yambuya refused permission to reside in their village, so Stanley attacked and drove the villagers away, turning the deserted village into a fortified camp. Meanwhile, at Stanley Falls, Tippu Tib attempted to acquire carriers, but he believed that Stanley had broken his part of their agreement by leaving ammunition behind, and Barttelot came to Yambuya with only an indefinite promise that carriers would arrive in several weeks.
Darkest Africa
Stanley, however, insisted on speed, and left for Lake Albert on 28 June. Originally expecting to take two months, the Advance Column was unprepared for the extreme difficulties of travel through the Ituri forest and did not reach the lake until December; only 169 of the 389 who set out from Yambuya were still alive. The trees of the forest were so tall and dense that little light reached the floor (thus the phrase "darkest Africa"), food was scarcely to be found, and the local Pygmies took the expedition for an Arab raiding party, shooting at them with poisoned arrows. The expedition stopped at two Arab settlements, Ugarrowwa's and Ipoto, in each case leaving more of their equipment behind in exchange for food.The forest eventually gave way to grassland, and on 13 December the expedition was looking down on Lake Albert. However, Emin was not there, and the locals had not seen a European in many years. Stanley decided to return to the village of Ibwiri on the plateau above the lake, where they built Fort Bodo. Stairs went back to Ipoto to collect men and equipment, and returned 12 February. A second trip went back of Ugarrowwa's to collect more equipment, meanwhile on 2 April Stanley returned to Lake Albert, this time with the Advance. On 18 April they received a letter from Emin, who had heard about the expedition a year earlier, and had come down the lake in March after hearing rumors of Stanley's arrival.
With Emin
Jephson was sent on ahead to the lake with the Advance, took the boat up to Mswa, and met Emin on 27 April 1888. Emin brought his steamer to the south end of the lake, and there met Stanley on the 29th, who was surprised to find the figure of Emin to have "not a trace on it of ill-health or anxiety", and celebrated with three bottles of champagne that had been carried all the way up the Congo. Emin provided Stanley with food and other supplies, thus rescuing the rescuers.At this point things became difficult. Emin was primarily interested in ammunition and other supplies, and a communications route, all of which would assist him in remaining in Equatoria, while Stanley's main goal was to bring Emin out. A month of discussion produced no agreement, and on 24 May Stanley went back to Fort Bodo, arriving there 8 June and meeting Stairs, who had returned from Ugarrowwa's with just fourteen surviving men. On the way Stanley saw the Ruwenzori Mountains for the first time (although Parke and Jephson had seen them on 20 April).
Fate of the Rear Column
On 16 June, Stanley left the fort in search of the Rear Column; no word of them or from them had been received in a long time. Finally, on 17 August at Banalya, 90 miles upstream from Yambuya, Stanley found Bonny the sole European left in charge of the Column, along with a handful of starving carriers. Barttelot had been shot in a dispute, Jameson was at Bangala dying of a fever, Troup had been invalided home, and Herbert Ward had gone back down the Congo a second time to telegraph the Relief Committee in London for further instructions (the Column had not heard from Stanley in over a year). The original purpose of the Rear Column — to wait for the additional carriers from Tippu Tib — had not been accomplished, since without the ammunition supplied by the expedition, Tippu Tib had nothing with which to recruit. After several side trips, Barttelot decided to send Troup and others on the sick list down the Congo, and 11 June 1888, after the arrival of a group of ManyemaManyema
Manyema , a powerful and in the past warlike Bantu-Negroid people in the southeast of the Congo basin and in the Kigoma region of Western Tanzania.In Tanzania they include various sub tribes , wabwari, wamasanze, wabembe e.t...
bringing Barttelot's total to 560, set off in search of Stanley.
But the march soon disintegrated into chaos, with large-scale desertion, multiple trips to try to bring up stores, and then on 19 July Barttelot was shot while trying to interfere with a Manyema festival. Jameson decided to go down to Bangala to bring up extra loads and left on 9 August, shortly before Stanley's arrival. Stanley was incensed at the state of the Rear Column, blaming them for lack of motion despite his previous orders that they wait for him at Yambuya. After the dispatch of a number of letters down-Congo, the expedition returned to Fort Bodo, taking a different route that proved no better for food supply, and it reached the Fort on 20 December, now reduced to 412 men, of whom 124 were too ill to carry any loads.
On 16 January 1889, near Lake Albert, Stanley received letters from Emin and Jephson, who had been made prisoner by Emin's officers for several months, while at the same time the Mahdists had been capturing additional stations of Equatoria. Since Stanley's arrival, numerous rumors had gone around about Emin's intentions and the likely fate of the soldiers, and in August of the previous year matters had come to a head; a number of officers rebelled, deposed Emin as governor, and kept him and Jephson under a sort of house arrest in Dufile
Dufile
Dufile was originally a fort built by Emin Pasha, the Governor of Equatoria, in 1879; it is located on the Albert Nile just inside Uganda, close to a site chosen in 1874 by then-Colonel Charles George Gordon to assemble steamers that were carried there overland. Emin and A.J...
until November. Even so, Emin was still reluctant to abandon the province.
To the coast
By 17 February all the surviving members of the expedition, and Emin with a group of about 65 loyal soldiers, met at Stanley's camp above Lake Albert, and during the subsequent weeks several hundred more of Emin's followers, many of them the families of the soldiers, accumulated there. Emin still had not expressed a firm intention to leave Equatoria, and 5 April, after a heated argument, Stanley determined to leave shortly, and the expedition departed Kavalli's for the coast on 10 April.The trip to the coast passed first south, along the western flank of the Ruwenzoris, and Stairs attempted to ascend to a summit, reaching 10,677 ft before having to turn around. They then passed by Lake Edward
Lake Edward
Lake Edward or Edward Nyanza is the smallest of the African Great Lakes. It is located in the western Great Rift Valley, on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, with its northern shore a few kilometres south of the Equator...
and Lake George
Lake George (Uganda)
Lake George or Lake Dweru is a lake in Uganda. It covers a total surface area of 250 km² and is a part of Africa's Great Lakes system but is not itself considered one of the Great Lakes. Like the other lakes in the region it was named after a member of the British royal family, in this case...
, then across to the southernmost point of Lake Victoria
Lake Victoria
Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. The lake was named for Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, by John Hanning Speke, the first European to discover this lake....
, passing through the kingdoms of Ankole
Ankole
Ankole, also referred to as Nkore, is one of four traditional kingdoms in Uganda. The kingdom is located in the southwestern Uganda, east of Lake Edward. It was ruled by a monarch known as The Mugabe or Omugabe of Ankole. The kingdom was formally abolished in 1967 by the government of President...
and Karagwe
Karagwe
Karagwe is one of the 6 districts of the Kagera Region of Tanzania. It is bordered to the North by Uganda, to the East by the Bukoba Rural District, to the Southeast by the Muleba District, to the South by the Ngara District and to the West by Rwanda, which is divided by the River Kagera.According...
. Stanley made "treaties" with the various rulers; although it is most likely that these were not regarded as such by the locals, they were later used to establish I.B.E.A claims in the area.
Lake Victoria was seen on 15 August, and the expedition reached Mackay's missionary station at Usambiro on 28 August. At this point they began to learn of the complicated changing situation in East Africa, with British and German interests scrambling to stake their claims, and a second relief expedition under Frederick John Jackson. After waiting fruitlessly for news of the Jackson expedition, Stanley left on 17 September, with a party now reduced to some 700 by a combination of death and desertion.
As the expedition approached the coast, they encountered parties of Germans and other signs of German activity in the interior, and were met by commissioner Wissmann on 4 December and escorted into Bagamoyo
Bagamoyo
The town of Bagamoyo, Tanzania, was founded at the end of the 18th century. It was the original capital of German East Africa and was one of the most important trading ports along the East African coast...
. That evening a banquet was held, during which an inebriated Emin fell out of a 2nd-story window he mistook for a balcony, and from which he did not recover until the end of January 1890. In the meantime, the rest of the expedition had dispersed; Stanley went to Zanzibar and then to Cairo, where he wrote the 900 pages of In Darkest Africa in just 50 days. The Zanzibari carriers were paid off or (in the case of prisoners) returned to their masters, the Sudanese and Egyptians were transported back to Egypt, some later returning to work for the I.B.E.A. Emin took service with the Germans in February, and the other Europeans returned to England.
Aftermath
Stanley returned to Europe in May 1890 to tremendous public acclaim; both he and his officers received numerous awards, honorary degrees, and speaking engagements. In June his just-published book sold 150,000 copies alone. But the adulation was to be short-lived. By autumn, as the true cost of the expedition became known, and as the families of Barttelot and Jameson reacted to Stanley's accusations of incompetence in the Rear Column, criticism and condemnation became widespread. In the end, it came to be the last expedition of its type; future African expeditions would be government-run in pursuit of military or political goals, or conducted purely for science.From 1898 to 1900, a devastating sleeping sickness epidemic spread into territories that are now Democratic Republic of Congo, western Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
and south of Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
. Native cattle traveling with the expedition may have introduced the parasite into previously-unaffected regions. However, not all authors agree.
Modern culture
The fate of the Rear Column is the subject of Simon GraySimon Gray
Simon James Holliday Gray, CBE , was an English playwright and memoirist who also had a career as a university lecturer in English literature at Queen Mary, University of London, for 20 years...
's 1978 play The Rear Column
The Rear Column
The Rear Column is a play by Simon Gray set in the jungle of the Congo Free State in 1887-88. The story begins after explorer Henry Morton Stanley, has gone to relieve Emin Pasha, governor of Equatoria, from a siege by Mahdist forces...
, which features Barttelot
Edmund Musgrave Barttelot
Edmund Musgrave Barttelot was a British Army officer, born in Sussex, England.He joined the army in 1879 and served in India. He volunteered for Henry Morton Stanley's Emin Pasha Relief Expedition...
, Jameson, Ward, Bonny, Troup and Stanley
Henry Morton Stanley
Sir Henry Morton Stanley, GCB, born John Rowlands , was a Welsh journalist and explorer famous for his exploration of Africa and his search for David Livingstone. Upon finding Livingstone, Stanley allegedly uttered the now-famous greeting, "Dr...
as characters.
Primary sources
- Jephson, A. J. MounteneyArthur J. M. JephsonArthur Jeremy Mounteney Jephson was a young adventurer and African explorer, who accompanied H.M.Stanley on the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition, 1887-1889.-Emin Pasha Relief Expedition:...
: Diary, Edited by Dorothy Middleton, Hakluyt SocietyHakluyt SocietyFounded in 1846, the Hakluyt Society is a registered charity based in London, England, which seeks to advance knowledge and education by the publication of scholarly editions of primary records of voyages, travels and other geographical material...
, 1969 - Stanley, Henry MortonHenry Morton StanleySir Henry Morton Stanley, GCB, born John Rowlands , was a Welsh journalist and explorer famous for his exploration of Africa and his search for David Livingstone. Upon finding Livingstone, Stanley allegedly uttered the now-famous greeting, "Dr...
: In Darkest Africa, 1890
Secondary works
- Daniel Liebowitz; Charles Pearson : The Last Expedition: Stanley's Mad Journey Through the Congo, 2005, ISBN 0-393-05903-0
- Moorehead, AlanAlan MooreheadAlan McCrae Moorehead OBE was a war correspondent and author of popular histories, most notably two books on the nineteenth-century exploration of the Nile, The White Nile and The Blue Nile . Australian-born, he lived in England, and Italy, from 1937.-Biography:Alan Moorehead was born in...
: The White Nile, London, 1960, 1971 - Smith, Iain R. : The Emin Pasha Relief Expedition 1886-1890, Oxford University PressOxford University PressOxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
, 1972 - Gould, TonyTony GouldTony Gould is an Australian jazz musician, pianist, composer and educator.Gould's many recordings and performances reveal his harmonic view of music and his love of music from both African-American and European jazz traditions, as well as the classical works of Bach, Mahler, Stravinsky and...
: In Limbo: The Story of Stanley's Rear Column, David & CharlesDavid & CharlesDavid & Charles is a publisher. The company was founded - and is still based - in the market town of Newton Abbot, in Devon, UK, on 1 April 1960 by David St John Thomas and Charles Hadfield. It first made its name publishing titles on Britain's canals and railways...
1980 ISBN 0-241-10125-5