King Leopold's Ghost Sparknotes

King Leopold’s Ghost is a staggering, yet distressing story about the period of time throughout the late 19th century and early 20th century in the African Congo, where a man and his heartless actions led to years of ongoing slavery, abuse, and murder. This man, King Leopold II of Belgium, was willing to do anything it took in order for him to get what he wanted. He had his eyes set on an area in Africa, called the Congo. Through manipulation and the courageousness of his followers, he came up with a plan that he believed would give him everything he desired.

In the beginning of the book, John Rowlands is introduced. He was born into a poor family that had no honor, and grew up in a workhouse. Along with all of the other children who weren’t wanted and were disgraced upon, he was forced to work in a factory.

At the age of fifteen though, he left the workhouse and became a sailor on a merchant ship headed to Louisiana. He then went to New Orleans to work for a cotton farmer, and lived there for a few years. Once he turned eighteen, he gave himself a new name. He wanted to create a new life and forget about his past, so he then lived as Henry Morton Stanley.
Stanley later fought in the Civil War on the Confederate’s side, but was then captured and switched to the Union side. He became a successful newspaper man after the war, and traveled to India to report revolts against the British empire. He also covered the Abyssinian War, which is what made him even more successful.
In 1866, Stanley was sent to Africa to find the explorer, David Livingstone, who explored many different areas of the continent. For four years of his journey, he tracked everything he saw and whatever was going on with the African people who lived there. The people of France and America greatly enjoyed hearing about his expeditions, although the people of Britain didn’t like Stanley because he was a “working class Welshman”, and not a “real English gentleman.”
King Leopold II heard about Stanley’s journey through Africa, and at the time, he was searching for new land.

He believed that Belgium was too small, so he needed to find a place that he was able to take over, which is where his great manipulation comes in. Leopold knew that the only way people would help him was to make them think that he was doing it for humanitarian purposes. He would say that Belgium was colonizing Africa for the Africans’ sake. He also began to introduce himself as a philanthropist, meeting with priests and missionaries, and creating relationships with higher class aristocrats and politicians in London. Leopold gave everybody the impression that what he was doing wasn’t only for him, and by them thinking that he was a good person, he learned a lot of information that he needed. In one of his conferences with explorers and missionaries in September of 1876, the International African Association (IAA) was established, with himself as the chairman. Large donations were being sent to him as he prepared to take over the Congo, and with these donations, he was able to strengthen his country enough to be ready for what was to

come.
During his journey of finding David Livingstone, a British explorer who disappeared into the “heart of Africa”, Henry Morton Stanley sent a group of African men back to Boma, a town near the Congo River, with a note saying that he and his group were close to starvation since they were running out of food, and they were doomed if they didn’t get any. Luckily, Portuguese traders sent rice, potatoes, and fish, and after finding Livingstone, Stanley went out on another excursion through Africa.
With a team of nearly four hundred people, Stanley traveled further into the middle of Africa. On their way, they killed an unbearable number of innocent people, sometimes just because he thought that they were mocking him.
He spent a lot of the time of their journey observing African land, like he was seeing if it would be fit for his takeover. Although, later in his journey, Stanley and his team faced the consequences of their expedition. They faced starvation, drowning, and men ended up dying from dysentery, malaria, and many other diseases. Two years later by the time they arrived at the west coast of Africa, Stanley’s fiance had married somebody else.
King Leopold learned much about Stanley throughout his journey, and he realized that he would be the perfect person to lead his overthrow of the Congo in Africa. Leopold sent General Henry Shelton Sanford, who was an American Ambassador to Belgium, to invite Stanley there. He refused a few times, but after a while, Stanley finally agreed, and they made their way to Belgium.
Stanley’s, King Leopold’s, and their team’s journey to take over the Congo finally began in the late 1870s. When Stanley arrived at Belgium, Leopold gave him gifts and a contract of $250,000 per year to lead the expedition. Leopold realized that Stanley was very insecure, so he was making him sure that he could do it, and was praising his bravery.