H.M Stanley wasn't a great explorer, he was a spy sent by Leopold and C.

And that book is a rationalization of the Colonialist's intentions to partition and commit the atrocities they accomplished.

Like corrupting your mind into thinking that now there's more order in Africa because we wear trousers and eat sardines.

I am currently reading this book by Henry Morton Stanley after whom the Stanley hotel in Nairobi is named. He was one of the greatest explorers of 'equatorial Africa" in the 1800s. The book has very interesting perspectives on how Africa was before colonisation. I am currently reading volume 1 where he documents his travels from zanzibar to bagamoyo (mainland) to dodoma then to shores of lake victoria then to Kabaka Mtesas kingdom in Uganda.

Am just surprised that before colonisation East Africa was in turmoil with tribes againt each other....and arab slave traders....before colonisation brought order to the region.

Read "King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild to get a better understanding of who Stanley really was.

Being, I hope, free from prej udices of cast, colour, race, or nationality, and endeavouring to pass what I believe to be a just judgment Upon the negroes of Zanzibar, I find that they are a people just emerged into the Iron Epoch, and now thrust forcibly under the notice of nations who have left them behind by the improvements of over 4 000 years. They possess beyond doubt all the Vices Of a people still
fixed deeply in barbarism, but they understand to the full what and h ow low such a state is.

The Mgwana or native of Zanzibar, who dwells at
Ngambu, is a happy, jovial soul. He is fond of company, therefore sociable. His vanity causes him to be ambitious of possessing several white shirts and bright red caps, and since he has observed that his superiors use walking- sticks, he is almost certain, if he is rich enough to own a white shirt and a red cap, to be seen sporting a light cane.

The very poorest of his class hire themselves, or are hired out by their masters, to carry bales, boxes, and goods, from the custom- house to the boat, or store- room, or vice verso, and as a general beast of burden, for camels are few, and of wheeled vehicles there are none. Those who prefer light work and have good characters may obtain positions as doorkeepers or house- servants, or for washing copal and drying hides for the European merchants. Others, trained as mechanics, obtain a livelihood by repairing muskets,
manufacturing knives, belts, and accoutrements,
or by carpentering and ship- building.

There is a class of Wangwana living at Ngambu, in the small gardens of the interior of the island, and along the coast of the mainland, who prefer the wandering life offered to them by Arab traders and scientific expeditions to being subject to the caprice,
tyranny, and meanness of small estate proprietors. They complain that the Arabs are haughty, grasping,
and exacting ; that they abuse them and pay them badly ; that, if they seek justice at the hands of the Cadis, judgment, somehow, always goes against them. They say, on the other hand, that, when accompanying trading or other expeditions, they are well paid, have abundance to eat, and comparatively but little work.

But the highest ambition of a Mgwana is to have a
house and s/zamba or garden of his own. The shamba may
only be large enough to possess a doz en cocoa- nut—trees, a dozen rows, thirty yards long, of cassava shrubs , half- a dozen banana plants, half- a- dozen rows planted with sweet potatoes, and two or three rows of ground—nuts nevertheless, this would be his garden or estate , and therefore of priceless estimation. At one corner of this tiny but most
complete estate, he would erect his house, with an exclusive courtyard, which he would stock with half—a- dozen chickens and one goat, which last he would be sure to spoil with kindness. Three hundred dollars would probably be the total value of house, garden, chickens, goat, domestic utensils , tools, and all
, and yet, with this property, he would be twice married, the father of four or five children, and
even the owner of a domestic slave or two. If such be his condition, he will snap his fingers at the cruel world, and will imagine himself as prosperous, well—to- do , and comfort able as any Arab in Zanzibar. But he is seldom spoiled by this great prosperity. He is a sociable, kindly- disposed man, and his frank, hearty n ature has won for him hosts of friends . Beer made of fermented mtama or Indian corn, wine of the palm or cocoa- nut milk, or the stronger can devie sold by the Goanese in the town at twenty— five cents the bottle, serve to diffuse and cement these friendships.

It is to the Wangwana that Livingstone, Burton, Speke
and Grant owe, in great part, the accomplishment of their objects, and while in the employ of these explorers, this race rendered great services to geography. From a considerable distance north of the Equator down to the Zambezi and across Africa to Benguella and the mouth of the Livingstone, they have made their names familiar to tribes who, but for
the Wangwana, would have remained ignorant to this day
of all things outside their own settlements. They possess with many weaknesses, many fine qualities. While very superstitious , easily inclined to despair, and readily giving ear to vague, unreasonable fears , they may also, by j udicious management, be induced to laugh at their own credulity and roused to a courageous attitude ; to endure like Stoics, and
fight like heroes. It will depend altogether upon the leader of a body of such men whether their worst or best qualities shall prevail.

There is another class coming into notice from t he
interior of Africa, who, though of a sterner nature, will , I am convinced, as they are better known , become greater favourites than the Wangwana. I refer t o the Wanyamwezi, or the natives of Unyamwezi
, and the Wasukuma, or the people of Usukuma.

Naturally, being a grade less advanced towards civilization th an the Wangwana, they are not so
amenable to discipline as the latter. While explorers would in the present state of acquaintance prefer the Wangwana as escort, the Wanyamwezi are far superior as porters. Their greater freedom from diseases, their great strength and endurance, the pride they take in their profession of porters, prove them born travellers of incalculable use and benefit to Africa. If kindly treated, I do not know more docile and good- natured creatures. But the discipline must not be strict, until they have had opportunities of under
standing their employer’s nature and habits ,
and of comprehending that discipline does not mean abuse.

Their courage they have repeatedly proved under their Napoleonic leader Mirambo, in many a well- fought field against the Arabs and Wangwana. Their skill in war, tenacity of purpose, and determination to defend the rights of their elected chief against foreigners, have furnished themes for song to the bards of Central Africa. Tippu- Tib has led 5 00 of these men through distant Bisa and the plains of Rua : Juma Merikani has been escorted by them into the heart of the regions beyond the Tanganika : Khamis bin Adallah commanded a large force of them in his search for ivory in the intra- lake countries. The English discoverer
of Lake Tanganika and, finally, I myself have been equally indebted to them, both on my first and last expeditions.
From their numbers, and their many excellent qualities, I am led to think that the day will come when they will be regarded as something better than the “ best of pagazis ;” that they will be esteemed as the good subjects of some enlightened power, who will train them up as the nucleus of a great African nation, as powerful for the good of the Dark Continent, as they threaten, under the present condition of things, to be for its evil.