There is no doubt that Henry (aka John Rollant [Rolland]) was one of the greatest albeit controversial of adventurers and explorers in the Western context of the nineteenth century.
Henry Morton Stanley's childhood was full of contentions and contradictions which all but certain made him a very fascinating person to observe and study, for here was a person who before the age of 17 would turn himself into the risky venture of almost becoming a stowaway in Liverpool where he would board a ship to New Orleans in Louisiana, USA. After a stint at working in several job occupations that would include his being tested in the skills of sharpshooting, enabled him to be enrolled in the Confederate-backed Sixth Arkansas Volunteer Regiment during the American civil war. When the fortunes of the Confederacy took a turn for the worse, Stanley decided to defect to the Unionist army, but was soon discharged for health reasons. It is worth noting that Stanley would be one of the very few persons to have fought on both sides in the civil war. Thus, as a result of Stanley's having been at the epicenter of this conflict, a cornerstone in the US history that compounded sensitive issues such as race, would later affect his exploits in the Congo; an aspect that is beyond the scope of this book's analysis.
After the end of the American civil war, Henry Morton Stanley decided to travel the world. His journeys took him to to places that included Asia, Europa and Africa-literally he would end up traversing over half the globe.
By 1868, Stanley had established himself in the USA as a permanent employee of the New York Herald and had by this time was in the process of either becoming a naturalized American citizen, if not already having become one.
It is noteworthy that during this period nothing much had been heard about British explorer, David Livingstone, a for a very long time. It should also be noted that this was a time that communications such as phones, Internet, television, radio, etc, had as yet to be invented. Even then, the already advanced technologies such as the telegraph of the day could only take one so far in as far as very fast modes of communication were concerned.
In his quest for his search for David Livingstone, January 1871 found Stanley in Zanzibar. Later that year was to find Livingstone at Ujiji on the shore of Lake Tanganyika. The discovery of David Livingstone was later to be described in a polemical phrase attributed to Stanley; "David Livingstone, I presume." Both men would continue exploring certain portions of Lake Tanganyika. However, as a result of dysentery that caused him to bleed internally, David Livingstone would die in May 1873. After David Livingstone's death, of which Henry Morton Stanley was one of the pall bearers at his funeral, he returned to Africa to resume his explorations in East Central Africa. In his quest to reach the Kingdom of Buganda that had not seen a person from the West since 1862, on his way to Buganda, Stanley was to encounter the proud and defiant Bavuma who at times are noted to have notoriously and verbally insulted the all-powerful kabaka (king) of Buganda.
In a very detailed and persuasive manner, the book describes and analyzes Stanley;s first visit to Buganda including his impressions of the Kingdom the his impressions of the then incumbent Kabaka Mutesa I who is described as being very intelligent and being in possession of an impressive economic infrastructure akin in many ways to the one found in Stanley's Western world as well as a king that apparently appears to be receptive to foreign intrusion with the primary aim of wanting to be supplied with arms, ammunition as well as foreign soldiers.
It should be recalled that Stanley's impressions of Buganda had led him to telegraph Queen Victoria and her government about the necessity of sending missionaries to the Kingdom, thus heralding Uganda's formal incorporation into the Western-dominated world economy.
The impressions of Stanley (and to a less extent, Speke and Grant) had led Mutesa to be labelled as one of the greatest statesmen of the nineteenth century. Nonetheless, the book cleverly suggests that, "The Pearl of Africa" is not the equivalence of being a paradise as the events in Uganda over the past 150 years suggest.
Regardless, the book reopens the debate pertaining to the dynamics behind Uganda's unique description as a "Pearl of Africa." It is a book that would find very great receptivity among those that are interested in critically examining the challenges Uganda, Africa, and other developing regions face.
Stephen B. Isabirye
