Editing Congo River (section)

===Early European colonization===
{{Main|Colonization of the Congo Basin}}

The Europeans had not reached the central regions of the Congo basin from either the east or west, until [[Henry Morton Stanley]]'s expedition of 1876–77, supported by the [[Committee for Studies of the Upper Congo]]. At the time one of the last open questions of the [[European exploration of Africa]] was whether the Lualaba River fed the Nile (Livingstone's theory), the Congo,{{sfn|Jeal|2007|pp=188–219}} or even the [[Niger River]]. Financed in 1874, [[Henry Morton Stanley's first trans-Africa expedition|Stanley's first trans-Africa exploration]] started in [[Zanzibar]] and reached the Lualaba on October 17, 1876. Overland he reached Nyangwe, the center of a lawless area containing cannibal tribes at which [[Tippu Tip]] based his trade in slaves. Stanley managed to hire a force from Tippu Tip to guard him for the next {{convert|150|km|mi|sigfig=1}} or so, for 90 days.

The party left Nyangwe overland through the dense Matimba forest. On November 19 they reached the Lualaba again. Since the going through the forest was so heavy, Tippu Tip turned around with his party on December 28, leaving Stanley on his own, with 143 people, including eight children and 16 women. They had 23 canoes. His first encounter with a local tribe was with the cannibal [[Tumbuka people|Wenya]]. In total Stanley reports 32 unfriendly meetings on the river, some violent, even though he attempted to negotiate a peaceful thoroughfare. But the tribes were wary as their only experience of outsiders was with slave traders.

On January 6, 1877, after {{convert|400|mi|km|order=flip}}, they reached Boyoma Falls (called Stanley Falls for some time after), consisting of seven cataracts spanning {{convert|60|mi|km|sigfig=1|order=flip}} which they had to bypass overland. It took them to February 7 to reach the end of the falls. Here Stanley learned that the river was called ''Ikuta Yacongo'',{{sfn|Jeal|2007|p=199; February 7, 1877}} proving to him that he had reached the Congo and that the Lualaba did not feed the Nile.

From this point, the tribes were no longer cannibals{{clarify|date=May 2020}} but possessed firearms, apparently as a result of Portuguese influence{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}. Some four weeks and {{convert|1200|mi|km|order=flip}} later he reached Stanley Pool (now Pool Malebo), the site of the present day cities Kinshasa and Brazzaville. Further downstream were the Livingstone Falls, misnamed as Livingstone had never been on the Congo: a series of 32 falls and rapids with an elevation change of {{convert|900|ft|m|order=flip}} over {{convert|220|mi|km|order=flip}}. On 15 March they started the descent of the falls, which took five months and cost numerous lives. From the Isangile Falls, five falls from the foot, they beached the canoes and ''Lady Alice'' and left the river, aiming for the Portuguese outpost of [[Boma, Democratic Republic of the Congo|Boma]] via land.

On August 3 they reached the hamlet Nsada. From there Stanley sent four men with letters forward to Boma, asking for food for his starving people. On August 7 relief came, being sent by representatives from the [[Liverpool]] trading firm Hatton & Cookson. On August 9 they reached Boma, 1,001 days since leaving Zanzibar on November 12, 1874. The party then consisted of 108 people, including three children born during the trip. Most probably (Stanley's own publications give inconsistent figures), he lost 132 people through disease, hunger, drowning, killing and desertion.{{sfn|Jeal|2007|p=217}}<ref>{{cite book |title=Through the Dark Continent |last=Stanley |first=Henry M. |year=1988 |publisher=Dover Publications |isbn=978-0-486-25667-2 |edition=Reprint |orig-year=Originally published: London: G. Newnes, 1899}}</ref>

Kinshasa was founded as a trading post by Stanley in 1881 and named Léopoldville in honor of [[Leopold II of Belgium]]. The Congo Basin was privately claimed by Leopold II as [[Congo Free State]] in 1885 where the many [[Atrocities in the Congo Free State]] were committed until the region was called the [[Belgian Congo]].

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File:Advance Column of the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition 1890.jpg|Henry M. Stanley with the officers of the Advance Column, Cairo, 1890. From the left: Dr. [[Thomas Heazle Parke]], [[Robert H. Nelson (explorer)|Robert H. Nelson]], [[Henry M. Stanley]], [[William G. Stairs]], and [[Arthur J. M. Jephson]]
File:Monument aux pionniers belges au Congo 001.jpg|Congo River Allegory by [[Thomas Vinçotte]].<ref>Brussels, [[Monument to the Belgian Pioneers in Congo|Monument to Congo pionniers]], [[Cinquantenaire|50th Jubileum Park]].</ref>
</gallery>