Committee for Studies of the Upper Congo

The Committee for Studies of the Upper Congo, or in French the Comité d'études du Haut-Congo, was formed in 1878^[1] on behalf of Leopold II, King of the Belgians, as part of the Scramble for Africa.

At Leopold's request, the committee was formed by a number of bankers and traders in Belgium and abroad, who contributed funds. The King had initially wanted to recruit Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza as an explorer, but he was hired by the French. Henry Morton Stanley was approached instead; in autumn 1878, he agreed to work for the Committee for five years,^[2] and in January 1879, he presented to the committee a detailed proposal for further exploring the Congo. The Committee supported this mission, and Stanley secretly left Antwerp on a freighter in June 1879, arriving in July at the mouth of the Congo River. Stanley was given orders to get territorial concessions from local tribal rulers.