Sir Henry Morton Stanley (1841 – 1904) was a Welsh-American journalist, explorer, soldier, colonial administrator, author and politician who was famous for his exploration of central Africa and his search for missionary and explorer David Livingstone, whom he later claimed to have greeted with the now-famous line: "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?". He is mainly known for his search for the source of the Nile, work he undertook as an agent of King Leopold II of Belgium, which enabled the occupation of the Congo Basin region [Wikipedia]. In a prefatory note to this book Stanley describes his monumental work as "this narrative of labour, exploration and discovery, and history of a great and successful political and diplomatic achievement" and dedicates it to King Leopold. Later history may offer a different view.