important slave traders in central and eastern africa he controlled an immense territory along lake tanganyika with the help of tippoo tib henry morton stanley went up the congo river and coerced the traditional village chiefs into signing contracts that stripped them of millions of acres of land for the benefit of the belgian king leopold the 2nd after landing in bergen morio henry stanley penetrated deep into central africa and renamed the cities of his i'm gonna after himself he was soon joined by other european explorers who entered africa from the west these expeditions mark the transition from evangelizing missions to imperialism. as a young boy began to trade along that sampled route into iran the congo he traded over a large area and was the most powerful figure there. also had his own almost no army. although now in a state of neglect to put his house in zanzibar tells us much about the fortune amassed by the powerful merchant in his autobiography he recounted his negotiations with stanley and the belgian diplomats. stonily arrived with a dozen europeans we met at the consul's and he