Who was Pierre de Brazza? How did a city in the Republic of the Congo get to be named after him? When was Brazzaville founded? Brazza returned to Europe in 1878, after 3 years of exploring central Africa. Come 1879 he was already off on a second expedition. This expedition coincided with another, more prominent exploratory mission led by the now legendary Henry Morton Stanley (who uttered the famous phrase “Dr. Livingston, I presume”). Stanley was employed by King Leopold of Belgium, a man who had previously attempted to hire Brazza for the mission. Brazza had turned him down because he was a French naval officer. He did not have permission to serve Belgium.
What gave this second expedition to the Congo new meaning was the revelation that Leopold had created fake philanthropic groups-International African Association, Committee for Studies of the Upper Congo, International Association of the Congo. These were merely smokescreens to fulfill Leopold’s goal of complete domination and systematic extraction of the Congo Basin’s natural resources. Brazza found this out and it created a moral objective for his mission: to claim the area under the French flag to spare the Africans from Leopold’s tyranny.
Brazza’s basic plan was to beat Stanley to the Congo River so the latter couldn’t claim both banks for Leopold. Brazza’s goal was to reach the Malebo Pool (at the time called Stanley Pool) where the Congo River swells into a lake-like pool. There he would plant the French flag and establish a settlement. Thanks to his good relations with the native tribesmen and with assistance from former slaves he had emancipated, Brazza had a very good chance of beating Stanley’s larger and better funded expedition.
In this race to the Congo, Brazza’s excellent reputation and relations with the Africans would give him the definitive lead over Stanley, who was tasked with building roads and telegraph lines. Also, Stanley’s method of coercion at gunpoint was not nearly as effective as Brazza’s patience and understanding. Long before Brazza had reached King Makoko’s territory (which was the land on the right bank of the Congo) the king had sent a subordinate chief to guide them. After an arduous two day journey across a sun baked savannah, Brazza came to the banks of the great Congo River.
When he Brazza met the native King Makoko, the king had already heard of “the great white chief of the Ogoway.” For days the king accommodated his guest with food, drink and gifts. In King Makoko Brazza would find a lifelong friend. Based on this budding relationship, Makoko gave Brazza permission to settle the land for France. Makoko’s kingdom would become a protectorate. Brazza had succeeded in taking the right bank of the Congo before Stanley arrived.
Brazza and his men continued down the Congo River, planning to establish a French station. When they reached the Stanley Pool, at a Bateke village named Ntamo, Brazza raised the French flag over his newly founded settlement. Upon setting up the trading station Brazza left his subordinates in charge and made his way back to France to have his treaty with Makoko ratified. Within 3 years, this modest village would be renamed Brazzaville and from this modest village the modern day capital city of over a million inhabitants would grow. Congo-Brazzaville would become one of the most progressive countries in Africa today under the leadership of President Denis Sassou Nguesso.