Congo Free State
Joseph Conrad’s novel "Heart of Darkness", originally published in 1899 as a three-part series in "Blackwood's Magazine", inspired by his service as a captain on a steamer on the Congo 12 years before, sparked an organized international opposition to Leopold's exploitational activities. In 1900, Edmund Dene Morel, a part-time journalist and head of trade with Congo for the Liverpool shipping firm Elder Dempster, noticed that ships that brought vast loads of rubber from the Congo only ever returned there loaded with guns and ammunition for the "Force Publique". Morel became a journalist and then a publisher, attempting to discredit Leopold's regime. In 1902, Morel retired from his position at Elder Dempster to focus on campaigning. He founded his own magazine, "The West African Mail", and conducted speaking tours in Britain.
Heart of Darkness
When Conrad began to write the novella, eight years after returning from Africa, he drew inspiration from his travel journals. He described "Heart of Darkness" as "a wild story" of a journalist who becomes manager of a station in the (African) interior and makes himself worshipped by a tribe of savages. Thus described, the subject seems comic but is not. The tale was first published as a three-part serial, in February, March and April 1899, in "Blackwood's Magazine" (February 1899 was the magazine's 1000th issue: special edition). Later in 1902, "Heart of Darkness" was included in the book "" (published on 13 November 1902, by William Blackwood).