After several hard years in the workhouse, Stanley was able to complete an elementary education and take a position as a teacher in a National School. At the age of 18, he travelled to America in search of a new life. It was in America that he formed a friendship with Henry Hope Stanley and eventually adopted his name.Following the American Civil War, Stanley began a career as a journalist. While working as an overseas correspondent for the New York Herald, Stanley was instructed to find the Scottish missionary and explorer David Livingstone, who was known to be in Africa but had not been heard from for some time. He set off to Zanzibar in 1871 and embarked on an expedition of some 700 miles through the tropical forest. The trek was difficult but Stanley found Livingston in November 1871 in Tanzania. It is said that he uttered the now famous line "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"
Stanley stayed on and explored the region with Livingston, helping to establish that there was no connection between Lake Tanganyika and the River Nile. His first book was published on his return: How I Found Livingston: Travels, Adventures, and Discoveries in Central Africa.
In 1874 Stanley began another expedition to Africa. One of his tasks was to trace the course of the Congo River to the sea, an extremely difficult mission. It took 999 days for Stanley to reach the mouth of the River Congo. Only 114 survived of the 356 people who started. Stanley was the only European to survive. His book, Through the Dark Continent, covers his Congo expedition.
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