Emin Pasha Relief Expedition - Aftermath

Aftermath

Stanley returned to Europe in May 1890 to tremendous public acclaim; both he and his officers received numerous awards, honorary degrees, and speaking engagements. In June his just-published book sold 150,000 copies alone. But the adulation was to be short-lived. By autumn, as the true cost of the expedition became known, and as the families of Barttelot and Jameson reacted to Stanley's accusations of incompetence in the Rear Column, criticism and condemnation became widespread. In the end, it came to be the last expedition of its type; future African expeditions would be government-run in pursuit of military or political goals, or conducted purely for science.

From 1898 to 1900, a devastating sleeping sickness epidemic spread into territories that are now Democratic Republic of Congo, western Uganda and south of Sudan. Native cattle traveling with the expedition may have introduced the parasite into previously-unaffected regions. However, not all authors agree.