Der weiße FleckDie Entdeckung des Kongo 1875-1908

As late as the year 1875, maps of the world featured a huge white spot right in the middle of Africa - the Congo, apart from the Polar regions the last unexplored territory on the globe. Joseph Conrad named it the `Heart of Darkness`, a mythical place of The expedition logs of Henry Stanley, Edmond Picard, H.H. Johnston and others reveal what the first explorers saw when they entered the Congo and show how rapidly the country changed in the early years of colonization. Their descriptions evoke a mysterious and fascinating world, headed for disaster almost as soon as the white man arrived. Rain forests, huge rivers, strange vegetation, dangerous animals and the hardships of the explorers' journeys are all portrayed as attentively as the living conditions and rituals of "the savages". The reports are notably silent, however, about the Congo massacres which gave rise to the first great human rights movement at the dawn of the 20th century. These are acknowledged in an essay by Congo expert Hans Christoph Buch which brings the history of the region up to date. In the Fundus series, Nagel&Kimche publishes books and rare documents from the library of the Zurich Museum Society, each accompanied by an essay from a contemporary writer.