Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski was born in Poland in 1857. The son of Polish aristocrats, he changed his name to Joseph Conrad upon becoming an English citizen. In 1890 Conrad went to work in the Congo. Africa had long been ignored by most of Europe, but the end of the 1800s brought a surge of interest in the continent, which experienced great changes as it became the site of rapid colonization.
Kongo kingdom. Located along the equator on the western coast of Africa is one of the largest rivers in the world, the Zaire River. In Joseph Conrad's day it was known as the Congo River. The Congo was first discovered by European explorers in 1482, when a Portuguese expedition found the mouth of the river, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean. They raided the small villages in the surrounding area until they discovered that the villagers were under the protection of a powerful African kingdom, the Kongo kingdom.
After this discovery, the Portuguese carried out trade with the Africans as equals and partners. The Portuguese and Kongolese kings treated one another as fellow monarchs, and the governments exchanged ambassadors.
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