As the scramble for Africa intensified, it became clear that some ground rules needed to be established; with this purpose in mind, Bismarck formed the Berlin Conference in November 1884 (Hochschild, 84). Despite not being present at the conference, Leopold did quite well. He obtained the seaport of Matadi and all the land needed to build his railway from that port all the way around the rapids to Stanley Pool (Hochschild, 86). Leopold was able to achieve so much because he successfully maintained the idea that this colony would be a free trade zone for Europeans; they did not yet realize that he alone had a commercial monopoly in the region (Hochschild, 86). The conference ended in February 1885, and in May of that year “the king called his new, privately controlled country, État indépendant du Congo, the Congo Free State” (Hochschild, 87). In 1890, an African American named George Washington Williams discovered for himself the true nature of Leopold's Congo. Williams' path to the Congo took a curved path; he was a former soldier who had earned a degree in theology from Howard University, he was a writer and newspaper founder, as well as a former politician and historian (Hochschild, 102-105). After being introduced to Henry Shelton Sanford during his lobbying campaign in Washington, Williams himself became enthusiastic about the Congo and saw an opportunity for African Americans there (Hochschild, 105). He met Leopold for an interview, where he was as enchanted by the king and his noble mission to Africa as all who had come before (Hochschild, 106). While trying to recruit young black Americans to work in the Congo, he faced questions regarding life there; realizing his own ignorance, he lost...... middle of paper ......son of the author Adam Hochschild claims that writing King Leopold's Ghost was "to show how profoundly European colonialism shaped the world we live in" (Hochschild, 318). Sounds a warning about the causes of widespread desperation in Congo; that colonialism alone is not enough to explain these terrible results and, in attempting to label it as such, ignores the myriad of other causes that create chaos and repression around the world (Hochschild, 318). Some of these other factors that have prevented African nations from becoming prosperous and peaceful democracies are the oppression of women, the apotheosis of militia leaders like Mobutu, and the continuation of slave culture (Hochschild, 318). Works Cited Hochschild, Adam. King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998. Print.