Stanley’s mission to retrieve Emin Pasha took so long because of the instructions and conditions given by his benefactor, Leopold II. Stanley had been placed on a contract so that he could not work for the British government, and Leopold II had promised the government in Paris that he would not ever hire him again. Leopold II ruled over the Congo and had been very interested in the Nile River before news of Emin Pasha had began circulating. Working with his own interests at the base of his plan, Leopold II allowed Stanley to leave his contract and go on the expedition, as long as he took the long way to retrieve Pasha. His path to Pasha brought him “through Leopold’s Congo, requiring the party to traverse the heretofore unexplored Ituri rain
