As the scramble for Africa intensified, it became clear that certain fundamental rules needed to be established; for this purpose, Bismarck created the Berlin Conference in November 1884 (Hochschild, 84). Although he was not present at the conference, Leopold did quite well. He obtained the seaport of Matadi and all the land necessary to build his railway from this port all around the rapids to Stanley Pool (Hochschild, 86). Leopold was able to gain a lot because he managed to maintain the idea that this colony would be a free trade zone for Europeans; they still did not realize that he alone held the commercial monopoly of the region (Hochschild, 86). The conference ended in February 1885, and in May of that year, “the king named his new privately controlled country 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 route; he was a former soldier with a degree in theology from Howard University, a writer and newspaper founder, and 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 (Hochschild, 105). He met Leopold for an interview, during which he was as enchanted by the king and his noble mission in Africa as all those who had preceded him (Hochschild, 106). As he attempted to recruit young black Americans to work in the Congo, he was confronted with questions about life there; realizing his own ignorance, he perso... middle of article... its author Adam Hochschild claims that the writing of King Leopold's Ghost was intended to "show how profoundly European colonialism has shaped the world in which we let’s live” (Hochschild, 318). He warns about the causes of widespread despair in Congo; that colonialism alone is insufficient to explain these terrible results and that in attempting to characterize it as such, it ignores the myriad other causes that create chaos and repression in 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 such as Mobutu, and the continuation of slave culture (Hochschild, 318). The Ghost of King Leopold: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998. Print.