The city was founded as a trading
post by Henry Morton Stanley in 1881 and named Léopoldville in honor of King Leopold
II of Belgium, who controlled the vast territory that is now the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, not as a colony but as a private property. The post
flourished as the first navigable port on the Congo River above Livingstone
Falls, a series of rapids over 300 kilometres (190 mi) below Leopoldville. At
first, all goods arriving by sea or being sent by sea had to be carried by
porters between Léopoldville and Matadi, the port below the rapids and 150 km
