Talk:Stairs Expedition to Katanga

A fact from Stairs Expedition to Katanga appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 12 May 2007. The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that the Stairs Expedition to Katanga (William Stairs pictured) was the winner in a race between two Victorian-era imperial powers to seize a vast mineral-rich territory in central Africa, which it achieved by assassinating the African king Msiri?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2007/May.

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Rating[edit]

Well done Rexparry sydney, this is not far off Good article status. --Camptown 15:39, 12 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Information and citations still needed[edit]

Captain Stairs' diaries are a primary source which I couldn't locate, it would be good if someone could check them, primary sources for the article at present are the book by Moloney, excerpts from De Bonchamps' journal in the Pont-Jest article, and a letter from Stairs to Arnot, all included in the references. Stairs' diaries are in the Public Archives of Nova Scotia and were published in Hon. Roy MacLaren, African Exploits : The Diaries of William Stairs, 1887-1892, (1998) McGill-Queen's University Press (ISBN 0-7735-1640-9) & Liverpool University Press (ISBN 0-85323-722-0). In particular, did Stairs write anything about the decapitation of Msiri's corpse and the fate of the head?
An illustration of Msiri. The one on the Kingmsiri website is, I think, a modern painting (the clothing looks modern), but perhaps the missionaries or members of other expeditions made sketches which have been published.
What happened to Msiri's head? Was it taken back to Europe as some in Katanga think?

Thanks to editors for copy-editing and tidying up the article. Rexparry sydney 04:22, 13 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]