High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Stairs Expedition to Katanga of 1891 1892 led by Captain William Stairs was the winner in a race between two imperial powers to seize Katanga, a vast mineral-rich territory in Central Africa, which it achieved through the killing of an African king, Mwenda Msiri. This 'scramble for Katanga' was a prime example of the colonial Scramble for Africa, and one of the most dramatic incidents of that period.