Summary

The short story “An Outpost of Progress” by Joseph Conrad follows two European men, Kayerts and Carlier, who are assigned to oversee a trading station somewhere in Africa, during colonial times. Kayerts and Carlier work together with an African man called Makola, who oversees ten workers. The white man who oversaw the station before them died of a fever and was buried there.

Kayerts and Carlier are not given specific instructions about what they are supposed to do, so they just wait for the six months to pass. The two men are at first friendly towards each other. 

Gobila, the chief of some of the neighboring villages, sometimes visits and asks the women of the villages to provide goods for Kayerts and Carlier. One morning, a group of armed natives visits the trading station.. Kayerts and ...