Imperialism In Africa

By providing an in-depth analysis of what really occurred with Leopold and his exploitative proprietorship of the Congo “Free” State, Hochschild cogently convinces readers that beneath all of Europe’s coaxing and flattery about their imperialism, there is an underlying nature of terror and an almost inescapable and pervasive essence of death and slavery. Hochschild perfectly depicts the drama arising from the deceitful manipulations, courageous resistances, and uncut greed into an enthralling piece of literature. Not only does Hochschild use the perspectives of Europeans, but he tells the untold truths of the natives in their abysmal states, having to face inevitable horrors and atrocities. The reader experiences the magnitude of effects that resulted in this imperialism, which may still last in modern-day Africa. Hochschild’s persuasion perfectly captures what it is that he wants the readers to take in the most: that Leopold’s imperialism of the Congo did not only affect Europe and himself. Separating from the common curriculum of history class, Hochschild doesn’t want to tell the readers that imperialism led to European nations gaining more markets, population, and raw materials: he wants the reader to understand that this all came at a cost. This imperialism led to the deaths of ten million natives in the Congo alone. This imperialism led to brutal torture of the

Riches in central Africa. In what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, there was and still is a plethora of natural resources. Rubber, gold, copper, diamonds and more. That natural wealth has definitely hurt Congo in the past rather than helped. Its resources could have made it one of the wealthiest countries in the world. But yet, this future did not hold true for the Congo. At the turn of the 20th century, King Leopold II began to take notice of the central African country. (National Black United Front). King Leopold II communicated all his ideas and intentions through a speech to European missionaries. (Africa Global Network). In it, his words held the key to all things terrible. Soon, Belgium took over the Congo and began one of the

1909, over one hundred years ago, was the death of King Leopold of Belgium the sole owner of the Congo. Even years after he has left this earth and is no longer in the reign, the long-lasting effects he has had on the people and the land has forever changed the Congo. The memories left behind from the atrocities that occurred and the diminished resources due to extreme exploitation has prompted the author Adam Hochschild to write the novel, King Leopold’s Ghost. Using an Afrocentric point of view Hochschild describes how the events that took place under Leopold’s orders were acts of true terror and inhumanity.

The Belgians imperialized Congo to exploit their natural resources to make a profit. King Leopold II of Belgium imperialized Congo with his army, known as the “The Forced Publique” in 1885, despite Leopold having never gone to the Congo himself. Belgian’s imperialism was set with the goal in mind of exploiting Congo’s enormous supply of ivory. By the 1890’s King Leopold controlled the vast majority of Belgium. Over time, “the world did not lose its desire for ivory, but by the late 1890’s wild rubber had far surpassed it as the main source of revenue from the Congo.”(159). Leopold did not care about the Congolese or their land, and in fact was so aggressive with using Congo’s rubber plants, and free labor that Alexandre Delcommune, a Congolese business man, predicted that in ten years if Leopold was still in power, “[people]

“To Europeans, Africans were inferior beings: Lazy, uncivilized, little better than animals... In any system of terror, the functionaries must first of all see the victims as less than human, and Victorian ideals about race provided such a foundation” (Hochschild 121). The society in which King Leopold II lived shaped his view that the people of Africa were inferior, that their lives were significant, and this idea began to spread to most of Europe. This allowed the Belgian king to focus on his main purpose of colonizing the Congo: money. Despite his portrayal that his main motivation for colonizing the Congo was not profit, King Leopold was definitely motivated by money, and and because of this motivation he turned a blind eye to what was happening in

With several overtly expressed themes, one can clearly see the consequences of imperialism, racism, and capitalism which explicitly addressed in the book. In this paper, I’d like to draw attention to an underlying theme which played many pivotal roles throughout the course of the conquest of the Congo: technology. Technology was a key component in both constructing King Leopold’s empire in the Congo and in dismantling it through the efforts of the international human rights movement led by E.D Morel and Roger Casement. Different technological instruments make their appearance subtly throughout the book but three specific innovations had major impacts on the development and disintegration of the Belgian Congo: river steamers, the telegraph, and photography. Without these inventions, Leopold’s detailed orchestration of the Congo conquest would’ve been an impossible venture. These instruments brought about improvements in exploration and communication which made Leopold’s covert manipulation and Stanley’s navigation through the Congo feasible.

“King Leopold’s Ghost- a story of greer, terror and heroism in colonial africa” written by Adam Hochschild, reveals the hidden horror in the Congo. Hochschild conveys the exploitation of the Congo Free State by King Leopold II of Belgium from 1885 to 1908, as well as the revolting brutality during that period. Hochschild discloses how King Leopold II’s unpleasant and atrocious capacity of maliciousness is shown through mass killings and colonization of Congolese land. The Ghost of King Leopold II still plagues the world while he is celebrated as a great humanitarian. (use own words).

During the early 19th century, Europeans had hardly penetrated the inner lands of Africa and their presence in the coastal regions consisted of small spheres of influence. As the century progressed, the presence of Europeans in Africa became more significant due to the growth of the international economy. As European nations expanded their influence in Africa the actions of Belgian King, Leopold II, were influential to the shaping of the continent at the end of the century. King Leopold wanted to claim the Congo as his own private territory, so he could use the land to make money. However, Leopold could not just claim the Congo as his own. Therefore, he created the Comite’ d’Etudes du Haut Congo to send philanthropic missions to the Congo open

Over the course of human history, many believe that the “Congo Free State”, which lasted from the 1880s to the early 1900s, was one of the worst colonial states in the age of Imperialism and was one of the worst humanitarian disasters over time. Brutal methods of collecting rubber, which led to the deaths of countless Africans along with Europeans, as well as a lack of concern from the Belgian government aside from the King, combined to create the most potent example of the evils of colonialism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century’s. The Congo colonial experience, first as the Congo Free State then later as Belgian Congo, was harmful to that region of Africa both then and now because of the lack of Belgian and International

Congo free state was first established in 1884. The colonial nations of Europe gave Leopold II of Belgium the authority to go and claim the Congo. They said that it would improve the lives of the natives that inhabited the land but that was evidently not the case. As soon as Leopold got over to the Congo, he had forgotten all about these promises. At first the drive for ivory was very prominent but eventually the want for rubber became a lot bigger. The machinery wasn't developed enough to do this so Leopold used what forces he had, manpower. The natives were forced into harvesting and processing rubber. This was a very physically demanding job because they had to climb up the trees to make big slashes into them and then go home and stir the liquid until it was in the right consistency to make the rubber. Each month, if someone didn’t meet the quota that was set out, they would get their hands or feet cut off. There was so many unthinkable things that occurred during this such as forced labour, beating, widespread killing and frequent mutilation. The estimated death toll was between 1 million to 15 million. Just looking at these few examples, the destructiveness of the Congolese people is quite clear. Today, the Congo is still a struggling country. It is very poor, unstable and corrupted because of the various wars and conflicts that happened in the history of the Congo. Because of the

Leopold’s country was not interested in acquiring a colony, and so he realized that “a colonial push of its own would require a strong humanitarian veneer. Curbing the slave trade, moral uplift, and the advancement of science were the aims he would talk about, not profits.”Even from the beginning, Leopold knew that stating his true motives, one of them being to increase his wealth, would not convince the Belgians to be on his side and assist him in the colonization of the Congo. He planned to lie to them, telling them motives that sounded more ethical and like a worthy cause to support. When describing his cover organization, the International Association of the Congo, Leopold said it “was a sort of ‘society of the Red Cross; it had been formed with the noble aim of rendering lasting and disinterested services to the cause of progress.’ When talking to the more military-minded Germans, Leopold nimbly changed the scenery and likened his men in the Congo to the knights of the Crusades. Almost everyone was fooled.” Leopold did not even keep the same motives; he customized them to whoever was listening in order to receive applause, money, and encouragement for colonizing the

Most can agree that the reigning of King Leopold II over congo was a very brutal period in history. From genocides to the cutting of limbs, it truly did not leave a good impression. Over the course of time, many have been so interested in this event that they have written essays, drawn illustrations, and even produced documentaries about this time in history. Two people of this group are Baffour Ankomah, writer of the essay Butcher of Congo, and Linley Sambourne, illustrator of In the Rubber Coils. In Ankomah’s essay, he thoroughly discusses several points that relate to King Leopold, and how vicious he was to the Africans of Congo. Meanwhile in Sambourne’s illustration, she focuses on the vicious, snapping ‘snake’, King Leopold, and how vicious

The story unfolds around the turn of the twentieth century when European powers began to explore and colonize Sub-Saharan Africa. Belgian king Leopold II laid individual claim to the enormous chunk of land surrounding the Congo River and proceeded to strip the land of its resources, including, but not limited to, rubber, ivory, and people using a deadly system of forced labor. Under the ironic and spurious guise of humanitarianism, Leopold built himself an empire in central Africa, lining his pockets and satisfying his egotism, becoming the largest individual landowner in the world, while the brutality of his reign slashed the Congolese population by 10 million people, or approximately in half (Hochschild, 233). The narrative is uplifting at points as it also tells the story of the courageous few Africans, Europeans, and Americans that stood up to Leopold in what, in hindsight, was the first major humanitarian effort of the twentieth century (Straus).

Between 1885 and 1908, Belgium’s Leopold II ruled Congo, a region in central Africa, as his personal colony, exploiting the resources and inhabitants for his own gain. Leopold allowed and encouraged Europeans and other Westerners to enter Congo and set up companies whose primary purpose was to gather rubber, which was abundant but difficult to get to in the Congo, using the Congolese as the laborers for the Europeans. Rubber gathering in Congo brutally exploited the inhabitants of the Congo, while at the same time robbed Congo of wealth, as the rubber was “sold” to the Europeans at prices far below what the rubber was actually worth. Only when others, specifically the British and the Americans, revealed the horrible conditions of the

This is a tale of horror and tragedy in the Congo, beginning with the brutal and exploitative regime of King Leopold II of Belgium, and culminating with the downfall of one of Africa’s most influential figures, Patrice Lumumba. The Congo is but one example of the greater phenomenon of European occupation of Africa. The legacy of this period gives rise to persistent problems in the Congo and throughout Africa. Understanding the roots and causes of this event, as focused through the lense of the Congo, is the subject of this paper.