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Congo Imperialism Research Paper

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“Imperialism was the policy of extending a country’s power and influence through diplomacy or military force,” (Dictionary) The Congo’s government, before imperialism, was made up of one controlling force, the King. The King’s religion was to pay tribute to the ancestors and dead family members, he brought this religion among his country. The Congo land before colonization was unharmed and stood as an individual. It was a jungle landscape and was home to the Luba empire, Lunda empire, and the Kongo empire. The Luba empire was the largest empire and dominated most of the Congo’s land throughout the 16th century. Although the Congo was one of the very last colonies to be taken over, due to its dense jungles and unknown species living in them scaring away the European …show more content…

King Leopold 11 wanted to colonize his own colony in Africa. Eventually, in the late 1880’s, all of the forests were cleared and many families/ empires were harmed, causing the empire to fall due to the Belgium colonizers. When the Congo was colonized and became a part of the Belgium Empire, it suffered greatly. King Leopold personally owned the colony of the Congo, claiming the land of the Congo for himself, with no ownership granted to Belgium. He then ran it as
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if it were a business investment, disguised as a “non-profit charity foundation.” Due to King Leopold’s “charity foundation,” the population of the Congo dropped from 20-30 million people to about 5 million people. He used all of the resources from his new colony to benefit himself and he gave no support to his own country. The process of colonization in the Congo did

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