Sir Richard F. Burton's Trip To Congo

Imperialism has been a strong and long lasting force, oppressing societies for generations on end. The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver, demonstrates how the Congo is continuously affected by this concept and ideology. Throughout this story, Kingsolver manipulates each family member and individual within the book, to better show Western and European ideas and attitudes, to convey the large amount of hypocrisy, in foreigner’s actions.

As the story unfolds the reader learn that American and Congolese culture have different perception on ideas like getting water, the amount wives a husband can have, voting and having flesh-eating ants in their

“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).

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.

Unlike the slave traders who came before him, King Leopold managed to take possession of and exploit the indigenous people of Congo, their land, and their resources on an unprecedented scale. He obtained a network of valuable raw materials and millions free laborers to extract them. At the hands of King Leopold II’s workers, the people of Congo suffered horrific travesties. Not only did they suffer the loss of their land, the people of Congo were the victims of a hostile militant take over, who’s main purpose was to become a profitable service to the King’s ever-growing greed. His beloved pet project would later prove to be an efficient murder machine. In order to gather resources and labor for the King’s projects, workers acted mercilessly. They swindled land from local Congo tribes, held women hostage, and forced children into work.(109)(111)”(119). George Washington Williams best penned King Leopold II’s cruelty in his detailed documentation. His account contrasted the lies that King Leopold fed the public while simultaneously addressing the barbaric methods employed such as chain gangs, capturing women, forced laborers, and shooting for sport. (Pages 110-111) The result of this barbaric approach to harvest raw materials was the loss of people estimating to be half of the total population of Congo(page 233 )

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 vibrant ways of life of man Africans was turned into weeks of excruciating labor, the elaborate societal and structures in place were disrupted, mental development was crushed, and Congolese were massacred (Morel). In the words of journalist Edward Morel, “to kill the soul in a people–this is a crime which transcends physical murder” (Morel). Morel wrote about the atrocities he witnessed to raise awareness, as many people were ignorant to them. Some Europeans were actively ignoring the truth, whereas others were ignorant solely because they were being left in the dark as to what was truly going on. Regardless, the ignorance surrounding Belgian Congo allowed the atrocities committed there to continuously occur. Another way in which ignorance enabled the crimes committed under imperial rule in Africa is the soldiers did not truly comprehend the deplorable conditions to which they were subjecting the Africans. The Congolese people were forced to endure starvation, disease, exposure to the elements and to vicious animals, and death. According to one refugee who survived the barbarity of working in the rubber-producing regions of Belgian Congo, “the white men and soldiers said: ‘Go! You are only beasts yourselves’” (refugee interview). Evidently, the soldiers actively ignored the Congolese people. Not only were the soldiers ignorant to how

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.

In Adam Hoschild’s book, King Leopold’s Ghost, readers are told of the brutal and unrelenting spirit of King Leopold II as he colonizes Congo in the effort to build fortune and power in the name of humanit. Hoschild’s goal in the writing of this book is to display the horrors of forced labor during Leopold’s rule over the Congo and to display the negative consequences of imperialism.

The conquering of a place and its people does not just affect the land and its resources; it also affects those inhabiting it. Marlow describes the Congolese’s spirituality being oppressed, “The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking is away from those who have a different complexion of slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much.” (Conrad, 69). Marlow discusses his aunt’s thoughts on the process, “She talked about weaning those ignorant millions from their horrid ways.” He watches the Europeans using their own laws to control and oppress the people of the Congo, for example, he sees an ugly chain-gang at the first station, which does not seem as though they are criminals. Nevertheless, the European law had decided for the natives, Marlow describes, “like shells from the man-of-war, like an insoluble mystery from the sea. (Conrad, 12). The Congolese appointed to work on his ship, he describes as, still belonging, “to the beginnings of time,” but “as long as there was a piece of paper written over in accordance with some farcical law or other made down the river, it didn’t enter anybody’s head to trouble how they would live. (Conrad, 33-34). Skulls of then men judged by the European law were set on stakes around Kurtz’s

Dominant media produces films using generalized, and distorted images of Africa to create the idea of a dark continent in need colonial help, due to native civilization’s inability to live in a functional society. Mountains of the Moon, follows Richard Burton and John Speke, two explorers in search of the Nile. Set in pre-colonial times, this movie constructs images of Africa, perpetuating African’s inability to live in developed societies, and shows their natural inclination to appease British explorers. The Kitchen Toto, tells the story of Mwangi, who becomes a British officer’s kitchen Toto after his father is killed for opposing the clandestine independence movement. This movie shapes inaccurate images of African independence movements, showing those who are not under colonial rule as threatening, malicious, problematic, and incompetent of leadership. A Good Man in Africa tells the story of a British Diplomat, Morgan Leafy, who lives in Kinjanja, a nation recently freed from British rule. This film portrays Africa’s dependence on neocolonial rule through the Kinjanja’s fait, which rests in the hands of Dr Alex Murray, the man who is in the way of Adekunle’s exploitive building project. These three films represent ho western cultures imagination has evoked stock narratives, creating artificial Africas, in dominant media and films, leading to falsified images expanding from pre-colonialism to twentieth century neocolonialism.

Several times throughout the story, the reader will see that the native people of the Congo are referred to as savages. However, the actions of the travellers coming into the country greatly contrast that statement. These outsiders that are from foreign lands come to the country with every intention of taking what they desire with no consequences. Their main goal is to strip the land of its natural resources and seize them as if the resources are there for the taking. Not only do they steal the resources away from the natives, but they also force them to extract the materials as well.

In Chinua Achebe’s essay, “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad 's Heart of Darkness,” Achebe purports that Joseph Conrad’s short story, Heart of Darkness, should not be taught due to it’s racist caricature of Africa and African culture. In Conrad’s book, Marlow, a sea captain, is tasked with venturing into the center of the Congo, otherwise known as the Heart of Darkness, to retrieve a mentally unstable ivory trader named Kurtz. Marlow narrates his adventures with a tinge of apathy for the enslaved Congolese who are repressed beneath the foot of the colonizing Belgians. In Heart of Darkness, the Africans are reduced to “savages” and cannibals with little or no moral values. It is Achebe’s argument that due to these characterizations, it is an abomination that Heart of Darkness be continued to be taught. Despite Achebe’s vehement opposition to the teaching of Conrad’s novel, academics should not only continue to teach Heart of Darkness in a lyrical sense, but also a historical one.

This chapter in Africans and Their History by Joseph Harris presents some of the roots of the stereotypes and myths about Africa in the past and for the most part are still held today. Harris discusses how the “greats” of history, geography, and literature starting a path of devaluation of Africans that writers after their time followed. Harris also denounced the language that these “greats” used to describe and talk about Africans. He asserts that this language inherently painted Africans as inferior and subhuman.

Focusing on the people involved in a time, place, and series of events makes history. Biographies and historical fiction may popularize these entities/figures with descriptions of people who lived in the past or events that happened in the past. Such Historical figures and events include King Leopold II of Belgium and The Scramble of Africa in the late 19th century. Among other things, King Leopold II of Belgium (1835-1909), is known for the exploitation of Congo and the mass murder of its citizens as told in King Leopold?s Ghost by Adam Hochschild. King Leopold II of Belgium, created and ironically erased history by ultimately slashing the area's population by ten million during his reign in the Congo, and still managed to shrewdly foster a reputation as a great humanitarian. In telling this story, Hochschild gave detailed descriptions, especially of the individuals involved, both good and bad. Set in the palaces and boardrooms of Europe and in the villages of central Africa, it tells the story of the tragedy that took place during Leopold's so called rule. This ?horror? story gives and reveals the utter most secrets of the respected King Leopold. Prior to his colonization, In the mid-1870s, the King hired then world renowned explorer Henry Morton Stanley, who was familiar with many parts of Africa, to help him go about conquering. During the following years Stanley stayed throughout in central Africa, talking various tribes into signing over their