A Trip To The Congo Analysis

Over a period from 1960-1965, the first Republic of the Congo experienced a period of serious crisis. There was a terrible war for power that displayed senseless violence and the desperation to rule. There were many internal conflicts among the people. The country eventually gained independence from Belgium. For many countries this would be a time for celebration. Unfortunately for the people of the Congo this became a time to forget. Almost immediately after independence and the general elections, the country went into civil war. Major developed cities like Katanga and Kasai wanted to be independent from the Lumumba government. Different factions started to fight the government and Katanga and Kasai tried to secede from the rest

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

Morel was one of the bigger people that helped end King Leopold's reign over the Congo. He was employed by Elder Dumpster to supervise the arrival and departure of ships coming to or from the Congo. Just like Sheppard and Williams he saw the atrocities that Leopold was doing to the territory. He did dabble with freelance writing which he then used to write about what he saw. Elder Dempster did try keep him quiet, but Morel decided to devote his life to exposing Leopold’s plans.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the largest African countries located in central Africa. Congo is a country that has grown out of a history of Belgian colonisation. Congo also has a long history of an unstable government with a lot of problems with internal corruption. Being a land rich on natural resources with a poor government, Congo has been the perfect target for foreign exploitation of the lands resources. There is a high demand for cobalt from first world countries and the demand keeps rising every year. The current battery technology enables big technology companies to sell small handheld technological devices. Congo is one of the worlds leading supplier of cobalt. Almost half of the worlds cobalt was mined there. This cobalt can be found in any rechargeable battery such as the battery of a laptop or a smartphone. A cobalt rich battery has enabled us to have phones small enough to can fit in our pockets. These litihium-ion batteries can contain up to 10 grams of refined cobalt. Refined cobalt is the most expensive element in these batteries. Today, several Chinese companies are buying cheap cobalt from Congolese miners who working under dangerous conditions. The Congolese people are poor and desperate enough to do the hard and dangerous work. Families are forced involve their children in the mining work to be able to survive. The work pays less than minimum wage. The foreign mining business in Congo has caused Congolese people to sacrifice their

Although Peter Gourevitch talks thoroughly about the protection of the Tutsi’s from the Rwandan genocide in his novel “We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families” the hindrance of the eradication remains unclear from a reader’s discretion. The topics of discussion in Gourevitch’s book are solely focused on the idea of horror and casualties in consequence of the genocide. Although it is extremely important to reflect upon, in perspective, a reader is also curious about how the genocide could have been prevented. The logic of genocide is described as, “the product of order, authoritarianism, decades of modern’ political theorizing” (Gourevitch 1998: 95). In light of this notion, it is practical to wonder if every effort was made to prevent the possible reoccurrences made in the Rwandan blood-bath and what was necessary for prevention despite the reaching arms of help provided from United forces.

When a strong nation seeks to dominate other countries politically, economically, or socially, they are practicing imperialism. It’s a simple way to outsource manufacturing, get cheap labor, and have access to raw materials. Imperialism is perfect solution to those with power, yet it comes at the expense of the ‘lower’ countries bolstering their success. I believe colonized countries should receive reparations from their imperialist powers because most countries that were colonized suffered severe brutalization, were used to the advantage of others, and left without means to support themselves.

The Republic of Congo was colonized by the Belgians under the ruling of King Leopold II. He exploited the natural resources and the natives for his selfish reasons. Nearly half its population were worked to death, whipped, dismembered, executed outright or sent running into the bush to die of starvation and disease in a pitiless quest for first ivory and then rubber. Whereas, India was subjugated to Great Britain. Great Britain was able to exploit India’s natural resources because of the control they had over the country. They made the raw materials like cotton and tea be sold and exported for a cheap price while they make money off of other countries through tariffs. When these two western countries left their colonies their cultures, infrastructure,

The story in this book was about a family named Price going for a mission trip to the Belgian Congo, Africa. It was supposed to be only for a couple months, but at the end they stayed more than they foreseen. The author lets us see the insight of the events as they go through them from 4 out of 5 of the members of the family; Rachel, Adah, Leah, Ruth May, and Orleanna (being the mother). The only one who the author does not let us see is from the father’s point of view. At the beginning the mother is worried about the health issues they might have to go through while staying in the village called Kilanga. While the daughters are more preoccupied in how they are fitting in with the rest of the kids, and being tired of taking so many pills for

Throughout King Leopold’s 44 year reign of the Congo, he managed to diminish his population in half, causing 8 to 10 million Africans to lose their lives. (USSLave) Some were worked to death, some lost their lives during transportation because of malnutrition, but many other’s died due to diseases that were brought over by the Europeans. The main theme that reappeared throughout Hochschild’s novel was Leopold’s goal of colonialism and how he was going to use his African people to accomplish it. This is seen when Leopold analyzes Livingstone, Stanley, and other explorers. Hochschild states, “As king of a small country with no public interest in colonies, he recognized

William Sheppard was a black man who called out Leopold's injustice in the Congo. Interestingly enough, he was supported by white supremacists who help in the idea of getting African Americans back to Africa. He was one of the first missionary black american missionary in the Congo. He worked there for about 20 years writing articles, speeches, and a book. He worked with the Kuba people who were artists. But unfortunately, the was ransacked when King Leopold discovered the profits he could make with rubber. Leopold used forced labor and made villages meet a certain quota before letting go of hostages/food. It was pretty terrible. William Shepard came to investigate to what had happened and found destroyed villages and corpses. He then went

Most of the time, when you think of kids, you think of miniature people with no cares in the world. You think of innocent children who haven’t experienced the adversity of life. However, in Angola, that is almost never true.

The king Leopold’s ghost “Great Congo scandal” was a hit topic starting from the 19th century even till today. The King Leopold’s Ghost book consist of a wide range of topic, starting with the effort made by King Leopold II to make Congo get colonies, People who resisted the colonization of Congo, New Imperialism. The administration of King Leopold II portrayed humanitarianism and also a philanthropist to the public by gathering explorers, geographer and anti-slavery reformers to make the International African Association, but he manipulated the government and the people from other colonies by using slave trade, suffering, and Genocide and also to extract rubber and ivory form what was known as the “Congo Free State” according to Craig page 867.

Contrary to common knowledge, slavery still exists in many countries and is a widely accepted practice. If many people in first world countries knew about the savagery these people are subjected to, they would be horrified- but many don’t. This situation is very similar to that of the Congo ‘scandal’ that took place in the late 1800’s. Few people knew that this seemingly innocent exploration of the Congo was killing millions of people, and somehow, few people even recognize it now. Leopold and the other associated Europeans involved in the procuration of the Congo were able to do so because of their manipulation of the media and the powerful people of the time, the materialistic nature of Europeans and the extents

During the 1900s, there were two mass killings that occurred: one in Nazi Germany and the other in the Congo Free State. Although these mass killings developed due to different motives, the two lead to a significant amount of deaths and mutilations. The mass killings in Nazi Germany are now known as the Holocaust, which took place from 1933 to 1945. The perpetuators of these killings were the Nazis, who were supporters of the beliefs of the Nazi Party in Germany, while the victims were mainly Jewish people and non-Aryans, which were seen as inferior races. On the other hand, the Force Publique, an army made of Europeans and local men under King Leopold, committed the killings and other acts of violence against the indigenous tribes and natives

“Ghana’s history is a metaphor for what occurred in the immediate aftermath of independence in Africa,” is a quote by Kofi Awoonor, Ghana’s leading literary figure and one of Africa’s most acclaimed authors. Three of his poems illustrate the hardships and trials that the Africans faced after their claim of independence from Britain. As said by Awoonor himself, “...high hopes were crushed by the greed, corruption, and lust for power…”. The author uses multiple literary devices as a way to emphasize the adversities they faced. Kofi Awoonor symbolizes the downfall of Ghana after independence through the use of theme, mood, and symbolism in his Three Poems.