Congo’s Era of Damnation

During the late 19th to early 20th century, King Leopold II impacted the African Continent and the larger International community more than any other European monarch. Firstly, King Leopold II sinisterly orchestrated a colonization operation that is comparative to a genocidal regime. Secondly, King Leopold II’s actions in the Congo led unified condemnation across oceans from a broad range of socioeconomic statues. Lastly, the opposition forces against King Leopold II’s colonization of Congo helped pave the way for future justice on the continent as well as internationally. Ultimately, this Europe created the competitive environment that promoted King Leopold II’s quest for colonization.

Livingstone, I presume?”. This was the formal yet informal meeting of the two. Livingstone ended up passing away shortly in 1873. Stanley was very interested in Livingstone’s explorations and wanted to continue his legacy (David Livingstone. Web). Stanley went on to continue to explore the Congo, as he was very intrigued by the resources it had to offer. He found that there was an abundance of ivory, iron, and especially rubber. He wrote about his findings and published them all throughout Europe. Stanley anticipated to develop the Congo region, but found failure in gaining the support he needed from the British. He went on to ask the Belgian king at the time - King Léopold II. Léopold was on board with Stanley’s demands and was thrilled to tap into the Congo’s wealth (Henry Stanley. Web). This marks the start of the idea to have imperialised the Congo.

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

The rule of King Leopold II instilled disturbing methods of ruling. He enslaved the people of The democratic republic of Congo (Congolese) to gather him resources that would only benefit him. He was willing to do whatever it took to gain resources, even if it meant enslaving the people. “ King Leopold II nearly enslaved many of the Congolese people in order to gain wealth, and to bring power” (Citation) imperialism had a negative impact on the country, it had a long lasting impacts on the country because he depleted them of their resources which means they don't have much to export as a country now. King Leopold II used the people as slaves to gather their resources due to the danger of the work, which resulted in many casualties and injuries. He wanted to rule the country as he wanted rather than what was right for the people. He lied to the Belgian government in order to gain power of the country, by saying that his

Soon, with the invention of the tire, rubber became a hot commodity. Fortunately for King Leopold, the Congo Free State had an abundance of rubber as well, and thus Leopold even further invested in Africa, creating roads and railways to transport goods past the treacherous African landscape (CITATION).

The book, King Leopold’s Ghost covers information from the 1840s (Hochschild 21) to now about the Congo past and present, but King Leopold’s reign of terror was from 1885-1906 (History of the Belgian Congo). The phrase ‘reign of terror’ is not an exaggeration, for King Leopold’s ownership of the Congo was very horrific. It all started when Henry Morton Stanley went in search of

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]

Leopold never actually stepped foot in Congo, he had used explorers such as Stanley Mortan and other white men to establish the colony for him. To sneakily undergo his objectives without other countries noticing, he created organizations in which he could operate under. For instance, the International African Association to stop the outspread of slavery. Leopold additionally hosted conference meetings to speak on human rights. “If he was to seize anything in Africa, he could do so only if he convinced everyone that his interest was purely altruistic”. (46) King Leopold succeeded at convincing every one of his goodwill, that he was supported financially from the Belgian government in introducing free trade and religion in the Congo.

Between the 1880s and 1908, King Leopold II controlled the Congo Free State, using it mainly as a corporate venture rather than a colonial one. However, in 1908, a global outcry condemned his reign after reports erupted of widespread torture and death taking place in the territory’s rubber plantations by his agents. It was reported that those atrocities left millions of the Congolese dead or injured, and so, in 1908, Belgium annexed the territory into its own jurisdiction, creating the colony of the Belgian Congo. The colony hosted hundreds of Christian missionaries in hopes to westernize the Congolese. Nevertheless, the scars from Leopold’s control were far from erased, both physically and mentally, and in the late 1950s, the independence

Since Belgium was not in direct control of the Congo colony, Leopold could and did act as he pleased in the region. However, Leopold soon ran out of money and borrowed heavily to cement his control over the Congo. Luckily, Rubber became a highly demanded resource, and the Congo had abundant rubber, which made the state economically viable. Unfortunately, due to the lack of colonists, Leopold ended up forcing Congolese to work to gather the rubber. International powers, specifically the U.S. and Britain, sent expeditions to the Congo to observe and report on the conditions there, as rumors abounded that Leopold was using particularly brutal methods, such as requiring soldiers to present severed hands to display an effective use of weaponry , to enforce rubber collection. Foreign visitors and inspectors, such as E.D. Morel, who determined that Congo was “being ‘systematically robbed’,” Roger Casement, whose trip to the interior of the Congo stopped early due to “‘touching only the outermost fringe of horrible reality’ [and being] physically exhausted and emotionally distraught” and Edgar Canisus, whose descriptions of the Rubber Collecting methods of the Congo detailed the harshness of the regime. The work of these men caused both Britain and the United States to force Belgium to

King Leopold II ruled the Congo from 1885 to 1908. “He ruled the Congo less as a colony but more as his own personal priority. He treated the native Congolese nearly as slaves and used the wealth of the Congo to grow his own personal wealth.” (http://drcimperialism.weebly.com/life-under-imperialist-power.html). Under his rule the people of the Congo were treated horribly. The Congolese experienced a humanitarian disaster consisting of enslavement, exploitation, and even extermination. Moreover, by the end of this era it was estimated that the population was cut in half. “Eventually international outrage forced Leopold to turn over his personal colony to the Belgian government.” (Esler 572) Nonetheless, during the years of Leopold’s rule imperialism thrived.

King Leopold is fully responsible for the effects of the Congo Free State because of what he did to colonize it. First, he privately established a colony in the region through his private holding company, the Association Internationale Africaine, and through his famous explorer Henry Morton Stanley. From then on, he slowly gained full control of the area by making advantageous deals with local chiefs. In a

The uncivilized people of the Congo were the perfect solution for his labor needs so that he could build his own fortune in the rubber industry. He, additionally, condoned his actions as a necessity for saving the Africans from their laziness and inactivity (p. 188). Finally, the king considered his actions a good deed because he was able to halt the current slave trade. However, in actuality, King Leopold had created his own large labor camp, if not, a death

King Leopold exploited the Congo for everything it had. One thing Leopold II did was allow violence to take place. Richard Burton said that King Leopold’s soldiers, which included Belgian soldiers and the force Publique who were African, “Shot the Africans as if they were monkeys.” This is part of ideological imperialism as the Europeans felt that Africans were savages and they were superior to them. They also mutilated, whipped, killed, and raped Africans if they misbehaved, rebelled, didn’t meet their daily quotas of ivory and rubber, or was too sick or weak to work. Europeans would also do these things sometimes for no reason at all in the middle of the village to set an example. About half of the Congolese died and even more of them had scars or were missing limbs. Villages were also

However, to claim the Congo under his personal control, Leopold needed the formal recognition in the international system. In 1883, Leopold enlisted former US ambassador to Belgium Henry Shelton Sanford to help himself obtain the recognition from America. Sanford reported to the US government that the US will receive benefits from the free trade with the Congo. He further indicated free slaves in America could also be sent to the Congo. With the prospects for America’s own interests, eventually the resolution on the recognition of Leopold’s claim to the Congo passed in America. In 1884, the Congo question was discussed during the Berlin Conference, where Leopold reinforced his philanthropic claim to major countries of Europe. Leopold portrayed the colonialism in the Congo was a humanitarian work that would enlighten the ethnical groups and the society in the Congo. Since the idea of paternalism, in which Aricans were considered children or savages and had no capacity to make decisions, was common in Europe in the 1880s, Leopold’s imperialist stratedy was not only widely accepted but also morally justified at the conference (Paris, 2002; Hochschild, 1998). Leopold also maintained to build economic infrastructure such as railways and telecommunications system and open a free trade zone in the Congo. To expand