Economic Factors Of King Leopold's The Scramble For Africa

In order to achieve his dream, King Leopold II wanted to be sure that no other country got in his way. Belgium was a small country and Leopold knew that his country posed no threat to others. If he started to conquer the Congo, other

The ‘scramble for Africa’ was a phenomenon in the world between the years 1880-1914. The ‘dark continent’ was relatively untouched by Europeans up until this point, with few ports of control on the coasts in the west, which were remnants of the slave trade, and in the south, Britain held the Cape, taken from the Dutch during the French Revolutionary Wars. So, during a period of 30 years, it came to pass that almost the whole of Africa was taken by Europeans. (Except Liberia a colony for freed American slaves, and Abyssinia managed to hold out against Italian aggression). It will be my objective in this essay to analyse the economic factors which resulted in the almost complete colonisation and takeover of Africa, and also to determine to

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

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

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).

Notably medicine and education was advanced saving many lives by making healthcare more accessible and educating thousands of children when the Belgians took the control of the Congo, after Leopold’s rule. Many of the ancestors of the health professional and nuns that came to the Congo believe “Belgium did nothing but good in Africa” (Roxburgh). On the contrary, this statement by many, is very false because of the many human rights abuses and squandering of the resources and the destruction of the prior political system in the Congo. It is noted that during reign of King Leopold and the rest of Belgium rule over the Congo, 10 million people died because of supposed disobedience or rebellion . This group that killed the Congolese was called the Force Publique, a group that also “control the slave laborers” (Macmillan). Also the Force Publique, would target anyone of any age and would punish people if they did not produce enough rubber or gold, by burning down village and mutilating peoples bodies. This was done to ensure the production of rubber and maintain control of the Congo to give Belgium more money to use to bring progress in their own nation and build up their

Under the pretext of magnanimity, Leopold II, a Belgium king in search of another empire, initiates his imperial vision into the heart of Africa. However, his egocentric motivations favor his desire for prestige and personal wealth for himself and Belgium. Moreover, he conspires to accomplish his self-centered purposes while creating a façade of advancing benefits for the people of Africa. Despite his self-seeking motives, his European influence didn’t affect just himself but many African lives. The thrust of European imperialism brings Christianity, trade, and industrialization to Africa and drives the formation of the Congo Free State.

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

In a family of six you can be assured that when dessert comes out after a homemade meal that you better be fast so you can get your own share of mamma pecan pie. Even if it is cut into equal pieces there are motivations for wanting more than your fair share. Motivations such as, you missed out on seconds during the main course, you just love her cooking, or you don’t want your siblings to get more than you. These motivations create havoc until mom instructs everyone that, “there will be no fighting over my pie”. It is so interesting that in terms of the fight for a piece of pie, similarities can be drawn to the scramble for Africa. Though there was no one that stood in the place of a mother to tell the European powers that they needed to

This made the amount of rubber the ily-treated workers were gathering insufficient and to be punished. The treatment of workers and of the natives in general was horrifying. The Force Publique “frequently killed people who did not bring in enough rubber” or cut off their hands to send a message to the other workers. Women were even “held hostage until the men brought in enough rubber to satisfy the state… other people were regularly whipped”. To find enough rubber “women had to give up cultivating the fields and gardens” which combined with having no money due to the crazy taxes and depleted economy, caused starvation. I hope the people of Britain realize how terrible the situation is in the ‘Free State’ of Congo and do something about it. I realize the fright in the government about going up against Leopold could cause him to “make deals with the French in retaliation, thereby increasing French power in Africa, and overall. However, France gaining power is much better than the Congolese losing lives and having their chances of being a successful region diminished. The current involvement by the British Parliament is helping to raise awareness but is not creating any immediate change.

The Belgian Congo, as Zaire and now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, were formerly called was the creation of King Leopold of Belgium who desperately wanted a colony. By the late 19th century there was little land left for the taking except in Africa and it had become obvious that taking over independent lands was neither wise nor practical. King Leopold II, King of the Belgians, was a man of enormous appetites both for land and food—he once ate two whole pheasants at a restaurant in Paris, and it was not unusual for him to order several entrees. His colony was 75 times larger than Belgium.

In 1908, Leopold II, King of the Belgians handed over the Free State of Congo, acquired in 1889, to Belgium. In 1960, the Congo became an independent Republic. Fifty-five years after the independence of the Congo, the traces of its colonisation can still be found everywhere in Belgium; from the imposing monuments and buildings scattered around the country built with the money Leopold gained from the extraction of the Congo’s natural resources, to the African artefacts and collection of butterflies found in many ex-colonisers’ houses, to this expression of the common language: “Tout ça ne nous rendra pas le Congo”. Although this Congolese past is clearly ‘physically’ present in Belgium, it is interesting to see how it is remembered and understood

Like all other European countries, King Leopold’s main interest was in the resources the area possessed and the money he could make by harvesting them. He forced native chiefs into labor contracts in which quotas were set for rubber to be harvested and given to the king. In order to enforce the quotas, wives and daughters were taken hostage, staved and raped while men were worked to death thinking they could free their loved ones. Many Congolese fled their homes to escape the horrors of the king, resulting in a devastating amount of deaths due to failed rebellions and an extreme lack of farmers and hunters, making the food sources scarce. It is estimated by demographers that: “ between 1880 and 1920 the population of the Congo may have been slashed by up to 50 percent, from perhaps 20 million people at the beginning of that period to an estimated 10 million at the end” ( “Leopold

The Scramble for Africa was a period of time where major European countries fought over and colonized land in Africa, stretching from South Africa to Egypt. The scramble for Africa began shortly after the slave trade, and ended at WW1, and is a strong representation of the ‘New Imperialism’. The first country to act was Belgium, who colonized Congo at 1885, but soon, other countries such as Portugal and Great Britain joined in in order to not miss out. Firstly, the European could not colonize Africa easily, due to Africa’s giant land mass and the diseases that spread throughout the land. But then, came the Steam train, Maxim guns and new cures for diseases that paved the way for the Europeans to control

Between the years 1884-1912, European powers were in competition to acquire African colonies. This was the emergence of the new age of imperialism and what historians refer to as the scramble for Africa. By the end of the 19th century, all of Africa with the exception of Liberia and Ethiopia was divided amongst European powers. During that time, the Belgium government had no interest in imperializing Africa except for their King, Leopold II. Due to lack of support from the Belgium government, King Leopold independently gained private possession of the Congo. While King Leopold embodied the ideas of imperialism, he did not effectively demonstrate the civilized mission, but instead exploited workers in desperation to acquire imperial power. The atrocities committed under his rule went unacknowledged for decades until the publication of reports exposed the atrocities in the Congo. The widespread exposure King Leopold was a catalyst in his removal.