European Fascination With The Acquisition And Exploitation

Colonizers brought communication and money to Africa which helped modernize it, the Congo itself was created through European power (Goldman 2-8-16). Soon, Europeans wanted to colonize Africa so they could furnish the raw materials for the Industrial Revolution. oil, ivory, were the main sources of wealth for the colonizers. In the eyes of the Europeans it was their right to take the land from the natives for their resource cultivation, and the Africans were unaware that they were giving away their land and losing control (Goldman 1-27-16). After the colonizers acquired land and continued cultivating it, a new natural resource in the Congo was discovered, rubber. Rubber had many important uses such as tires, hoses, tubes, valves and many other products. Rubber is a sap, and the French word for it means, “the wood that weeps” (Hochschild 160). Rubber became Leopold’s main revenue source. “He kept the Congo’s growing profitability a secret as long as possible”, and he managed to pay back as little of his debts as he possibly could as to kept the fortune to himself (Hochschild 168). He enjoyed spending the profits on public works projects in Belgium, himself, and his mistresses (Hochschild 168). Leopold presided over the wild rubber boom for twenty years, he had an indefensible ownership in the Congo. With this, he broke his pledge to the world that he was opening the Congo to free

King Leopold II soon created the International Association of the Congo, which was nothing more than another cover up for the king's sole mission. Leopold managed to get a piece he authored published that stated that the International African Association "was sort of a ‘Society of the Red Cross; it has been formed with the noble aim of rendering lasting and disinterested services to the cause of progress' (66)". The king managed to fool almost everyone and receive some donations for his "humanitarian" endeavors.

Leopold’s country was not interested in acquiring a colony, and so he realized that “a colonial push of its own would require a strong humanitarian veneer. Curbing the slave trade, moral uplift, and the advancement of science were the aims he would talk about, not profits.”Even from the beginning, Leopold knew that stating his true motives, one of them being to increase his wealth, would not convince the Belgians to be on his side and assist him in the colonization of the Congo. He planned to lie to them, telling them motives that sounded more ethical and like a worthy cause to support. When describing his cover organization, the International Association of the Congo, Leopold said it “was a sort of ‘society of the Red Cross; it had been formed with the noble aim of rendering lasting and disinterested services to the cause of progress.’ When talking to the more military-minded Germans, Leopold nimbly changed the scenery and likened his men in the Congo to the knights of the Crusades. Almost everyone was fooled.” Leopold did not even keep the same motives; he customized them to whoever was listening in order to receive applause, money, and encouragement for colonizing the

Because hardly anyone would dare to explore the somewhat mythical land previous to the ‘Scramble for Africa’, no one knew what to expect of the people there. In 1350, a monk declared “that Africa contained one eyed people who used their feet to cover their heads” (Hochschild 6). In addition to a skewed perception of the mysterious, dark-skinned people, people of power in the Congo did not think very highly of natives. Stanley and many others said that the Africans were “lazy by definition” and that they needed to work (Hochschild 68). Most people took his word for truth. In the United States, people supported the colonization of the Congo, because it resolved the post-Civil War problem in The South. Many Southern officials were convinced that because Africa was the “native home of the negro”, the Congo was the perfect place to send them (Hochschild 79). This belief not only gave Leopold more support, but it widened his reign to the United States. Leopold knew that if people brought to light the atrocities that were occurring, human rights activists- like Morel- would end his ability to control The Congo. Luckily, he had people such as Stanley and the United States Southern officials that did not see the immorality of the injustice that prevailed over the Africans, to support his

While Leopold II, the King of Belgium, desperately wanted an overseas colony, the Belgian people did not share his enthusiasm, which created the feelings of neglect and apathy Belgium had towards Congo. The Congo Free State, established “In the margins of the Berlin Conference” in 1885, allowed Leopold to “gain international recognition of his possession” which he had begun to take control of since the 1870s. However, while Leopold was securing control of the Congo, the Belgian people were not interested in controlling colonies, as they believed that colonies “Would merely soak up resources that would be better used for social purposes at home.” Thus, while the Belgian king administered Congo as a colony, the Belgian people and government did not control Congo. In effect, “Leopold would act in two entirely separate capacities: In Belgium, he would rule as a Constitutional Monarch, while in the Congo, he would rule as an autocrat.” Since Belgium was not in direct control of the Congo colony, Leopold could and did act as he pleased in the region.

The main form of early modern European imperialism was colonization for economic reasons, in which many of the materials and products being exported out of the colonies were cash crops that were highly valuable. The workers and people who were oppressed in these colonies under old imperialism were captured and forced into slavery where many such as Africans were taken away from Africa and into new lands to work (James, 1963, 9). The reason for colonies and imperialism was for economic power to finance the nations through these cash crops, to gain access to new markets and find trade routes in order to have an easier access of luxurious goods.

In the year 1876, King Leopold II of Belgium began to display an interest in the civilization mission in Africa. The documents on European Imperialism provide evidence for how the individuals in the Congo are being exploited for European benefit, under the profit-making aim of King Leopold II. European brutality in the Congo was the logical result of the European desire to implement ‘proper’ civilization in the Congo, albeit through a lack of cultural understanding and compassion towards the people of Congo.

The land Leopold had “was as large as the entire United States east of the Mississippi.” (Hochschild 72). At his point Leopold needed someone to recognize his claim on the Congo as legitimate. In 1883, ex American minister to Belgium and now Belgian kings advocate, Henry Shelton Stanford went to Washington DC to meet with President Chester A. Arthur (Hochschild 76). During this visit Stanford explained “Leopold’s great work of civilization… was much like the generous work the United States itself had done in Liberia.” (Hochschild 77). Stanford alluded that Americans would be able to purchase land and trade with the Congo. In 1884 the Senate recognized Leopold’s claim on the Congo (Hochschild 80). Soon afterwards came the Berlin Conference, which was a way to resolve conflicting claims, yet “not a single African was at the table in Berlin.” (Hochschild 84). The self-proclaimed “Emperor of the Congo” benefited greatly from this Conference, and was seen as a hero (Hochschild 87). Both Stanley and Stanford were in attendance and looked for ways to give their friend an advantage, finally Leopold had the colony he dreamed of (Hochschild 87). Leopold eventually decided he needed to add steamboats and railways to his colony. But he was running out of money to do this, eventually selling bonds and private investors due to no one wanting to lend him money (Hochschild 92). Yet still Leopold wanted more

“Our only program, I am anxious to repeat, is the work of moral and material regeneration, and we must do this among a population whose degeneration in its inherited conditions it is difficult to measure. The many horrors and atrocities which disgrace humanity give way little by little before our intervention” (King Leopold). Truly an articulation from a standout amongst the most merciless individual of the nineteenth century. Leopold was a liar of big proportions. He used brutal methods of collecting the resources that he wanted, which led to the Congo Free State genocide to be one of the most harsh and cruel genocides the world has ever seen.

In order to understand these colonial legacies it is necessary that we go back nearly 150 years to the beginnings of Belgian exploration of what was once the great Kingdom of Kongo. The Scramble for Africa brought with it a large change in how the European continent interacted with the African one. According to A History of Modern Africa by Richard Reid, “ As for explorers, these were increasingly employed-quietly or otherwise- essentially as commercial agents, working for government-chartered companies and pushing into the interior to discover the continent’s economic potential.” One of these such explorers was Henry Morton Stanley who was commissioned by King Leopold of Belgium to explore the Congo basin. Stanley was quick to discover the possible wealth in the polity and report it back to the Belgian King. This led to the development of the Congo Free State. In 1885 at the Berlin “West Africa Conference” an important decision was made According to Reid “Leopold’s authority in the Congo basin was recognized, in return for which European traders were allowed free access to the region; thus the Congo Free State was born, a

Adam Hochschild starts his book off with a criticism on the exploration of Africa by Henry Morton Stanley. He says European explorers killed natives and were dishonest about their findings. King Leopold II is also described in the beginning of the book as an intelligent but mischievous king. His methods of obtaining the Congo region are underhanded, and he is painted as a man who deceives the world in order to amass his personal wealth. He claims Leopold II did this by lobbying governments and fooling nations in order to lay his claim to the region.

Leopold believed oversea colonies were the key to a country’s greatest, so he worked to obtain colonial territory for Belgium. Neither of the Belgian people and government were interested in his “plan”. Soon after he was turned down by the government and people, Leopold began to develop a colony in his private capacity as a typical citizen. After several ineffective schemes in Africa and/or Asia, he organized a private holding company which was called, “Association Internationale Africaine”. It was disguised as an International Scientific and Philanthropic Association in 1876. Leopold hired a famous explorer named Henry Stanley to establish a colony in the Congo region. Stanley gained control of the land from local chiefs through “doth and trinket” treaties. The chiefs assumed they were signing a friendship treaty, instead they were selling their land. Leopold was free to rule the Congo Free State as a personal domain, and soon he was the sole ruler of about thirty million people.

In an attempt to attain colonies for Belgium, Leopold acquired a colony of his own as a private citizen. Leopold was able to establish a private holding company known as the “Association Internationale Africaine”. This company was publically intended to be an international scientific and philanthropic association; however under the guise of this company Leopold hired a Henry Morton Stanley to acquire a colony in the Congo. Stanley was able to gain the land by deceiving the chiefs into signing land deal when they thought they were signing friendship treaties. This colony would be known as the Congo Free State after the Berlin Conference in 1884-1885 when the representatives of 14 European countries as well as the United States recognized Leopold’s claim to most of the land that he had acquired. When everything was said and done the Congo Free State was 905,000 square miles, 76 times larger than Belgium. Leopold had total control over an area 76 times larger than the country he ruled, giving him the ability and the power to do whatever he wished. Though Leopold privately

From about 1885 to 1908, King Leopold II of Belgium controlled the entire Congo territory by himself (what is now considered the Democratic Republic of the Congo). He ironically dubbed his privately owned oasis the Congo Free State. Its sole purpose was to create a profit for Leopold and his European investors. In doing so, he raped the African landscape and its peoples. Using a combination of slavery and forced labor, Leopold extracted his wealth mainly from the harvesting of rubber and ivory. However, this beastly behavior was hidden under the cloak of Leopold’s words that his actions are, “the work of moral and material

The political leaders of the West though, specifically King Leopold II of Belgium, were attentive to the details regarding the natural and human resources this land offered. Because several different European countries all wanted to control much of Africa, European and US leaders met in Berlin, Germany in 1884 to decide the fate of the continent. These leaders were able to transform the rage of Europe into support of