Geography Of Congo Essay

Over the course of human history, many believe that the “Congo Free State”, which lasted from the 1880s to the early 1900s, was one of the worst colonial states in the age of Imperialism and was one of the worst humanitarian disasters over time. Brutal methods of collecting rubber, which led to the deaths of countless Africans along with Europeans, as well as a lack of concern from the Belgian government aside from the King, combined to create the most potent example of the evils of colonialism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century’s. The Congo colonial experience, first as the Congo Free State then later as Belgian Congo, was harmful to that region of Africa both then and now because of the lack of Belgian and International

At these moments, life in the Congo is a living nightmare. The eastern provinces of the Congo see violence every day. Women are getting raped at alarming rates. Children are constantly abused and forced to become child soldiers. There are no sources of medicine or even clean water. Anyone can get murdered at any time, and no one is even safe in their own homes.

I plan to research how colonialism in the Congo affected post-colonial Congolese politics as well as public perception. I became interested in the topic of how colonization affects modern politics after taking a Global History and Society class my sophomore year which revolved around colonial rule and post-colonial rule. We looked at three cases studies: Senegal, South Africa, and the Congo. I was intrigued by the Congo because it seemed as through come of the grossest atrocities of colonization occurred under King Leopold II’s rule. A we moved on in the semester, we briefly studied the Congo at its independence and the political situation with respect to neocolonialism; however, I wanted to know more. We watched a documentary on Patrice Lumumba, the first Congolese Prime Minister, and saw how Cold War politics and post-colonial political instability led to his assassination. An argument can be made that the Congo would look very different today had Lumumba stayed in power for longer than his two months in office. In this literature review, I want to address what abuses were committed during colonization in order to understand what the colonial legacy was leading into an independent

Gabon has a GDP per capita four times that of most sub-Saharan African countries, but because of high-income inequality. A very large portion of the population is poor. Gabon relied on timber and manganese exports until oil was discovered offshore in the early 1970’s. From 2010 to 2014, oil was approximately 80% of Gabon’s exports, 40% of its GDP, and 60% of its state budget revenues. Gabon faces fluctuating prices for its oil, timber, and manganese exports.

Disease such as malaria are degrading the society and causing a lack of educated youth in the Congo. The children are the future of any society. The main goal of the United States is to have a well educated and effective group of children who will grow up and lead the country to success. The Congo off course would

United States Versus the Congo Do you ever think about how lucky you are? You should. You live in one of many countries that cares for its citizens. Living in America you have opportunities that other countries will never have. For example, there are many third world countries that struggle daily

The economy was projected to grow at 8.5% from 2011 to 2015. However, the economy only grew at a rate of 2.5% (Kreckel). The inability to reach the projected growth contributes to the nation’s poverty. This is because in the colonial era, no money was made or spent by the people, impacting the nation today. Additionally, the Republic of Congo has the lowest household average salary in the world of $270 per month (“DR Congo”). Again, the low salary can be blamed on King Leopold as he took all the wealth for himself and gave none to the people. Although trade was good under Leopold’s rule, as an independent nation it has dramatically decreased. In 2015, the Republic of Congo made $5.2 million in exports (“The World FactBook”). In the time of imperialism, Leopold made $100 million in exports; which in today’s dollars would be equivalent to 2.9 billion dollars (Kreckel). Today, the Republic of Congo’s economy is struggling. 87% of woman are living off of $1.45 a day (“The World Factbook”). From the time of colonialism to now, the daily amount that people can spend has only increased from $.25 to $1.45. Within 109 years, the Congo has still been unable to make a drastic change in their society. Due to King Leopold’s actions, the people had nothing under his control and still have little

Through the conflict in Eastern Congo, I am looking at women and community’s ability to understand what kind of stories western aid workers wanted to hear from female victims in the conflict. This is important to understand how and why women lied about being raped. The driving factor for women to lie was for women and communities to gain access to international aid. By lying women convinced the international community that rape was a significant issue in Congo. Women lying shows that communities and women understood that aid organizations only listened to a single story, rape. To understand how this happened, I will be using qualitative methods because the importance of my project is not who donated aid or numerically the amount given specifically

Climate: Africa contains both the world’s largest desert (the Sahara) and the world 's longest river (the Nile).Temperatures are highest in desert areas, particularly the Sahara. They are cooler across the south and in mountainous areas and plateau highlands. Rainfall varies dramatically across Africa.Changing weather patterns, however patterns of weather are changing, both locally and across the continent. The Sahara is the world 's largest low-latitude hot desert. The area is located in the horse latitudes under the subtropical ridge, a significant belt of semi-permanent subtropical, warm-core high pressure where the air from the upper levels of the troposphere tends to sink towards the ground. This steady descending airflow causes a warming and a drying effect in the upper troposphere. The sinking air prevents evaporating water from rising and, therefore, prevents the adiabatic cooling, which makes cloud formation extremely difficult to nearly impossible.

To no extent does economic globalization provide prosperity to all people of the world. Economic globalization is a force that has thrust those in power into economic expansion and success, while depriving those with a lack of development and power of it. Such is depicted clearly and efficiently in “Congolese Tin: At The Heart For The New Scramble For Africa”, a documentary filmed by Journeyman Pictures on the date of May 29, 2006. Despite the fact that the state withheld an abundant supply of a cassiterite, the workers received little to no pay for their labour, reason being that the state was in a vulnerable position due to the “bloodthirsty [and] devastating war” they had endured. This provided states that were more developed with an opportunity

The capital of Republic of the Congo is Kinshasa. There are major cities like Kisangani, Bukavu, Goma, Likasi, and Uvira. It has land features like the Congo Basin and Cristal Mountains. It has a government of presidential-parliamentary system. The GDP of the country is $800. The people of this country trade copper, coal, silver, and gold. They have natural resources like silver, copper, and gold. They have a tourist attraction named Virunga National Park.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is so volatile that travelers are asked not to venture there, as the "ability to provide consular services" in the wake of an emergency is limited (Travel warning: DRC, 2012, US State Department). The lack of personal safety and security will make employees very unwilling to relocate to the Congo to supervise operations. The DRC is a veritable 'wild, wild West' of lawlessness: the government has a tenuous hold upon power and there is little popular respect for the formal institutions and laws necessary for economic progress. Moreover, "armed groups,

“The Congo” refers to several different areas of Africa, all in the same general area but in different settings. Congo can refer to the political regions of The Democratic Republic of Congo or the Republic of Congo, it’s also possible to refer to the Congo as a geographical location varying as a general location, a rainforest, a river, or a river basin. The Congo River is also known as the Zaire river and the world’s deepest river and due to its depth, it gives the wildlife plenty of places to live but the main use for the Congo River was for hydro power.

The DRC has experienced a long history of political and economic subjugation. The colonial rule under Belgium was marked with extensive violence and extreme exploitation of resources. This created a situation in which few Congolese had higher education or the necessary skills to run a modern government or an effective economy. Furthermore, the Congo’s traditional socioeconomic structures were disrupted long before the end of the colonial era. After the country finally gained independence, the state was unable to maintain political or economic stability.

Abstract D R Congo has been working on budget planning and a flexible monetary policy so as to strengthen the economy’s foundation. Despite being rich in natural resources the country remains one of the poorest in the world. It has been facing a fragile social environment and the economy must work towards contributing to human development.