King Leopold's Ghost: The Great Congo Scandal

King Leopold’s Ghost tells the narrative of the struggles experienced by those in the Congo following the discovery of rubber and the privatized funds of a King Leopold of Belgium. Recounted by Adam Hochschild, a lecturer at the University of California Berkeley’s School of Journalism, it gives light to the stomach turning truths of imperialism. King Leopold’s Ghost falls to critics in some aspects, as highlighted in a review by Lysle Meyer. Meyer, works for the African Studies and has written a book regarding this specific subject. The novel, which successfully exposes the horror of King Leopold’s rubber empire in Congo, lacks sources as well as contains simplistic prose that can seem dull at times.

The excerpt from King Leopold’s Ghost centers around a journalist, E.D. Morel an investigative journalist that who collected a multitude of stories from individuals that spent time in the Congo. At this time, the general public knew little about the actual practices occurring there because it was never discussed. Upon hearing the stories from missionaries, soldiers, and civilians of the mistreatment of native people in the area as well as the fraud committed by the administration running the area he made the decision to bring this news to the public. One of the most extensive accounts of life in the Congo came from Robert Casement who spent nearly 20 years in the area. The natives were required to collect materials for rubber and would be punished

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

Starting from the European colonization period, Congo has constantly been plagued with foreign interference, namely by external countries and multinational corporations looking to gain wealth. They have demolished the “magnificent African cake” systematically throughout the years, starting primarily from Leopold’s Congo Free state, which he ruled single handedly, to the modern day Democratic Republic of Congo. Leopold began his regime by holding conferences regarding Africa, and formed organizations that he claimed would aid Africa. Not only did Leopold abuse the abundance of natural resources out of greed, he also destroyed the economy, political system, and the people for generations to come. Leopold’s framework of a Congo whose resources and people are exploited for the leaders self-gain would carry on through the years to the modern day.

The destruction of culture and people is not limited to coastal Africa. European powers plunged deep into the heart of the continent with destructive force, exploiting the people and resources which resided there. This aggression was most prominent in King Leopold’s Belgian Congo, the setting for Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. The Belgian Congo was different from other colonies in that it “had nothing to sell. [It] was not interested in turning Africans into consumers but only in using their forced labor” (Hawkins 291). Leopold’s Congo proves itself to be a great offender against the ideal, exemplified in “an inefficiency that was peculiar to King Leopold's Congo. The two best examples are the building of the railway and the inadequacy of

Manipulation seems to be a common characteristic in swaying peoples perception. Journalism has been an instrument used to act on this manipulation since text has been attainable by the masses. Due to the impressive amount of average folk becoming literate in the early nineteenth century, international journalism was an integral part of the Age of Imperialism. Around this time, industrialized countries were on a quest to colonize and influence any state that was seen as worthy. The role of journalism exposed these worthy, unindustrialized countries and manipulated readers into believing they needed to be altered. This deceptive journalism is evident in Adam Hochschild’s King Leopold’s Ghost A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa, and influenced many nineteenth and twentieth century perceptions pertaining to humanitarianism and imperialism. Hochschild’s uses the story of King Leopold II and his colonization of Africa to depict the notion of imperialists genuine intention’s rather than their publicly perceived one’s. Using propaganda, Leopold exploits the many faces of journalism and ultimately perceives his backwards Congo into a colonial, humane, necessity for the world. Even though international journalism eventually led to the down fall of Leopold’s hypocritical jurisdiction, the principal role of journalists relating to the Congo was to report what was beneficial to the writer. This is evident in Leopold’s portrayal of the Congo to the public, and

In Adam Hoschild’s book, King Leopold’s Ghost, readers are told of the brutal and unrelenting spirit of King Leopold II as he colonizes Congo in the effort to build fortune and power in the name of humanit. Hoschild’s goal in the writing of this book is to display the horrors of forced labor during Leopold’s rule over the Congo and to display the negative consequences of imperialism.

The loves of my life, most beautiful people I have come across with and will always truly

Adam Hochschild's King Leopold’s Ghost is a story recalling the effects of European imperialism in Africa. Hochschild writes about the Belgian King Leopold’s exploitation over the Congo. Leopold’s rule over an African territory becomes a devastatingly lucrative monopoly over rubber. Leopold’s brutal tactics and use of forced labor ultimately leads to millions of deaths of the Congolese natives. Hochschild's argument successfully claims that European imperialism in Africa (specifically that of King Leopold) led to devastating effects on the natives and their land.

The United States of America, a country driven by business, money, and technological advancement, has the third highest corporate income tax rate in the world; the highest among the thirty-four industrialized nations of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (Pomerleau, 1). Large corporations that have developed in the United States have recognized this. In 1982, McDermott Inc., with the help of its lawyers, developed a strategy in which they could continue with their business, founded in New Orleans, without having to be punished by the prohibitive tax rates employed by the U.S. government (Mider, 2). Thus, the corporate tax inversion was conceived; an idea that allowed businessmen and women that have used

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

Comparison of Robert Burns ' "A Red, Red Rose" and Christina Rosetti 's "A Birthday"

Leopold was born in Brussels on April 9, 1835. He was the second child of the reigning Belgian monarch, Leopold I, and his second wife, Louise, the daughter of King Louis Philippe of France. When he was 9 years old, Leopold received the title of Duke of Brabant. Leopold's public career began in 1855, when he became a member of the Belgian Senate.

Africa was a very large continent back then and everyone was spread apart. Also, everyone worked for their selves and didn’t have to be told what to do. No one was expecting hardships or forced labor until the British and many other countries came into play. The British were not happy until they found the “Free State” of the Congo. They were led to investigate by a man named Roger Casement.