Leopold II European Imperialism

Admitted in the Memoir of Ndansi Kumalo, “Well, the white men have brought us some good things. For a start, they brought us European implements - plows; we can buy European clothes, which are an advance. The government has arranged for education and through that, when our children grow up, they may rise in status.” The Europeans admittedly brought many great things to the Natives of the countries they conquered; better technology, education, and overall help were given to the natives. In the beginning, Europeans tried as much as they could to prop up the natives to a better, civilised stature. However, as their power and grasp on the region increased, as did their greed. According to Richard Harding Davis in Leopold, The Janitor from the Congo and the Coasts of Africa, “The Charges brought against Leopold II, as King of the Congo, are three: (1) That he has made slaves of the twenty million blacks he promised to protect. (2) That, in spite of his promise to keep the Congo open to trade, he has closed it to all nations. (3) That the revenues of the country and all of its trade has retained to himself.” Such imperialism allowed far away kings to exploit their populaces of Native Africans as if they were just toys to the crown. Leaders would force their powerless and technologically underdeveloped subjects into fruitless

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.

King Leopold II developed his dream for colonization at an early age. Before he even took the throne he was on the lookout for unconquered land that could later be in his possession. The king wanted to become rich as a result of his new land through the process of trading. Once King Leopold II set his sights on the Congo, he would not give up until the land was his. He connived, manipulated and conned his way into the land. He did not care who got hurt; he just wanted his dream to be fulfilled.

By providing an in-depth analysis of what really occurred with Leopold and his exploitative proprietorship of the Congo “Free” State, Hochschild cogently convinces readers that beneath all of Europe’s coaxing and flattery about their imperialism, there is an underlying nature of terror and an almost inescapable and pervasive essence of death and slavery. Hochschild perfectly depicts the drama arising from the deceitful manipulations, courageous resistances, and uncut greed into an enthralling piece of literature. Not only does Hochschild use the perspectives of Europeans, but he tells the untold truths of the natives in their abysmal states, having to face inevitable horrors and atrocities. The reader experiences the magnitude of effects that resulted in this imperialism, which may still last in modern-day Africa. Hochschild’s persuasion perfectly captures what it is that he wants the readers to take in the most: that Leopold’s imperialism of the Congo did not only affect Europe and himself. Separating from the common curriculum of history class, Hochschild doesn’t want to tell the readers that imperialism led to European nations gaining more markets, population, and raw materials: he wants the reader to understand that this all came at a cost. This imperialism led to the deaths of ten million natives in the Congo alone. This imperialism led to brutal torture of the

Born in Brussels, Belgium in 1835, Leopold II became the second king of Belgium at the age of 30 [Fig1]. Belgium was a young country with an equally small economy and population. Striving to compete the economic success of Britain and Germany, Leopold II would turn his attention towards Africa, with the purpose of establishing Belgium as a world power, during a time of imperial growth, which coincided, with the expiation of Art Nouveau in Europe. To acquire the land, raw materials, and population of twenty million; Leopold II effectively established control of the Congo through economic and political means. Leopold II was one of the first European rulers to attempt to develop this area and would successfully obtain it in 1885, creating the Congo Free State (Frost 2001). Leopold II did many things in order to acquire this colony. For example, he exploited tensions other colonies controlled by Britain and Germany, by hosting the Brussels Conference of 1876, which lead to the creation of the International African Association; established arbitrate

European powers began to take over territories throughout the continent of Africa during the 19th century. Historian Adam Hochschild’s depiction of King Leopold of Belgium was written in 1998 and titled, King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa. Hochschild talked extensively about the greed for money and slavery resulting in the genocide of the Congo and the protests of humanitarians that followed the King’s exploitation of Africans. In his thesis, the author stated that “[t]his is the story of that movement, of the savage crime that was its target, of the long period of exploration and conquest that preceded it, and of the way the world has forgotten one of the great mass killings of recent history.”

King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa by Adam Hochschild explains the lead up to and the establishment of the Congo Free State under Belgium. Hochschild does so through many accounts of the life going on inside the Congo during the exploration of the Africa and the beginning of an established government in the Congo. The death toll during Leopold’s reign could have reached over 10 million before the Belgium government would take the Congo away from the out of control Leopold. This could make the Leopold’s Congo one of the worst genocides in human history. Unfortunately there was no basis for recording the murders by Leopold’s officers, so we will never know the exact figure of the death toll.

Throughout this novel we see Leopold’s secrecy as he convinces hundreds of people of his pure intentions to create an area of free trade and prosperity of the African people. He did this by holding conferences such as the Geographical Conference. There he explained his fictitious aspiration for the abolishment of the slave trade and for peace in Africa. This colonial

King Leopold’s actions were appalling, even to his own people and as a result he was removed from the throne and the land was annexed by Belgium. Another result was several countries taking notice of Leo’s exploits, and the “Scramble for Africa” Began.

During King Leopold’s time he was scrambling for a way to create wealth, but could not dabble in the trade of Africans because of new abolition laws, then he got lucky. In the Berlin Conference held by Otto Von Bismarck, Africa was divided like a cake; pieces were given to European countries. While they had decided that they were “respecting” human rights, it was also believed that Africans needed to be governed. Through this Leopold gained the territory of the Congo, marking the beginning of colonialism, an era of unequal wealth and poverty.

In the first part of Hochschild’s book, he describes the actions and desires that led King Leopold to seize the Congo Free State, the rules he broke and how he manipulated the nations with his righteousness of combating slavery- even though figured such as George Williams and ____ began speaking out against him. Hochschild describes King Leopold II as rude, revolting and awkward as he was growing up. His characteristics only began to drift towards persuasive and cunning when he discovered his curiosity in the colonization of new land. Conveniently, many European countries had no interest in colonization. When Leopold gained power, and searched for his lovely colony, their ambivalence resulted in him creating a colony on his own account.

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

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

King Leopold gained so much world support for his Congo Free State project by leading people especially the European community to believe that he was helping to improve the Congo and its people by developing it. The Congo then became aligned with the kingdom of Belgium under him. While the world believed that King Leopold II was doing humanitarian work in the Congo the truth was he was severely mistreating the people by forcing them to extract Ivory, Rubber, and other minerals to sell on a world trade market. On May 29, 1885 King Leopold named his new colony the Congo Free State. Under Leopold’s II administration the Congo Free State became one of the greatest genocides in history that occurred.

The nature of colonial rule in the Congo was that of brute force, greed, and a lust for power. The scramble for Africa was one that was headed by the Europeans with small as well as larger countries owning colonies in Africa. The Europeans saw great opportunities for colonization and with the idea of colonization came power as well as wealth. For King Leopold II of Belgium, running an Empire was everything he had wanted since he was young. Adam Hochschild, the author of “King Leopold’s Ghost,” writes that it may have been Leopold’s lack of parenting that made his lust for power and wealth so drastic.1 With failed attempts to buy the Philippines and other land masses from other European countries, Leopold saw his only hope for his dream of an Empire in Africa. Leopold “had learned from his many attempts to buy a colony that none was for sale; he would have to conquer it.”2 He wanted a colony because he too wanted to gain profit from the natural resources the land would provide as he saw in France’s success with Northern Africa and England’s success with South Africa. Explorers talked of Africa as if it had no inhabitants and was just “waiting to be filled by the cities and railway lines constructed through the magic of European industry.”3 With Henry Stanley’s expedition and research of “empty” Africa, Leopold saw an opportunity to create an Empire. He acted as a philanthropist in public with only a few of his closest people knowing about his true plans to colonize parts of