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The Congo And King Leopold

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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.
In the first reading, The Congo and King Leopold, the group of people that lived in the Congo were known as the Congolese and were later well known in this reading. King Leopold did not feel happy with just owning Belgium so he went off to the Congo. Meanwhile, Casement’s report caused debates and in the reading it states, “Millions of Africans were being killed or dismembered while harvesting rubber from the forest of Central Africa . . . for cheap rubber and to satisfy King Leopold’s quest for wealth.” The causes and effects were seriously deadly because Leopold enslaved Africans that he owned when he took over Africa. Having said that, once the Industrial Revolution gained more momentum Europeans wanted to find land and build their new and safer lives in Africa. The author states “.. people there realized that if they wanted to surpass neighboring countries economically, they would need access to more raw materials to fuel their factories and more people to purchase the products those factories made.” Europeans that didn’t want to stay came over to Africa and took their land. They

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