The Rise And Fall Of The Democratic Republic Of Congo

Over a period from 1960-1965, the first Republic of the Congo experienced a period of serious crisis. There was a terrible war for power that displayed senseless violence and the desperation to rule. There were many internal conflicts among the people. The country eventually gained independence from Belgium. For many countries this would be a time for celebration. Unfortunately for the people of the Congo this became a time to forget. Almost immediately after independence and the general elections, the country went into civil war. Major developed cities like Katanga and Kasai wanted to be independent from the Lumumba government. Different factions started to fight the government and Katanga and Kasai tried to secede from the rest

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

The issues that Democratic Republic of the Congo is having today, what has happened since they were colonized during the age of exploration, nothing has really changed to help the people of the Congo’s have better lives. There is less things happening in the Congo, but there is still the fright of getting attacked, people are still labouring all day working for almost nothing and the economy is not making much change from how it started. There has been barely anything done to help heal the Congo, and the scars of colonization’s past remain open, unable to be healed back to good

King Leopold II ruled the Congo from 1885 to 1908. “He ruled the Congo less as a colony but more as his own personal priority. He treated the native Congolese nearly as slaves and used the wealth of the Congo to grow his own personal wealth.” (http://drcimperialism.weebly.com/life-under-imperialist-power.html). Under his rule the people of the Congo were treated horribly. The Congolese experienced a humanitarian disaster consisting of enslavement, exploitation, and even extermination. Moreover, by the end of this era it was estimated that the population was cut in half. “Eventually international outrage forced Leopold to turn over his personal colony to the Belgian government.” (Esler 572) Nonetheless, during the years of Leopold’s rule imperialism thrived.

The legacy of colonization in the African country of Congo has been, to say the least, devastating. Both the people and the economy had been dealt a low blow by King Leopold of Belgium’s invidious, violent regime (1885-1908). Congolese were subject to horrors by Leopold’s soldiers so barbaric that Europeans did not believe the reports of savagery at first. so After that, the Belgian government “reluctantly” took over Congo, finally granting independence to it in the early 1960s. These distressing times caused multiple fractures in the government, social hierarchy, agriculture, and economy. In the short term, women all over Africa, including Congo, lost much of their power - both economic and social. However, a lasting effect of Leopold’s rule

This is a tale of horror and tragedy in the Congo, beginning with the brutal and exploitative regime of King Leopold II of Belgium, and culminating with the downfall of one of Africa’s most influential figures, Patrice Lumumba. The Congo is but one example of the greater phenomenon of European occupation of Africa. The legacy of this period gives rise to persistent problems in the Congo and throughout Africa. Understanding the roots and causes of this event, as focused through the lense of the Congo, is the subject of this paper.

The template for the Congo wars stems from disorderly years of power struggles and international interference that followed the country’s independence from Belgium in 1960. President Mobutu Sese Seko (starting 1971) for nearly three decades ruled with autocratic and corrupt values, which increased the gradual decay of all their state institutions that left communities throughout the country to fend for themselves. Mobutu’s regime after a certain amount of time began to be destabalized and that aided the emergence of a rebellion in eastern Congo in 1995. The group was successful in toppling the Mobutu dictatorship however the alliance fell apart after Kabila and his Ugandan and Rwandan backers turned on each other, which sparked the Second Congo War on August 2, 1998. The Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire (AFDL or ADFLC) was a coalition of Congolese protestors, irritated minority groups and nations that formed an insurgency to overthrow Mobutu Sese Seko in 1996 with the recruitment of tens of thousands child soldiers from local communities in the East A Laurent Kabila came into power in the First Congo War (1996-1997). . A “war of liberation” was inspired in 1996–97 when a regional alliance, spearheaded by Rwanda and Uganda, sent thousands of soldiers to support the AFDL. The campaign falsely geared great hopes of change and renaissance throughout the country and made a triumphal entry in the Congolese capital in May 1997 as Mobutu fled

The Democratic Republic of the Congo, or DROC, is a country rife with civil strife and unrest. The country has been at war since its independence in 1960, due to the abundance of its natural resources. Originally a Belgian colony, the DROC was known as the Independent State of the Congo. From 1879 to 1885, it was owned and run by a development company known as the International Association of the Congo. King Leopold II of Belgium had named himself the prime shareholder of the business, and accumulated a vast personal fortune utilizing Congolese slave labor on rubber plantations and to hunt ivory (Worldmark Encyclopedia of Nations, 2016). The DROC has been home to the “African World War”, and has been a hotbed for blood and violence for as long as it has been around. They have an economy mostly based on mining, which has been

Essentially, “ivory was at this time the main source of wealth in the region, and Leopold’s preoccupation.” However, as the demand for rubber increased, Leopold shifted his focus, and cashed in on the high demand for rubber. Congolese workers were sent out into the jungle to slash down vines and layer their bodies with rubber latex. Later they would scrape it off their skin – often taking flesh and hair with it. The work was labor-intensive and injurious to health; the only economical way to collect it was via the forced mobilization of Congolese society. The Congo Free State evolved from a vanity possession into a slave plantation. Villages were set quotas of rubber, “the normal quota assigned to each village was three to four kilos of dried

The Congo, also known as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is a county in west central part of Africa and close to the equator. The DRC is one of the poorest countries in the world. Besides the 25 miles of Atlantic Ocean coastline, the country is surrounded by land. The country has 4 main climates regions that have averages temperatures from 60 F degrees up to high 80 F degrees, and average rainfall ranges from 30- 70 inches a year. The country topical geography consists of “large river basin, a major valley, high plateaus, three mountain ranges, and a low coastal plain. Most of the country is composed of the central Congo basin, a vast rolling plain with an average elevation of about 1,700 feet (520 meters) above sea level.” The country

Some critics estimate that the territories population was reduced by 10 million people over a period of twenty years. The Congo regime was able to keep information of its crimes from

Mobutu made major changes to the Congo by creating a dictatorship, all of which came about out of fear of another person or foreign government taking his power (Duignan, 138). For example, Mobutu disassembled parliament and created a mass single party (Duignan, 136). At first when Mobutu official came to power in 1965, the Congo’s economy began to do much better. Mobutu had created new policies like the economic stabilization in 1967, reforming the twenty-one provinces back in to nine, and created a national identity around the legacy of Lumumba (Duignan, 136). In 1970, there was a “balanced budget, a negligible external debt, and a strong currency” (Duignan, 141). As well as a ten year plan to create development by using the natural resources

A. Conflict minerals is an on-going war involving four main minerals: tantalum, tungsten, tin, and gold (sourceintelligence.com). However, in this war, the use of these four minerals and human laborers are being devastatingly abused and it is causing an astronomical amount of violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo area. These conflict minerals are used to make our everyday needs and wants such as, “automobiles, sports equipment, consumer electronics, and jewelry” (sourceintelligence.com). Since these minerals are so popular, they are a major source of revenue for the Democratic Republic of Congo (enoughproject.org). Because of the mass chaos going on in the Democratic Republic of Congo, it has caused a huge strain on trading and marketing

A third world country does not necessarily mean a country that is primitive, underdeveloped or poor as many people think. Personally, I interpret the term as the political and economic structure of a country. Because if a country’s governing is poor, nothing works for the citizens. Some countries are listed among the third world countries, yet they are rich. Congo for example, has minerals like gold, (3’Ts) tin, tantalum, tungsten; these are minerals that power our computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices. In my opinion, Congo should not be considered a third world country because it has what other nations use and get rich. Congo’s minerals are doing more harm than good because it keeps bringing conflict that disorganizes the nation. Congo’s mineral wealth should be a source of prosperity and stability of Congolese people not the source of exportation and violence. Congo‘s vast natural resources have been the reason to all of the conflict throughout Congo’s tortured history. Congo’s government structure is so disorganized that the minerals causes’ conflict that ends in violence. As a result, it has become a center of the war and violence. Women became victims of the war by being raped as a weapon to intimidate and gain control of the local population that live near by the mines. I have been to Congo several times, but it’s difficult to get transportation. Instead of using its natural resources to develop by building roads, hospitals, clean drinking water and