The Scramble For Africa

The impact of King Leopold II’s reign sent shock waves overseas. Despite his worldwide campaign to paint himself as Congo’s savior, King Leopold

During the European Scramble for Africa, in the early 20th century, Africans had a peaceful reaction with anti-imperialistic sentiments (docs. 2, 3, 4, and 7), peaceful actions through the approach of diplomacy (docs.1, 2, and 3) and also a rebellious anti-imperialistic reaction (docs. 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9) towards the Scramble for Africa.

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.

The European scramble for Africa can be regarded as a major historical event. The scramble for Africa started off with tranquil beginnings and then eventually transformed into violent rebellions, as evident in the documents. There was opposition with instruments of war and peace, diplomatic relations with other countries, and trade relations. These all influenced Europe’s scramble for Africa.

Moral traits are shaped by the culture you’ve grown up in. This can be found true in the novel The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, characters prove in many ways how their culture shows through the approach to the Price family. The Price family moved to the Kilanga to spread the word of Jesus Christ. While on their mission they come to meet a individual by the name of Anatole Ngemba that shows how the Congo does define a person's character but by their actions only.

The second king of Belgians, King Leopold II, were admired throughout European. He was first known for his generous and noble act, sacrificing his time and fortune to benefits the Africans. Of course, Edmund Dene Morel learned the truth behind King Leopold II’s practices of slave labors and eventually brought it to the public eyes. King Leopold II was able to keep the horrific practices of slavery murder, and mutilation of millions in the Congo hidden from the rest of the world for roughly two decades through propagandas. As stated on page 1, “ … the troop, it is said, fought, and defeated local slave-traders who preyed on the population, and for more than a decade European newspaper has praised him for investing his personal fortune in public works to benefit the Africans.” Newspaper bragging about King Leopold II’s selfless service to the Africans was preventing the people from seeing the truth about his true practices.

In the late 19th century the “scramble” or “grab” for Africa was at its pinnacle of the imperialism standpoint. Several European powers were at the starting gate readying for the luxurious riches at the end of the tunnel. These powers’ only mindset was to receive some sort of monetary gain for the advancement of their countries to the continent of Africa. After reading the book The Scramble for Africa by M.E. Chamberlain she makes an inadvertent point of view to the reader about the real savages during this evil imperialistic time period.

They imperialised what was previously recognized as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but after they imperialize it is then known as the Belgian Congo. In the nineteenth century Henry Stanley explored the Congo River and came back telling his stories of the riches in the Congo, only to be ignored by Britain, but Belgium's King Leopold took advantage of this opportunity. “King Leopold presented good motives for doing this: to help the people of the Congo region and do scientific research there. In fact King Leopold’s administrators exploited the people and the environment for rubber and ivory” (Conrad). There was a book written soon after this called Heart of Darkness, focusing on the evil of Africans, creating a hatred of them.

Not only did they take hold of an area larger than many European countries put together, but they did so, arguably, without allowing many of the people involved to be informed of the horrors that they allowed to take place. In many cases, they were the ones performing the violations against the human rights of the indigenous Congolese.

They forced the Congolese people to gather and harvest valuable resources that can be later shipping to other countries. The majority of the resources collected was rubber. This was because in 1888 John Dunlop invented rubber tires, so Leopold exploited this opportunity to develop their economy and forced the Congolese to gather the rubber for them since rubber grew wildly in the Congo. They punished and beat the Congolese people if they didn’t meet their quota for their job they supposed to be meeting. They used muscle strength and dangerous weapons on the Congolese people so that they would know next time to do better and to be more productive, because all King Leopold wanted was more money and better productivity.

In the movie based on the book, King Leopold’s Ghost: A story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial America, it shows the true nature of what happened in the Congo from when King Leopold II got involved to present day. In 1865, King Leopold II took the throne of Belgium. One of his primary goals was to find Belgium a colony. He sent Henry Morton Stanley to lead an exploration Africa and during this exploration he was to negotiate treaties with tribal leaders to give him land near the Congo River. King Leopold II didn’t own the area but he did own most of the “Committee for Studies

Through this, he ended up taking away many things from the Africans, and he ended up working everything to the advantage of the British and neglecting the needs

He also hired Henry Stanley to help him accomplish his takeover of the Congo land. He was responsible for the

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.

In addition to a desire to compete with other countries during the land grab, King Leopold also had a desire to make money and expand foreign trade. During this time Europeans wanted to acquire raw materials and cheap labor, both of which Africa supplied. Leopold was now faced with financial issues- he had secured much of the land through excessive spending, but in order to take advantage of the trade opportunities he had to find more funding. In order to secure funds for the continuation of his colonization, King Leopold approached the Belgian Parliament. He promised Parliament that if they gave him a loan, he would leave the Congo to the government in his will. Leopold managed to get the loan the basis of his philanthropic work. This enabled him to take advantage of the trade within the Congo. Belgium now had the monopoly on the rubber trade, but it came with a price. The human toll that the rubber industry had on the Congo devastated the population. Despite the economic benefits that the Congo had for the country of Belgium- specifically Leopold, it was short lived. Eventually, the rest of the world would slowly become aware of the atrocities of Leopold’s Congo. The economic upheaval that the events of the Congo caused within Belgium and the rest of the countries involved (as international involvement was