Various References of the Congo Essay

Eventually, word started to spread about what was going on. The public had strongly believed that the natives were benefiting from being “civilized” through their forced labor. However, between disgusted Belgian officials and authors such as Joseph Conrad and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the truth was becoming clearer. In 1904, the Congo Reform Association was founded. Four years later, King Leopold was made to turn over the Belgian Congo to the Belgian government. Much of the collected evidence against him was in the form of photographs. The king had managed to successfully bribe almost every single person who might otherwise have made a witness against the goings-on in the Belgian Congo, as it was renamed after being handed over to the Belgian government. This did very little good for the people of the Congo; they were still being overworked, repressed, and denied basic human rights. The situation was more than a little embarrassing for the king, who disliked his authority being overshadowed. Still, his profit from the matter was no cause for complaint. Leopold’s original investment was said to be somewhere in the neighborhood of six and a half million dollars; the financial gain was that number, multiplied many times over. Compared to Belgium’s profit, during its time of colonization the population of the Congo was decreased by

My main focus on the History of the Congo was King Leopold and his total takeover of the country without ever once stepping foot in the region himself. King Leopold of Belgium who was nicknamed “The Butcher of Congo” slaughtered around ten million Africans in the Congo region between his rule over the country from 1885-1908. Léopold was the king of Belgium for forty-four years until his death in 1909. His rule over the Congo started with the scramble for Africa during the Berlin conference in 1884-1885. European countries like France, Great Britain, and Germany started looking towards Africa because they felt like they were preordained to expand their culture abroad but the underlining reason was because to profit off of the abundance of untouched natural resources Africa possessed. They all set up a meeting to discuss how Africa would be split up. Note at these meetings no Africans that actually were inhabitants of the region were present. At the end of the Berlin conference, European countries had claimed almost ninety percent of African territory. Britain had the most stakes in

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

The Congo River Basin is also known as the Cuvette, which is French for "Basin." Rainfall is very plentiful in the Cuvette and it is dominated by dense rainforests. Though rain is plentiful the soil in this region is unfertile therefore resulting in a low population and very few farms.

Riches in central Africa. In what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, there was and still is a plethora of natural resources. Rubber, gold, copper, diamonds and more. That natural wealth has definitely hurt Congo in the past rather than helped. Its resources could have made it one of the wealthiest countries in the world. But yet, this future did not hold true for the Congo. At the turn of the 20th century, King Leopold II began to take notice of the central African country. (National Black United Front). King Leopold II communicated all his ideas and intentions through a speech to European missionaries. (Africa Global Network). In it, his words held the key to all things terrible. Soon, Belgium took over the Congo and began one of the

Where is the Congo? Who are they? What is the mighty Congo? The Congo refers to the large

At these moments, life in the Congo is a living nightmare. The eastern provinces of the Congo see violence every day. Women are getting raped at alarming rates. Children are constantly abused and forced to become child soldiers. There are no sources of medicine or even clean water. Anyone can get murdered at any time, and no one is even safe in their own homes.

What KIng Leopold II was trying to do with the Imperialism was get to the many resources that the Congo had to offer. After the Congo gained its independence back they are still striving to make the Congo a completely free country. They are still on of the least developed countries due to their lack or quality of life, resources, imports and exports, and education. Violence has also become a problem since the Rwandan Genocide that caused many wars. Statistics say the Congo has great potential to be in a good place again, financially and economically. The imperialism, however, sent them into years of a spiral decline that they are rigorously trying to get back up

Today, the Congo is an undeveloped, poor, and corrupt country. The life expectancy is around 43 years due to the lack of protection and unhealthy living conditions. According to The World Bank, around 64 percent of the whole population is living in poverty. In fact, it is the seventh poorest country in the world, just below Madagascar, as well as being the third least developed country under Cape Verde (Nations Online). This is because “The Republic of the Congo still struggles with their economy due to its historical inability to form on its own” (Mckinley). After the Congo was finally able to gain independence from Belgium, they were unable to keep strong markets. This inevitably led to an increase of poverty. Additionally, a country’s GDP (gross domestic product) per capita can determine how well a country is doing economically. The GDP per capita is calculated by dividing total gross domestic product by the total population in the country. Today, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has a GDP per capita of 484.21 USD. This is relatively low compared to other countries; for example, the United States of America’s GDP per capita is around 53,041.98 USD (World Bank). After Belgium granted the Congolese independence, years of being under Belgian control resulted in an inhibition to develop. The African country “were not yet ready for independence”(Scheyven). Their monarchy was inexperienced, which caused an

The Republic of Congo was colonized by the Belgians under the ruling of King Leopold II. He exploited the natural resources and the natives for his selfish reasons. Nearly half its population were worked to death, whipped, dismembered, executed outright or sent running into the bush to die of starvation and disease in a pitiless quest for first ivory and then rubber. Whereas, India was subjugated to Great Britain. Great Britain was able to exploit India’s natural resources because of the control they had over the country. They made the raw materials like cotton and tea be sold and exported for a cheap price while they make money off of other countries through tariffs. When these two western countries left their colonies their cultures, infrastructure,

Firstly, the local people of Uganda are trying to over fish in this particular species, and that too mostly the females. This is because the females give birth to the off springs, and if they are all gone, there will be no more off springs, lowering the amount of fish.

After that book was published the Europeans were outraged with the Belgians ruling the Congo, so they later helped the Congolese get their own government which is now the Democratic Republic of the

Over the course of human history, many believe that the “Congo Free State”, which lasted from the 1880s to the early 1900s, was one of the worst colonial states in the age of Imperialism and was one of the worst humanitarian disasters over time. Brutal methods of collecting rubber, which led to the deaths of countless Africans along with Europeans, as well as a lack of concern from the Belgian government aside from the King, combined to create the most potent example of the evils of colonialism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century’s. The Congo colonial experience, first as the Congo Free State then later as Belgian Congo, was harmful to that region of Africa both then and now because of the lack of Belgian and International

Congo free state was first established in 1884. The colonial nations of Europe gave Leopold II of Belgium the authority to go and claim the Congo. They said that it would improve the lives of the natives that inhabited the land but that was evidently not the case. As soon as Leopold got over to the Congo, he had forgotten all about these promises. At first the drive for ivory was very prominent but eventually the want for rubber became a lot bigger. The machinery wasn't developed enough to do this so Leopold used what forces he had, manpower. The natives were forced into harvesting and processing rubber. This was a very physically demanding job because they had to climb up the trees to make big slashes into them and then go home and stir the liquid until it was in the right consistency to make the rubber. Each month, if someone didn’t meet the quota that was set out, they would get their hands or feet cut off. There was so many unthinkable things that occurred during this such as forced labour, beating, widespread killing and frequent mutilation. The estimated death toll was between 1 million to 15 million. Just looking at these few examples, the destructiveness of the Congolese people is quite clear. Today, the Congo is still a struggling country. It is very poor, unstable and corrupted because of the various wars and conflicts that happened in the history of the Congo. Because of the

The Central African Republic (CAR) is located in the heart of equatorial Africa. The country, with an estimated population of 4.4 million and a landmass of 622,984 sq km , is landlocked, sharing borders with Chad, Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Republic of the Congo, and Cameroon. The country, a former colony of France (formerly known as Ubangi-Shari), gained independence on August 13, 1960. Like most former colonies, CAR was subject to interference in domestic affairs by its former colonizer. The French were linked to the death of Barthélémy Boganda, the country’s pre-independence leader . The French were also directly involved in several coups within the CAR.