The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) may be one of the richest countries in resources, but the country itself is incredibly poor. On 8 October 2013, the BBC News released an article saying exactly that. Written by Dan Snow, this article accounts for Snow’s experiences on his journey through the DRC while also attempting to provide an analysis that explains how the current situation in Congo is linked to its history. In this article, titled “DR Congo: Cursed by its natural wealth”, Snow claims that the DRC has a long history with colonialism and that poor decolonization is one of the reasons for the current conflict residing in the Congo. Snow claims that the DRC has a long and complicated history with colonialism. The first form of governance in this territory was known as the Kingdom of Kongo (Snow). This kingdom was very well governed and had a mature political infrastructure. The Portuguese began exploring Africa in the 15th century and encountered the Kingdom of Kongo in 1480 (Snow). Snow states that not long after, the Portuguese realized the richness of the land, thus marking the beginning of colonialism in Kongo. But in addition to natural wealth of the territory, the Portuguese used the natives as a form of wealth—slavery. Snow writes, “The Congo was home to a seemingly inexhaustible supply of strong, disease-resistant slaves” (Snow). The article then describes how the Portuguese rule disintegrated in the 1600s and what was left was an anarchic state, which was soon recolonized by the British. According to Snow, the English were interested in embarking natives to the Americas to work on the new lands. The British were succeeded by the Belgians, who then took over the territory. Snow writes ab... ... middle of paper ... ...urse suggests that the solution to the problem in Congo is to remove all foreign influences, thus removing the export demand for natural resources, another possible solution may be to unify the country. A nationalistic sense in the DCR would enable the people to vote for a common leader who can actually represent everyone, and can work to solving the problems of the citizens of the DCR. Works Cited Clarke, Latimer. "Democratic Republic of Congo." Altapedia. N.p., 2011. Web. 19 Nov. 2013. . "Nationalism Studies." Nationalism Studies. N.p., 24 Oct. 2012. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. . Snow, Dan. "DR Congo: Cursed by Its Natural Wealth." BBC News. BBC, 10 Sept. 2013. Web. 15 Nov. 2013. .
The king of Congo claims that the nation is being “lost” due to the “excessive freedom” allowed to the king of Portugal’s subjects in Congo (Mbemba 634-635). Illustrating that the merchants and individuals from Portugal both destroyed the economic market in Congo, as well as took excessive liberties regarding the people of the nation, Mbemba brings up the issue as these actions being taken as a threat to “the security and peace of” the “Kingdoms and State” (Mbemba 635). In the beginning of the letter, it's brought up about how the market in Congo has been flooded with goods that have been “prohibi...
...abor to get what he wanted, ivory and rubber. Leopold was able to colonize and pillage Congo for its resources during the Scramble for Africa through forced labor. The quote that sums up my essay and the book is best described at the end of chapter 15. Massacring huge numbers of natives will eventually frighten the survivors into gathering rubber. This shows the intentions of forced labor by the Force Publique and the reason for the population drop in Congo during Leopold’s rule.
Hochschild concludes that the world must never forget the events of Leopold’s Congo. This event is evidence that it is the result of human greed that led to so much suffering, injustice, and corruption.
King Leopold and his allies’ had great power over the Congo, which he soon exploited for its large supply of rubber. As said in the King Leopold’s Ghost, “For Europ...
During the colonial period, soldiers in Congo threatened both adults and children and took away all human rights. King Leopold wanted to make the most money he could in the Congo, but he needed workers
By forming the International African Association, King Leopold II took one step forward. He succeeded in convincing his would be competitors that his intention in the Congo was completely selfless. Although the International African Association met the following year, as per agreement, the ...
At The top of society was a small group of Europeans. Rubber agents and other government officers controlled every aspect of life in The State. They even held control over when natives could visit family. (Doyle, 1909) These Europeans had a section of land that they were to supervise and oversee the production of goods. In Belgium, a very selective group of people had control over the region with King Leopold II at the top. He had the final say in all policy of The Congo Free State. Although he held this power, most of the decision making was sub-contracted to government owned companies, such as The Anglo-Belgian Indian Rubber
The history of the Belgian Congo is one of terrible sadness and seldom-noted human devastation. From 1885 to 1908 the Congo was ruled by one man as his sole, personal colony; a ruler ironically noted at the time for his philanthropy, King Leopold II of Belgium. Seeking his own colony, he founded the Congo Free State, a massive territory in the African interior that was larger than seventy-six times the size of his own country (Hochschild, 87). A “sober, respectable businessman” by the name of Edmund Dene Morel made a note of something about this colony that blew the cover of one of the largest collection of atrocities in human memory (Hochschild, 1). Working in Antwerp on business at the docks, he noticed that only soldiers were going towards the Congo while goods were being imported, a clear sign that no true legitimate trading was going on; he rightly deduced this to mean slavery (Hochschild, 2). This story is a culmination of unlikely heroes and villains from all walks of life, melding together in an unforeseen way that forever changed the world.
... attention allowed economic exploitation in the Congo and its people devastated by human rights abuses, and even today the lack of international attention has caused many conflicts in and around the Congo. The economic exploitation of the Congo during colonial times robbed the country of wealth which could have been used to develop the land, and the lack of wealth has contributed to Congo’s poor standing in the world today. Lastly, the human rights abuses in the Congo Free State contributed to economic and political troubles during the colonial period and has continued into the present day, as human rights abuses are still prevalent in that region of Africa. Due to the lack of international attention, economic exploitation, and human rights abuses, the Congo Free State was harmful to the Congo region of Africa and its legacy continues to harm that region of Africa.
By imagining the role of Europeans and Africans reversed, he establishes that it’s no peculiarity that the Congolese are
Some historians may argue that Belgium imperialized Congo in the 19th century in order to get natural resources that were not available in Europe because they discovered that instead of trading, they could save resources by occupying the place. There was a great demand for natural resources and products not found in Western Countries, such as rubber, oil, and tin. Because of the massive industrialization increase, the demand for these resources increases as well. European investors advocated direct control of the areas where the raw materials were found. This was because
Africa has long been a nation of conflict and strife. Certain countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have a prolonged history of corrupt leaders, violence and lack of resources. These conflicts often can lead to spill over and create wars in their neighboring countries. When a weak state has internal conflict it often spreads to surrounding weak states as it did with many of the countries in central Africa. This type of crisis will often involve the entire world in a variety of capacities such as militaries, foreign aid and the global economy. Congo especially has proved to create problems that continue to persist in the modern world and much of that is due to leadership of Motubu Sese Seko. “The conflict [in Congo] produced tremendous carnage: as many as 3.8 million dead and many more injured or displaced. Both phrases of the war (1996-97 and 1998-2002) involved domestic militias, a massive foreign invasion, and shifting alliances – with Angola, Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe playing major roles. Even though the was has officially ended, peace remains elusive”(Atzili 2007 pg 141). One player’s internal conflicts spread through an entire continent and affected the whole world and caused enormous damage. All countries need to strive to maintain strong institutions to be a good global citizen and one of the keys to this is leadership.
Congo's Civil War began on November 2nd, 1998 when Laurent Kabila tried to drive out Rwandan militants who helped him overthrow Mobutu Sese Seko.2 Sese Seko came into power in 1966 when he led a rebellion to overthrow the government of Patrice Lumumbra. Sese Seko led to Africanizing of the country by requiring that all citizens drop their Christan names, and by renaming all the geographical locations with more African names.3 During the 1980's Sese Seko's government received support from the United States, in response to communism's rising popularity in Africa. Because of the misuse of the funds and wealth generated by natural resources, the rich got richer and the poor fell farther into poverty. Sese Seko abused Congo's natural resources and eventually helped lead the country into a state of economic ruin. In 1997 Sese Seko was overthrown by Laurent Kabila. When Kabila took over the country it was in terrible condition but he did nothing to try and improve the state of the nation. When he tried to expel the same Rwandan rebels that helped him come to power, he started a war that eventually led to his death. Many various ethnic and rebel groups inside of Congo who relied on the Rwandans for protection joined the uprising.4 Africans inside and around Congo chose s...
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 of the country out of fear of the mutinous army that was out of control looting and killing.
...line were ruined. Transportation costs are very high which seriously hampers small producers’ access to markets. At the height of the conflict, about one third of the country's people were displaced. The chronic financial crisis became severe and the economy was close to collapsing. Poverty became deeper in the rural areas of the Congo where poor people are now powerless, vulnerable and isolated. This is a big contributor to the poverty Congo is experiencing today because little has improved and won’t improve until these problems are fixed.