Belgian Congo: King Leopold's Deceptive Dominion

The Belgian Congo, also known as the Belgian Free state, was the area in Africa that was owned by the Belgian King, King Leopold. He was able to attain this land by bribing the Africans living there and tricking them into giving up their land. He sent over explorers who gave the Africans junk whom thought they were being given luxurious items in exchange for their land. Although this land was called the “free state” there was no aspect about it that was free. The Africans were left completely powerless and were being killed off in mass numbers. All that the Belgian rulers wanted was the ivory and money that was made from it. Any income that came out of the free state went to King Leopold because he was the owner of the land. The issues

Marlow has nothing but complete hatred for the Belgians, he dislikes them more than the Africans. Marlow dislikes them so much that he refers to them as pilgrims. The following is a point in time where Marlow decides to call the Belgians by this name, “I had the manager on board and three or four pilgrims with their staves – all complete” (Conrad 325). By Conrad having Marlow call the Belgians this name it shows how much he disapproved of what they were doing in the Belgian Congo. The Belgians thought that they were “colonizing” this part of Africa and civilizing its people. Conrad connected this to when the pilgrims came over to America for their religious freedom. He was almost doing a play on words, but in turn it was actually an insult to the Belgian people. It shows how Joseph Conrad did not approve of the way the Africans were being treated and tortured by Belgian

This can be shown through the way that Marlow describes some of the Africans he comes across on his journey though the Belgian Congo. The following line shows how Marlow described one of the Africans, “Their headman, a young, broad-chested, severely draped in dark-blue fringed cloths, with a fierce nostril and his hair all done up artfully in oily ringlets, stood near me” (Conrad 330). Some feel this shows how Conrad is racist because he writes such an in-depth description of how the African looks different than someone he is used to seeing. It can be thought that Conrad thinks the way he looks is weird, but in truth he writes this description because he does not yet fully understand the African culture, not many people of his time did understand it yet. Conrad and Marlow understand the concept of them both being man and having the same physical and mental abilities, but they are just still trying to figure out how they live, dress, act and many other things. All Conrad wanted to do was help the lives of the