To what extent was Belgian rule in Congo similar to other examples of imperialism in Africa by European powers? The Berlin Conference in the late 19th century marked the start of European imperialism in Africa. Native Africans witnessed the dominance of various European powers, each with their own motives and styles of imperialism. While Britain focused on economic expansion, France aimed to assimilate the African civilisation and Spain displayed brutality. Belgium’s imperialism remains incomparable. Among all the European powers, Belgium is remembered with even greater disdain in history due to their cruelty and the lasting scars they inflicted both metaphorically and physically, on the Congolese people and their country. While the quest …show more content…
Belgium often advocated their civilising missions as an excuse for their harsh treatment but did not follow through with their promises of enlightenment as France did. In fact, King Leopold II exclusively said in a public letter “it is necessary for them to carry on the work of civilisation in Equatorial Africa. the fearful scourges which these races seem to be the victim are already lessening, little by little, through our intervention.” The purpose of this letter is clear; Leopold was aiming to maintain a reputable image with the European powers and draw attention away from the atrocities being committed in Congo. This is seen in his private letter to missionaries; he demands to interpret the gospel in a way that protects his interests and to whip the blacks if they are not submissive (Leopold, 1883). On the other hand, France’s assimilation policy strives for human equality. The Southern Cross Newspaper states, “For the first time in the history of colonial administration of French Equatorial Africa, native deputies are to be elected,” (The Southern Cross, 1938). This demonstrates France’s efforts to integrate natives into French society, a key aspect of assimilation. Additionally, an African called Senghor from Senegal French …show more content…
Spain’s cruelty was driven by resource exploitation similar to Belgium, but their ways went unnoticed by significant people like George Washington Williams and Roger Casement, who investigated atrocity rumours pinned against Leopold. For instance, after Williams made a trip to Congo, he wrote an open letter to the Belgium king as he was so appalled by what he witnessed there. In the letter he mentions, “the natives complained that their land had been taken from them by force, government burnt their towns and stole their property,” and “they ate their rice twice a day by the use of their fingers,” (Williams, G.W., 1890). William’s was the first person to shed light on the heart-breaking suffering that the Congolese people had to endure. Furthermore, Roger Casement’s report corroborates the accusations of Belgian officers and their practices of mutilation. Although Spanish methods were not as violent, they are still worth discussing because it is disgusting to find that a Spanish priest got a school girl badly lashed by an elephant strip due to her ‘running away’ from a Catholic mission school in Bata (Martnez, E. O., 2016). Belgium and Spain differed but they had a common point in slavery as 316 slaves were sent down the river according to Williams
The book mainly chronicles the efforts of King Leopold II of Belgium which is to make the Congo into a colonial empire. During the period that the European powers were carving up Africa, King Leopold II of Belgium seized for himself the vast and mostly unexplored territory surrounding the Congo River.
Leopold paid a large monthly price to a journalist to ensure a stream of sympathetic articles about his activities in the Congo. The French did not feel threatened by Belgium or by Leopold’s claims. Their main fear was that when the king ran out of money, as they were sure he would, in his expensive plan to build a railway, he might sell the whole territory to their rival, Britain. When talking to the British, Leopold hinted that if he didn’t get all the land he wanted, he would leave Africa completely, which meant he would sell the Congo to France. The bluff worked, and Britain gave in. Staff in place and tools in hand, Leopold set out to build the infrastructure necessary to exploit his colony. Leopold’s will treated the Congo as if it were just a piece of uninhabited land to be disposed of by its owner. Leopold established the capital of his new Congo state at the port town of
...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.
Joseph Conrad was a struggling polish immigrant and he wants to serve in Congo on a steamship probably moving around rubber and from what he saw he was definitely sick and bite he wrote the novel heart of darkness which as Hochschild shows is a very really pretrial of how corrupt and abusive official really were. But even his novel really captures suffering of Conges. His novel really talks about the mental anguish that conscious white people felt watching this stuff going down. The anguish clerk E.D. Murrow when he discovers this he came as a crusading journalist and he was very single-minded in his devotion finding the government documents and showing Belgium out to be criminals that they were here. Roger Casement was very veiled to exposing Belgium Congo and getting turn over from King Leopold to Belgium government proper which helps thinks little but not as much as people had expected for the two African-American heroes George Washington Williams and Williams Sheppard they gained a lot of fame internationally and they did gain some respect from plant first of United States, however, they still denigrated society. So we see that this is over hundred years ago people were much coarser much less concern with human life that lays
The land Leopold had obtained was about eighty times larger than that of Belgium itself. Plus, Leopold was proclaimed the “sovereign” ruler of the entire Congo Free State, granting him the power to exercise total control, where as, in Belgium, Leopold was forced to rule under a constitutional monarchy.... ... middle of paper ... ... “Africa Imperialism” History of Imperialism.
It is widely debated why exactly King Leopold decided to conquer the Congo, but the general consensus seems to be that it was out of the belief that “the highlands of the Congo may be as rich in gold as the mountains of the western slope of the American Continent” (Stead). In the mid-1870s, the King hired Henry Stanley, who was familiar with many parts of Africa, to help him go about conquering. During the following years Stanley stayed in Africa, talking various tribes into signing over their lands and rights. After this was completed the King officially took over the Congo, renaming it the Congo Free State. This was especially ironic because all natives of the country were either forced to give up their way of life in exchange for virtual slavery in the ivory trade, agriculture, or the rubber traffic, or die trying to escape fate. Leopold was undeterred by the amount of suffering and death in the Congo, brought on by his rule. Belgian soldiers and officials were known for their cruelty in their methods to make, and then keep, Congo natives wo...
“Leopold had to recruit not just Belgians like Leon Rom, but young white men from throughout Europe, attracting them by such get-rich-quick incentives [...]” Much of the torture that Africans faced was due to either not producing enough rubber, killing the vine, or not being productive and efficient enough. “Although some whites in the Congo enjoyed wielding the chicotte, most put a similar symbolic distance between themselves and the dreaded instrument.” Hochschild used first-hand accounts from the very people who committed these atrocities in order to illustrate how desensitized they became, and how they saw it as nothing more than their obligation, that it was needed in order to be successful and prosperous.
During the Brussels conference in 1876, Leopold found the International African Association. Its object was, “the exploration of the country and the founding of stations which should be rest-houses for travellers and centres of civilization” (Tusan 195). The founding of the Congo as a free state was also proposed at the Brussels conference. Afterward came the Berlin conference of 1885. The Berlin conference was the formalization of the scramble and regulated european colonization and trade. It also defined the borders of the Congo, ensured free trade, and the abolition of the slave trade. The Treaty of Berlin was made to regulate colonization in Africa. As it stated, “All the powers exercising sovereign rights or influence in the aforesaid territories bind themselves to watch over the preservation of the native tribes, and to care for the improvement of the conditions of their moral and material well-being, and to help in suppressing slavery, and especially the slave trade. They shall, without distinction of creed or nation, protect and favour all religious, scientific or charitable institutions and undertakings created and organized for the above ends, or which aim at instructing the natives and bringing home to them the blessings of civilization” (Tusan 200). King Leopold then went on to claim the Congo as his personal property. He stated, “Our refined society attaches to human life (and with reason) a value unknown
As a political figure, King Leopold of Belgium had minimal power, yet he acknowledged the political and financial advantages of colonization, and acquired the Congo as a private colony whereas Britain snatched up colonies globally, including the “crown jewel” of all colonies, India. Belgium and Britain demonstrated a stark contradiction of two opposing methods of colonization. These two countries methods’ of domination ultimately decide the fates of each party, conqueror and conquered, in the precarious gamble that is imperialism.... ... middle of paper ...
In terms of political changes, European imperialism negatively affected Africa. Firstly, European colonization created enormous conflict between colonists and the African people. African resistance to “The Scramble for Africa” lead to the instability of Africa’s political structure. There was ineffective resistance of the African people against the Europeans. In an attempt to regain their independence, Africans took up arms against their colonial masters as soon as they perceived them to be at a disadvantage. In southern Africa, in The Republic of Namibia, the Herero people rose against German rule in 1904, killing over 100 German settlers and traders. German commander, General von Trotha, retaliated with a war aimed simply at extermination. This resulted in the decline of 70% of the Herero population.1 Nowhere else was colonialism quite so brutal, but almost everywhere it tended towards unrestrained brutality as soon as it was challenged.2 Warfare created considerable unrest among African people. Afterwards, the people of Africa came to the realization that the consequences of resistance against European colonists could be devastating. As well, the Europeans demonstrated that they had the technology and resources to gain control. Secondly, colonial expansion changed the face of Africa’s political structure. The Berlin Conference of 1884-85, attended by 13 European nations and the USA, set the ground rules for partition of Africa. When the conferenc...
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 attention on the colony except for short times, the widespread economic exploitation of the rubber resources of the region, and the brutal mistreatment and near-genocide of the Congolese by those in charge of rubber collecting.
Belgium Script Introduction Imperialism within Africa was not uncommon for the settlers within the deserts. Ruling from Europe, and colonization of the tribes within Africa is actually quite common. Belgium in specific played a big role in the colonization and imperialism of Africa, more specifically, the Congo. The Congo was taken under Belgian control in 1885, and was a dark part of the history of the Congo. The arising issue of I imperialism led to many seeking opportunity to overpower others.
In his book, Beck states that “[Leopold] licensed companies that brutally exploited Africans by forcing them to collect sap from rubber plants. At least 10 million Congolese died as a result of the abuses inflicted during Leopold’s rule” (340). In the Congo, the Belgian king, Leopold, brutally killed many lives by forcing Congolese people into harsh labor. Walter Rodney reports that “in extracting that labor, [settlers] tampered with the factor that was the very buttress of the society, for African ‘traditional’ life when deprived of its customary labor force and patterns of work was no longer ‘traditional’” (Rodney 36).
Since before its inception, Leopold’s inner circle instilled the notion that all power in the Congo Free State would be granted to whites with no concessions to the natives (KLG 67). When the governing system of the Congo Free State was being established after years of exploration all that existed for the state to draw on were sparsely populated and spread out military trading posts. A white official governed each post and its own standing military force of mercenaries or enslaved indigenous peoples. From the trading posts local officials would carry out their orders issued by Leopold, which included aggressive action against local resistance and expansion of state control. The governance structure in the Congo Free State allowed individuals to use mass violence and terror on the state’s behalf and without concern for any
The US, British, and Belgium people caught Leopold II using harsh methods to obtain the rubber. Due to Leopold’s harsh treatment of the Congolian people, the control of DRC shifted to the Belgium