This author discusses the impact of King Leopold on the Congo. King Leopold, king of the Belgians, went to the Congo for “philanthropic” reasons. King Leopold fooled everyone that he was in the Congo for the right reasons. People believed the King because of his Catholic faith. In the Congo, King Leopold established Socialism and made many laws that turned into horrible circumstances. For example, he issued a order that all the rubber and ivory was to be property of the State. Every village was required to collect a certain amount of rubber. If the men were unsuccessful in bringing all the rubber, the King would take the women and hold them hostage. Leopold also sent cannibals into the village to frighten the inhabitants. To stop the waste
Congo was an astounding bestseller novel. It was a great fictional novel that took place in the depths of the Congo rainforest. The novel was later made into a movie. Both the novel and the movie were good, however, I prefer the novel. It just seemed like a more entertaining piece than the movie. This movie was based much upon the novel, but had many alternatives and a completely different ending than the novel.
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.
Adam Hochschild's "King Leopold's Ghost" is a lost historical account starting in the late 19th century continuing into the 20th century of the enslavement of an entire country. The book tells the story of King Leopold and his selfish attempt to essentially make Belgium bigger starting with the Congo. This was all done under an elaborate "philanthropic" public relations curtain deceiving many countries along with the United States (the first to sign on in Leopold's claim of the Congo). There were many characters in the book ones that aided in the enslavement of the Congo and others that help bring light to the situation but the most important ones I thought were: King Leopold, a cold calculating, selfish leader, as a child he was crazy about geography and as an adult wasn't satisfied with his small kingdom of Belgium setting his sites on the Congo to expand. Hochschild compares Leopold to a director in a play he even says how brilliant he is in orchestrating the capture of the Congo. Another important character is King Leopold's, as Hochschild puts it, "Stagehand" Henry Morton Stanley. He was a surprisingly cruel person killing many natives of the Congo in his sophomore voyage through the interior of Africa (The first was to find Livingston). Leopold used Stanley to discuss treaties with African leaders granting Leopold control over the Congo. Some of the natives he talked to weren't even in the position to sign the treaties or they didn't know what they were signing.
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
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.
The land Leopold had obtained was about eighty times larger than that of Belgium itself. Plus, Leopold was proclaimed the “sovereign” ruler of all the Congo Free Sta...
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...
King Leopold killed at least half the population before being removed from power. “Between 1880 and 1920, according to the best demographic estimates today, the population of the Congo was slashed in half: from roughly 20 million to 10 million people.” (Hochschild). King Leopold stole most of the Congos rubber by forcing natives to collect the rubber for him, this has set the way leaders has ruled the Congo even after King Leopold left. This is important for the future because the constant robbing of the resources is what leads to what drains the Congo of its natural resources. During all of King Leopold’s rule over the Congo very little to none ended up finally benefiting the Congo. “Legalized robbery enforced by violence", as Leopold's reign was described at the time, has remained, more or less, the template by which Congo's rulers have governed ever since.”(Dummett). King Leopold stole most of the Congos rubber by threatening natives to collect the rubber for him, this has set the way leaders has ruled the Congo ever since his departure. He forced soldiers to threaten natives into working for him and never gave back any of the money he gained by the resources. This had a huge negative effect on the country which will follow them for years to
During the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century, King Leopold II of Belgium invaded the Congo and used it to procure more wealth for himself and his nation. In doing so, as many as ten million Congolese were decimated, and they faced unspeakable horrors. Hochschild argues in King Leopold’s Ghost that all actions taken by King Leopold II were done out of nothing more than sheer greed and selfishness, and he used any means necessary to get what he wanted, and manipulated others into following suit by exploiting their own greed and racism. The only way the brutality was combated, Hochschild further goes on to describe, was through the actions of the few with a higher moral character.
The notion that Africa was in need of a civilizing force was prevalent throughout the Western world during the colonial period and, in many ways, remains popular today. King Leopold II of Belgium drew heavily on the popularity of philanthropy when he began his plot to takeover Central Africa. He wined and dined the heads of key humanitarian organizations, scientists, and explorers, continually reassuring him that his interests in the Congo were purely based on good will and a healthy curiosity. Leopold was not the first, or the last, head of state to claim to have intentions of civilizing Africa as a curtain to disguise a greater colonizing mission; why shouldn 't they believe him? Through this guise Leopold was able to slowly and carefully build for himself a privately owned colony. He initially imposed himself as a warden to the Congo, under the auspices of the International African Association and later the Committee for the Studies of the Upper Congo. Later, he slyly changed the patron organization to the International Association of the Congo, an organization without philanthropic goals; this change went
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.
...ermore established imperial rule in the Congo. The Force Publique was Leopold’s governing army. They were to oversee the work of the now colonized people of the Congo. Another of Leopold’s objectives was to gain wealth from his acquired colony. With the Force Publique, he would force the Congolese to gather ivory from the land. Those who refused had their elders, women and children held hostage until they complied. Leopold’s International African Association was to be a humanitarian project that would help to end slavery, however, by forcing the people to work for him, he was enslaving those he supposedly sought to help. When the popularity of the bicycle rose in the late 19th, manufactures were in need of rubber for their tires. Leopold saw this as an opportunity to gain more wealth and quickly had the Force Publique force the people into harvesting rubber.
In conclusion, King Leopold II was truly as evil as evil gets. His relentless rule over the Congo was one of the worst genocides in history. Millions of Congolese people were tortured and murdered. The reason why I choose to do this paper on this particular individual is because many people do not know about this holocaust that has occurred. It is sad that I never learned about traded during all my years of primary education. There have been many cases of genocide throughout the history of the African people. King Leopold II’s Congo Free State was most likely the worst of them all.
The cost of maintaining the expeditions and building infrastructure to get the immense natural resource wealth out of the Congo soon depleted most of Leopold’s fortune, so he managed to ob...
Throughout history, imperialism has led countries to extend their rule over weaker countries and then colonized those countries to expand their own power. Imperialism allows the ruling countries to use the weaker countries for their resources. Colonizing other countries would then lead to growth and a better reputation for the dominating country. There are many examples of imperialism throughout European history. When many European countries “scrambled” for Africa, it seemed as though Africa had no say in anything. During the 19th century, Europe found a way to use Africa for their own growth and power. Using Africa for their resources, the Europeans colonized Africa without a second thought. European imperialism in Africa had a negative impact because of social disarray, cultural loss, and death it caused.