As he put it, he did not want to miss out on the opportunity of getting a slice of "this magnificent African cake." King . They were a newly independent country . In 2010, former Belgian foreign minister Louis Michel and the father of future prime minister Charles Michel, called Leopold "a hero with ambitions for a small country like Belgium". there were "positive aspects" to colonisation, Democratic Republic of Congo country profile, called on Belgium to apologise for atrocities, apologise for the kidnapping of thousands of mixed-race children, MasterChef Australia host Jock Zonfrillo dies, Banana artwork in Seoul museum eaten by visitor, NFL player's daughter, aged two, drowns in pool, Trevelyan relative 'would consider' famine payment, Ding becomes China's first male world chess champion, Indian 'killer' elephant relocated to tiger reserve. "In the Heart of Darkness". All rights reserved. The only way to do that was through the use of terror. Tens of thousands of others were shot down in failed rebellions against the regime. Sadly, Williams, only forty-one years old, died of tuberculosis on his way home from Africa, but not before writing several additional denunciations of what he had seen in the Congo. Soldiers were also reportedly promised their freedom or given other incentives for killing the most people as proven by supplying the most hands. "The rebels displayed a courage worthy of a better cause," (Flament et al., 1952, p. 417) acknowledged the army's official historywhich, remarkably, devoted fully one-quarter of its pages to the various campaigns against mutineers within the army's own ranks. Seeing what profits Leopold was reaping from forced labor, officials in these colonies soon adopted exactly the same systemincluding women hostages, forced male labor, and the chicottewith equally fatal consequences. Baskets of severed hands thus resulted from expeditions against rebels. Standing on the dock, Morel realized that he had uncovered irrefutable proof that a forced labor system was in operation 4,000 miles away. Ascherson, Neal (1963). King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa. This was to be his most enduring legacy. How did King Leopold gain control of the Congo? Why did King Leopold II own the Belgian Congo colony Four years before, the Zanzibaris had thought the Congo deadly and impassable, and warned Stanley not to attempt to go there, but when Tippu Tip learned in Zanzibar that Stanley had survived, he was quick to act. William Morrison, a white man, and William Sheppard, the first black missionary in the Congo, were Presbyterians from Virginia whose acts of witness so infuriated Congo colonial authorities that they put the men on trial for libel. It quickly became a brutal, exploitative regime that relied on forced labour to cultivate and trade rubber, ivory and minerals. Brussels: Institut Royal Colonial Belge. Colonization of the Congo Basin refers to the European colonization of the Congo Basin of tropical Africa. A hundred lashes of the chicotte, a not infrequent punishment, could be fatal. Leopold II's rule in what is now Democratic Republic of Congo was so bloody it was eventually condemned by other European colonialists in 1908 - but it has taken far longer to come under scrutiny at home. Although Belgiums government felt that colonies would be an extravagance for a small country with no navy or merchant marine, that situation suited Leopold perfectly. Ewans, Martin (2002). States and then all the major nations of Europe to recognize his claim. For much of the journey he floated down the river, mapping its course for the first time and noting the many tributaries that, it turned out, comprised a network of navigable waterways more than 7,000 miles long. When the ships turned around and steamed back to Africa, however, they carried no merchandise in exchange. L'tat libre du Congo: Paradis perdu. Beyond removal of statues, far more work is required to dismantle racism, protesters and black communities argue. Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.com cannot guarantee each citation it generates. Leopold bought half of the Congo as his own private possession after convincing the European community that his actions would be humanitarian and philanthropic. By 1908, Leopold II's rule was deemed so cruel that European leaders, themselves violently exploiting Africa, condemned it and the Belgian parliament forced him to relinquish control of his fiefdom. Early and Personal Life. Stanley was applauded, admired, decoratedand ignored. They refused to surrender, and when troops finally entered the cave three months later, they found 178 bodies. In 1870 roughly 80 percent of Africa south of the Sahara Desert was governed by indigenous kings, chiefs, and other rulers. No one owned more land like this than King Leopold II, for equatorial rain forest, dotted with wild rubber vines, comprised half of his Congo state. Why did King Leopold give up the Congo? While Leopold II did much to establish Belgium as an economically and militarily stable power in Europe, he is chiefly remembered for the nightmarish practices that were carried out in his name. In 1876, Leopold II sponsored an international geographical conference in Brussels, inviting delegates from scientific societies all over Europe to discuss philanthropic and scientific matters such as the best way to coordinate map making, to prevent the re-emergence of the west coast slave trade, and to investigate ways of sending medical aid to Africa. Repeated attempts to travel overland were repulsed with heavy casualties, accidents, conflicts with natives, and, above all, disease saw large and well-equipped expeditions got no further than 40 miles (64km) or so past the westernmost rapid, the legendary Cauldron of Hell. He was interested in the Congo river basin because there were many natural resources such as rubber, minerals, ivory, diamonds, and gold. For thousands of years, that territory had been conquered by nearby Netherlands, France, Germany, and Luxembourg. The results of this rule were very uneven. It had only been through Tippu Tip's help that Stanley had found Livingstone (who himself had survived years on the Lualaba by virtue of Tippu Tip's friendship). Warning: This piece contains graphic pictures. Then, as they would be into the 21st century, most of the royal families of Europe were related. Tens, possibly hundreds, of thousands of Congolese fled their villages to avoid being impressed as forced labourers, and they sought refuge deep in the forest, where there was little food and shelter. Leopold II became the next King of Belgium in 1865 and reigned until his death on December 17th, 1909. Outside of the Cape of Good Hope and the Mediterranean coast, Europe had no African colonies of any significance. The couple's first son, Louis Philippe, died in infancy prior to Leopold II's birth. The people of the Congo did not suffer these injustices without fighting back. Like statues of racist historical figures vandalised or removed in Britain and the US, Leopold II's days on Belgian streets could now be numbered. The Force Publique, no doubt, also attracted men who, for whatever reason, felt little compunction about wielding such violence, but this was true of the White officers as well. Read about our approach to external linking. Apparently finding nothing reprehensible about Leopold's ambitions, Stanley set about his task with a will. Omissions? The army become known for its brutality, with the officers and soldiers being accused ofdestroying villages, taking hostages, raping, torturing, and extorting the people. The first nationwide Congolese political party, the Congo National Movement, was launched in 1958 by Patrice Lumumba and other Congolese leaders. By the end of the 19th century, the Basin had been carved up by European colonial powers, into the Congo Free State, the French Congo and the Portuguese Congo (modern Cabinda . Presenting himself as a philanthropist eager to bring the benefits of Christianity, Western civilization, and commerce to African nativesa guise that he perpetuated for many yearsLeopold hosted an international conference of explorers and geographers at the royal palace in Brussels in 1876. He built outposts and a road around the river's rapids and, using small steamboats, he traveled up and down the great river and its tributaries. From 1874 through 1877 the British explorer and journalist Henry Morton Stanley (18411904) crossed Africa from east to west. Army officers and colonial officials earned bonuses based on the amount of rubber collected in areas under their control. p.20. After all, destroying the iconography of Adolf Hitler did not mean the history of Nazi Germany was forgotten, she points out. Belgium's education minister announced this week that secondary schools would teach colonial history from next year. Instead, he found what he called "the Siberia of the African Continent." However, disease of any kind always takes a far greater toll on a traumatized, half-starving population, with many people already in flight as refugees. It was down to rubber. The focus of the great powers was still firmly on the lands that had made Europe's fortune: the Americas, the East Indies, India, China, and Australasia. Leiden, Netherlands: E.J. He used Henry Morton Stanley to help him lay claim to the Congo, the present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo. ThoughtCo. . Why did King Leopold colonize the Congo? Last week thousands in the country of 11 million joined solidarity protests about the killing of US black man George Floyd in police custody. [6] For the look of things, he held one more meeting the following year, but from that time on, the International African Association was simply a front for Leopold's ambition. VideoThe secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure, LGBT troops take love for Eurovision to front line, Why an Indian comedian is challenging fake news rules. Former President of Kenya Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. Franklin, John Hope (1985). Tens, possibly hundreds, of thousands of Africans also died in two decades' worth of unsuccessful uprisings against the king's regime. Video, The secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure, US black man George Floyd in police custody, statues of racist historical figures vandalised or removed, "rape, mutilation and genocide of millions of Congolese". Rather than control the Congo as a colony, as other European powers did throughout Africa, Leopold privately owned the region. Leopold financed development projects with money loaned to him from the Belgian government. King Leopold II and the Congo The European colonization of Africa was one of the greatest and swiftest conquests in human history. When the 1860s explorers focused attention on Africa, Leopold schemed to colonise Mozambique on the east coast, Senegal on the west coast, and the Congo in the centre. National Geographic Society is a 501 (c)(3) organization. [1]:333, "There are 40,000,000 naked people" on the other side of the rapids, Stanley wrote, "and the cotton-spinners of Manchester are waiting to clothe them Birmingham's factories are glowing with the red metal that shall presently be made into ironwork in every fashion and shape for them and the ministers of Christ are zealous to bring them, the poor benighted heathen, into the Christian fold. At various times, he launched unsuccessful schemes to buy an Argentine province, to buy Borneo from the Dutch, rent the Philippines from Spain, or establish colonies in China, Vietnam, Japan, or the Pacific islands. In 1924 the first territory-wide census, when adjusted for undercounting, placed the number of colony inhabitants at some ten million. Thompsell, Angela. Interestingly, a longtime high colonial She does not believe it will not be quick or easy. [7], Stanley, much more familiar with the rigours of the African climate and the complexities of local politics than Leopold Leopold II never set foot in the Congo persuaded his patron that the first step should be the construction of a wagon trail and a series of forts. [12] At the end of his physical resources, Stanley returned home, to be replaced by Lieutenant Colonel Francis de Winton, formerly a British Army officer. After leaving Livingstone, Stanley sailed for 1,000 miles (1,600km) down the Lualaba (Upper Congo) to the large lake he named Stanley Pool (now called Pool Malebo). In 1879 Stanley returned to the Congo as Leopold's agent. The Congo and the Founding of Its Free State: A Story of Work and Exploration. It was too lucrative, for the price of rubber was still high. The horrors, though, are only one part of the story. The movement, in fact, eventually forced Leopold to relinquish his private ownership of the Congo to the Belgian state in 1908. Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity. Learn how and when to remove this template message, Oasis Kodila Tedika et Francklin Kyayima Muteba, The sources of growth in DRC before independence. Forbath, P. The River Congo: The Discovery, Exploration, and Exploitation of the World's Most Dramatic River, 1991 (Paperback). Unfortunately, for the Congo, it was one of the only places in the world to have a large supply of wild rubber, and the government and its affiliated trading companies quickly shifted their focus to extracting the suddenly lucrative commodity. Europeans were interested in Africa for its abundance of natural resources (ivory, rubber, gold, etc.) But taking the monument away does not solve the problem of racism, she believes, while creating one museum devoted to the statues would not be useful either. Morel's History of the Congo Reform Movement. Although he played a significant role in the development of the modern Belgian state, he was also responsible for widespread atrocities committed under his rule against his colonial subjects. GENEALOGY OF THE TERM DECOLONIZATION The current protests are not the first time Belgium's ugly history in Congo has been contested in the streets. Bulletin Officiel du Congo Belge (1920). Almost the only early visitor to interview Africans about their experience of the regime, he took extensive notes, and, a thousand miles up the Congo River, wrote one of the greatest documents in human rights literature, an open letter to King Leopold that is one of the important landmarks in human rights literature. Other parts of the Congo economy, from road building to chopping wood for steamboat boilers, operated by forced labour as well. Furthermore, huge, uncounted numbers of Congolese fled the forced labor regime, but the only refuge to which they could escape was the depths of the rain forest, where there was little food and no shelter; travelers would discover their bones years later. Demonstrations and protests demanded that Leopold end human rights abuses in the Congo Free State. It was not until 1867 that the Congo was explored by Europeans, and even then it was not from the sea, but from the other side of the African continent. Birmingham Protest March He wrote three books on the Congo, several dozen pamphlets, and hundreds of newspaper articles, making much use of eyewitness testimony from the missionaries. In a TV debate this week, a former president of the Free University of Brussels, Herv Hasquin, argued there were "positive aspects" to colonisation, listing the health system, infrastructure, and primary education he said Belgium brought to Central Africa. 27 Apr. A worldwide rubber boom was under way, kicked off by the invention of the inflatable bicycle tire and spurred on by the rise of the automobile and the use of rubber in industrial belts and gaskets, as well as in coating for telephone and telegraph wires. 2, 2022, thoughtco.com/congo-free-state-atrocities-rubber-regime-43731. Colonial administrators also kidnapped orphaned children from communities and transported them to "child colonies" to work or train as soldiers. However, Leopold's rule over the Congo Free State is well known for its cruelty. Under his reign, the Congolese people were terrorized with forced labor and harsh treatment. Some of these soldiers were recruits, while others were enslaved people or orphans brought up to serve the colonial army. "Everyone is waking up from a sleep, it's a reckoning with the past," explains Debora Kayembe, a Congolese human rights lawyer who has lived in Belgium. The relentless pursuit of profits in the Congo by King Leopold II resulted in one of the worst levels of moral decadence for mankind. He called it tat Indpendant du Congo, the Congo Free State. The boundaries of Colonialism, like those of many literary eras, are difficult to draw.
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