GENEALOGY OF THE TERM DECOLONIZATION 2, 2022, thoughtco.com/congo-free-state-atrocities-rubber-regime-43731. If the government of Belgium would not take a colony, then he would simply do it himself, acting in his private capacity as an ordinary citizen. Marchal, Jules (1996). He was, nevertheless, an extremely minor monarch in the realpolitik of the times, ruling a totally insignificant nation, a nation in fact that had come into existence barely four decades before and lived under the constant threat of losing its precarious independence to the great European powers around it. The rapids and falls, had they known it, extended for 220 miles (350km) inland, and the terrain close by the river was impassable, and remains so to this day. 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. Last year a UN working group called on Belgium to apologise for atrocities committed during the colonial era. Many of the women hostages starved, and many of the male rubber gatherers were worked to death. ." [11]:66. Tippu Tip, the most powerful of the Zanzibari slave traders of the 19th century, was well known to Stanley, as was the social chaos and devastation that slave-hunting brought. Leopold's reign over the Congo Free State, however, has become infamous for its brutality. Ewans, Martin (2002). 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. In Kinshasa, the capital of DR Congo, Leopold II's statues were moved to the National Museum. He provided for no education or vocational training, which would stunt future Congolese leaders from making sound economic and political policies. She does not believe it will not be quick or easy. On 29 May 1885, after the closure of the Berlin Conference, the king announced that he planned to name his possessions "the Congo Free State", an appellation which was not yet used at the Berlin Conference and which officially replaced "International Association of the Congo" on 1 August 1885. official, Major Charles C. Liebrechts, made the same estimate in 1920. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. All failed. Apparently finding nothing reprehensible about Leopold's ambitions, Stanley set about his task with a will. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. Colonial administrators also kidnapped orphaned children from communities and transported them to "child colonies" to work or train as soldiers. Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity. In articles in church magazines and in speeches throughout the United States and Europe on visits home, they described what they saw: Africans whipped to death, rivers full of corpses, and piles of severed handsa detail that quickly seared itself on the world's imagination. If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media. 60 years after independence, traces of the system of exploitation and violence that Leopold II and colonial-era Belgium created still remain in DR Congo. European Atrocity, African Catastrophe: Leopold II, the Congo Free State and Its Aftermath. London, Curzon Press, p.27. 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. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. Estimates suggest more than 50% died there. The king's stated goal was to bring civilization to the people of the Congo, an enormous region in Central Africa. 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. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. It was too lucrative, for the price of rubber was still high. To prove that he had not wasted bulletsor, worse yet, saved them for use in a mutinyfor each bullet expended, a Congolese soldier of the Force Publique had to present to his white officer the severed hand of a rebel killed. But other scholars use even higher numbers. The newly named Belgian Congo remained a colony until the Democratic Republic of Congo gained its independence in 1960. Brill. He used Henry Morton Stanley to help him lay claim to the Congo, the present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo. As a result of King Leopold actions, thousands of African tribes populations decreased significantly. In 1908, international pressure forced the king to turn the Congo Free State over to the country of Belgium. In January 1959, riots broke out in Leopoldville (now Kinshasa) after a rally was held calling for the independence of the Congo. This makeover of Leopold's image produced an amnesia that persisted for decades. Flament, F., et al. Leopold II, it seemed, was the only European willing to finance Stanley's dream: the building of a railway over the Crystal Mountains from the sea to Stanley Pool, from which river steamers could reach 1,000 miles (1,600km) into the heart of Africa. Richmond, Va.: John Knox Press. In his novella Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad, who spent six months in the Congo in 1890 as a steamboat officer, gives a searing picture of the brutal and voracious European quest for Congo ivory. King Leopold II's Colonization Of The Congo | ipl.org Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Name Ahmed Kamel Date 2/17/22 Topic 6.2 Reading Check 1. But why was Leopold's Congo so horrific? He called it tat Indpendant du Congo, the Congo Free State. The Belgian cabinet of the day was not interested in colonies. Vocabulary On February 5, 1885, Belgian King Leopold II established the Congo Free State by brutally seizing the African landmass as his personal possession. London: Heinemann. 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. As he put it, he did not want to miss out on the opportunity of getting a slice of "this magnificent African cake." King . Dec 14, 2022. (1952). When you reach out to him or her, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource. 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. In the early years the main commodity Leopold sought was ivory. Wearing one of his many hats, that of a journalist, Williams expected to see the paradise of enlightened rule that Leopold had described to him in Brussels. . Keen on establishing Belgium as an imperial power, he led the first European efforts to develop the Congo River basin, making possible the formation in 1885 of the Congo Free State, annexed in 1908 as the Belgian Congo and now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He produced an excoriating, detailed report, complete with sworn testimony from witnesses, which is in many ways a model for the reports produced by contemporary organizations like Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch. An even greater toll was taken by disease: various lung and intestinal diseases, tuberculosis, smallpox, and, above all, sleeping sickness. In Peter Forbath's words, Leopold was: A tall, imposing man enjoying a reputation for hedonistic sensuality, cunning intelligence (his father once described him as subtle and sly as a fox), overweening ambition, and personal ruthlessness. Nzansu, a chief in the region near the great Congo River rapids, led rebels who killed a hated colonial official and pillaged several state posts, although they carefully spared the homes of nearby Swedish missionaries. Equipped with repeating rifles, cannons, and machine guns and fighting against Africans with only spears or antiquated muskets, King Leopold's 19,000-man army (black conscripts under white officers) gradually took control of the vast territory. Joseph Conrad, who spent six months in the Congo in 1890, draws a memorable portrait of this rapacious trade in his novel Heart of Darkness. Leopold II ruled Belgium from 1865-1909 - activists want this statue in Brussels removed due to his brutal regime in Congo Free State, Before a renovation in 2018, Belgium's Africa Museum was known as the world's "last colonial museum", Thousands marched in Black Lives Matter protests in Belgium, This TV image shows a statue of Leopold defaced and damaged by fire being removed in Antwerp, Colonial officials amputated and mutilated Congolese people, including children, as punishment, A now infamous photo capturing atrocities committed in Congo Free State, Congolese people were forced to be human exhibits in a "zoo" in Belgium in 1897, Missionaries documented amputations while investigating abuses committed in Congo Free State, Congolese independence hero Patrice Lumumba is commemorated in a Brussels square, This bust of Leopold II was removed on Friday in Auderghem, near Brussels, Colony built on forced labour and brutality, The secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure. Leopold financed development projects with money loaned to him from the Belgian government. Instead, the ships carried soldiers, and large quantities of firearms and ammunition. Birmingham Protest March When the Belgian King Leopold II acquired the Congo Free State during the Scramble for Africa in 1885, he claimed he was establishing the colony for humanitarian and scientific purposes, but in reality, its sole aim was profit, as much as possible, as fast as possible. Therefore, its best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publications requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html. "[2]:145. Leopold (18351909) had ascended to the throne in 1865. Several years later he hired the explorer Henry Morton Stanley to be his man in Africa. Morel soon quit his job and in short order turned himself into the greatest British investigative journalist of his time. Leopold II: Belgium 'wakes up' to its bloody colonial past It was the last part of the continent to be colonized. 24 February 2004. Estimates vary, but about half the Congolese population died from punishment and malnutrition. In Britain he founded the Congo Reform Association, and affiliated groups sprang up in the United States and other countries. Many of the surrounding colonies also had rain forests rich in wild rubberPortuguese-controlled northern Angola, the Cameroons under the Germans, and the French Congo, part of French Equatorial Africa, across the Congo River. Updates? Leopold II established a colony in the Congo to gain natural resources for Belgium and wealth for himself. Unlike previous European nations that spread their influence over Although neither figure is well-documented, Hannah Arendt's seminal The Origins of Totalitarianism cites an estimated minimum population loss of 11.5 million, and a Congolese historian writing in 1998, Isidore Ndaywel Nziem, estimates the loss at roughly 13 million.
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