why did king leopold want the congo

Among those who weren't killed, many were punished by having a hand and/or foot amputated. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. ThoughtCo, Jun. This army was composed of White officers and African soldiers. King Leopold's Rule in Africa. After all, destroying the iconography of Adolf Hitler did not mean the history of Nazi Germany was forgotten, she points out. When Stanley returned to Europe in 1878, he had not only found Dr. Livingstone (an event remembered to this day), resolved the last great mystery of African exploration, and ruined his health: he had also opened the heart of tropical Africa up to the outside world. "Almost all of them", he wrote, "clamoured for expenses of all kinds, which included wine, tobacco, cigars, clothes, shoes, board and lodging, and certain nameless extravagances"[10]:71 (by which he meant attractive slaves to warm their beds). Several rebellions were mercilessly put down under Leopold's direction. William Roger Louis and Jean Stengers. Shocked by recent local census statistics that showed less than one child per woman, the official Commission Institue pour la Protection des Indignes made a similar reckoning in 1919. Therefore, King Leopold should be condemned as a criminal for his Read More Thesis Critique Of King Leopold's Ghost SCLC Formed First, the system of exploitation established there became a model for colonial rule in other parts of central Africa. Forced labor remained a major part of the Congo's economy for many years after the war. They refused to surrender, and when troops finally entered the cave three months later, they found 178 bodies. Meanwhile, Leopold had already begun the job of persuading first the United Leopold agreed and in deepest secrecy, Stanley signed a five-year contract at a salary of 1,000 a year, and set off to Zanzibar under an assumed name. That pressure finally forced him to relinquish his ownership of the territory, and it became the Belgian Congo in 1908. However, Leopold's rule over the Congo Free State is well known for its cruelty. 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. 06/29/2020. t. e. Colonization of the Congo Basin refers to the European colonization of the Congo Basin of tropical Africa. The events in King Leopold's Congo also rippled beyond its borders in a more positive way: They gave birth to the twentieth century's first great international human rights movement (see sidebar). Writing in the same year, R. P. Van Wing, a Belgian Jesuit missionary, estimated that the population of the Bakongo people, one of the territory's largest ethnic groups, had been reduced by two-thirds. Leopold then used the treaties to convince other Western colonial powers that he had legal right to the Congo River basin, an area more than fifty times the size of Belgium. He became duke of Brabant in 1846 and served in the Belgian army. Estimates suggest more than 50% died there. Congo Free State Rubber Regime Atrocities. Virtually no information about the true nature of King Leopold's Congo reached the outside world until the arrival there, in 1890, of an enterprising visitor named George Washington Williams. In the early 1890s, however, a larger source of wealth suddenly loomed. Leopold, however, made the Belgian government pay him for his prized possession. Vocabulary On February 5, 1885, Belgian King Leopold II established the Congo Free State by brutally seizing the African landmass as his personal possession. For instance, Leopold II was a first cousin of Queen Victoria of Britain. Benedetto, Robert, ed. L'histoire du Congo 18761900. It is at this point that Leopold II of Belgium took a part. 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. 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. Instead, the ships carried soldiers, and large quantities of firearms and ammunition. In addition, Leopold's regime faced resistance from within his own conscript army, whose soldiers sometimes found a common cause with the rebel groups they were supposed to pursue. In one of them, a letter to the U.S. Secretary of State, he used a phrase that was not commonly heard again until the Nuremberg trials more than fifty years later. Thus was the Belgian Congo created. 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 people of the Congo did not suffer these injustices without fighting back. Leopold spoke of bringing civilization to the Africans and sent a small but heavily armed Belgian force into the Congo. oliviall Answer: Since the consequences of the scheme in the Congo could too easily be blamed on one man who could comfortably be targeted because he did not serve a great power, a Leopold-focused foreign uproar. Leopolds reign over the Congo Free State, however, has become infamous for its brutality. For a dozen years, from 1901 to 1913, working sometimes fourteen to sixteen hours a day, he devoted his formidable energy and skill to putting the story of forced labor in King Leopold's Congo on the world's front pages. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Rather than control the Congo as a colony, as other European powers did throughout Africa, Leopold privately owned the region. After Morel orchestrated a protest resolution by the British Parliament, the government, in response, asked its representative in the Congo to investigate his charges. She or he will best know the preferred format. By the end of his life, Leopold was unpopular with his people, but, ironically, that had much less to do with his actions in Africa than with his conduct of his personal life. When Leopold II died in 1909, he was buried to the sound of Belgians booing. Soon after Stanley returned from the Congo, Leopold tried to recruit him. 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. A detachment of soldiers would march into an African village and seize the women as hostages. Is climate change killing Australian wine? Within three years, his capacity for hard work, his skill at playing one social group off against another, his ruthless use of modern weaponry to kill opponents, and above all his relentless determination opened the route to the Upper Congo. Why did Leopold want the Congo? Many more suffered from disease and torture. Hundreds of thousands of Africans were put to work as porters to carry the white men's goods, as cutters of the wood needed to fire steamboat boilers, and as laborers of all kinds. "Congo Free State Rubber Regime Atrocities." Presbyterian Reformers in Central Africa: A Documentary Account of the American Presbyterian Congo Mission and the Human Rights Struggle in the Congo, 18901918. E. V. Sjblom of Sweden was one of the first and most outspoken missionaries in the Congo. The iconic images to emerge from this terror, though, were the baskets full of smoked hands and the Congolese children who survived having a hand cut off. In Britain he founded the Congo Reform Association, and affiliated groups sprang up in the United States and other countries. Leopold (18351909) had ascended to the throne in 1865. Because the systems effects in the Congo could so easily be blamed on one man, who could safely be attacked because he did not represent a great power, an international outcry focused on Leopold. His most important legacy, however, remains the human catastrophe that the rubber forced-labour system brought to the Congoa heritage that continued to echo in that region more than a century after Leopolds death. Statues of Leopold II should now be housed in museums to teach Belgian history, suggests Mireille-Tsheusi Robert, director of anti-racism NGO Bamko Cran. Eventually, the price fell and wild rubber supplies began to run out, but by that time World War I had begun, and large numbers of Africans were forced to become porters, carrying supplies for Belgian military campaigns against Germany's African colonies. By the early 1890s a new source of riches had appeared. But in the chaos of the early 20th Century when World War One threatened to destroy Belgium, Leopold II's nephew King Albert I erected statues to remember the successes of years gone by. Standing on the dock, Morel realized that he had uncovered irrefutable proof that a forced labor system was in operation 4,000 miles away. Stanley, still hopeful for British backing, brushed him off. Aware that Belgian neutrality, maintained during the Franco-German War (187071), was imperilled by the increasing strength of France and Germany, he persuaded parliament in 1887 to finance the fortification of Lige and Namur. One lucrative source of wild rubber was the Landolphia vines in the great Central African rainforest, and no one owned more of that area than Leopold. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Leopold II was the second son of Leopold I, first king of the Belgians, and his second wife, Marie-Louise of Orlans. 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. He was interested in the Congo river basin because there were many natural resources such as rubber, minerals, ivory, diamonds, and gold. She was not unique - chopping off the limbs of enslaved Congolese was a routine form of retribution when Leopold II's quotas were not met. Last year a UN working group called on Belgium to apologise for atrocities committed during the colonial era. Many women hostages were raped and a significant number starved to death. Instead, he found what he called "the Siberia of the African Continent." Retrieved September 22, 2017. ADAM HOCHSCHILD. Leopold II, French in full Lopold-Louis-Philippe-Marie-Victor, Dutch in full Leopold Lodewijk Filips Maria Victor, (born April 9, 1835, Brussels, Belgiumdied December 17, 1909, Laeken), king of the Belgians from 1865 to 1909. In the period from 1885 to 1908, many atrocities were perpetrated in the Congo Free State (today the Democratic Republic of the Congo) which, at the time, was a state under the absolute rule of King Leopold II of the Belgians.These atrocities were particularly associated with the labour policies used to collect natural rubber for export. In 1853 he married Marie-Henriette, daughter of the Austrian archduke Joseph, palatine of Hungary, and became king of the Belgians on his fathers death in December 1865. p.20. La question sociale au Congo: Rapport au comit du congrs colonial national. Although the domestic affairs of his reign were dominated by a growing conflict between the Liberal and Catholic parties over suffrage and education issues, Leopold concentrated on developing the countrys defenses. 13(May 15). Belgian King Leopold II ruthlessly seized control of the African continent on February 5, 1885, establishing the Congo Free State as a . Oxford, U.K.: Clarendon Press. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. In one, a man sits on a low platform looking at a dismembered small foot and small hand. She does not believe it will not be quick or easy. Red Rubber: The Story of the Rubber Slave Trade Which Flourished on the Congo for Twenty Years, 18901910. Together with epidemic disease, famine, and a falling . Between the time that Leopold started to assume control of the Congo (around 1880) and when the forced labor system became less severe (after 1920), what happened could not, by strict definition, be called genocide, for there was no deliberate attempt to wipe out all members of one particular ethnic group. 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. Its report that year to the Belgian king mostly focused on disease, but stressed that forced labor for rubber and other products "subjects the natives to conditions of life which are an obstacle to their increase" and warned that this situation, plus "a lack of concern about devastating plagues ancient and modern, an absolute ignorance of people's normal lives [and] a license and immorality detrimental to the development of the race," had reached "the point of threatening even the existence of certain Congolese peoples" and could completely depopulate the entire region (Bulletin Officiel, 1920, pp. The couple's first son, Louis Philippe, died in infancy prior to Leopold II's birth. For centuries African slave dealers had raided parts of this area, selling their captives to American and European captains who sailed Africa's west coast, and to traders who took slaves to the Arab world from the continent's east coast. He promised a humanitarian and philanthropic mission that would improve the lives of Africans. LEOPOLD II (18351909; ruled 18651909), king of Belgium and personal sovereign of the Congo Free State. In two ways the Congo's rubber boom had lasting impact beyond the territory itself. Stanley was applauded, admired, decoratedand ignored. Army officers and colonial officials earned bonuses based on the amount of rubber collected in areas under their control. The history of Colonialism as a policy or practice go, THE CAUSE OF DECOLONIZATION "[2]:145. Most of the monarchs in western Europe had been forced to largely yield political power to the electorate by the late 19th century, so Belgiums parliament and cabinet were the real locus of power, but Leopold used the prestige of the monarchy to lobby for pet projects. . Estimates vary, but about half the Congolese population died from punishment and malnutrition. They belonged to his five-year-old daughter, who was later killed when her village did not produce sufficient rubber. "King Leopold II and the Congo He called it tat Indpendant du Congo, the Congo Free State. 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. The secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure. Brussels: Goemaere. 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. Alice Harris, a British Baptist, took photographs of the atrocities she witnessed. Leiden, Netherlands: E.J. In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. Leopold was an intelligent and ruthless man who wasn't afraid to lie or kill in order to expand Belgium's power. There seemed no economic sense to investing energy in Africa when the returns from other colonies were likely to be both richer and more immediate. Why did King Leopold give up the Congo? The Congo Free State was founded by Belgian King Leopold II on February 5, 1885, after he violently annexed the African continent. On Friday the younger brother of Belgium's King Philippe, Prince Laurent, defended his ancestor saying Leopold II was not responsible for atrocities in the colony "because he never went to. In the early years the main commodity Leopold sought was ivory. Tens of thousands of others were shot down in failed rebellions against the regime. Morel, E. D. (1968). "Leopold II certainly does not deserve a statue in the public domain," agrees Bambi Ceuppens, scientific commissioner at the Africa Museum. [11]:66. 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. EUROPEAN EFFORTS TO REINVENT OVERSEA, Kenyatta, Jomo 1891(? 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. The forced-labour system for gathering rubber was swiftly copied by French, German, and Portuguese colonial officials with equally fatal results. Did this woman die because her genitals were cut? Marchal, Jules (1996). Franklin, John Hope (1985). Leopold II's reign as King of Belgium coincided with the time period of the Scramble for Africa, during which the European powers of the day raced for control of different regions . The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. In DR Congo itself, no-one has really noticed the Belgian protests, says Jules Mulamba, a lawyer in the south-eastern city of Lubambashi. That would be absurd."[9]. Nzansu's men fought on sporadically for five years more, and no record of his fate exists. Initially, government and commercial agents focused on acquiring ivory, but inventions, like the car, dramatically increased the demand for rubber. Please select which sections you would like to print: Also known as: Leopold Lodewijk Filips Maria Victor, Leopold-Louis-Philippe-Marie-Victor. 24 February 2004. The King Incorporated: Leopold II in the Age of Trusts. Birmingham Protest March "Civilisation" was at the core of Leopold II's pitch to European leaders in 1885 when they sliced up and allocated territories in what became known as the Scramble for Africa. The king then embarked on an ultimately successful effort to make a vast fortune from his new possession. When you reach out to him or her, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource. Encyclopedia.com. Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity. The Congo and the Founding of Its Free State: A Story of Work and Exploration. Biography of Ernesto Che Guevara, Revolutionary Leader, Top Ten Villains of Latin American History, War of the First Coalition in 1790s France, 10 Facts About the Independence of Texas From Mexico, Events Leading to the Scramble for Africa, A Photo Gallery of the Mexican Revolution, Biography of Emiliano Zapata, Mexican Revolutionary, Ph.D., History, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, M.A., History, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, B.A./B.S, History and Zoology, University of Florida. In 1870 roughly 80 percent of Africa south of the Sahara Desert was governed by indigenous kings, chiefs, and other rulers. Published in many American and European newspapers, it was the first comprehensive, detailed indictment of the regime and its slave labor system. If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media. . 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. He did however apologise for the kidnapping of thousands of mixed-race children, known as mtis, from Burundi, DR Congo and Rwanda in the 1940s and 1950s. Male rubber gatherers often died from exhaustion. Beyond removal of statues, far more work is required to dismantle racism, protesters and black communities argue. 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. The kings stated goal was to bring civilization to the people of the Congo, an enormous region in Central Africa. So they outsourced the task to Leopold, who used personal diplomacy to convince the European powers to grant him control of a large portion of the Congo basin. Furthermore, as in any society where men and women are separated, traumatized, or in flight as refugees, the birth rate dropped precipitously. 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. By 1910 nearly this entire huge expanse had become European colonies or land, like South Africa, controlled by white settlers. Hoornaert, Andr and O. Louwers (1924). https://www.encyclopedia.com/international/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/king-leopold-ii-and-congo, "King Leopold II and the Congo Read about our approach to external linking. But the slashing of the territory's populationthrough a combination of disease, famine, slave labor, suppression of rebellions, and diminished birthrateindisputably occurred on a genocidal scale. To avoid discovery, materials and workers were shipped in by various roundabout routes, and communications between Stanley and Leopold were entrusted to Colonel Maximilien Strauch. Europeans were interested in Africa for its abundance of natural resources (ivory, rubber, gold, etc.) No one will ever know the precise figures, but, from all these causes, demographers estimate that between 1880 and 1920 the population of the Congo may have been slashed by up to 50 percent, from perhaps 20 million people at the beginning of that period to an estimated 10 million at the end. View 6.2_Reading_Check.docx from HISTORY 2109320 at Coral Reef Senior High School. Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity. Montgomery Bus Boycott Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. [3], As a constitutional monarch, Leopold was charged with the usual constitutional duties of opening parliaments, greeting diplomats, and attending state funerals. ." The newly named Belgian Congo remained a colony until the Democratic Republic of Congo gained its independence in 1960. Soldiers were also reportedly promised their freedom or given other incentives for killing the most people as proven by supplying the most hands. One by one the other great mysteries had been explored: Though the Congo had been one of the first to be attempted, it remained a mystery. It would be "really significant for Congolese people, especially those whose families perished," she explains. Rather than control the Congo as a colony, as other European powers did throughout Africa, Leopold privately owned the region. The royal palace is yet to give its own response. [8], It was only at this point that Stanley was informed of the magnitude of Leopold's ambition: Stanley was not merely to construct a series of trading stations, he was to secretly carve out an entire nation. Women and children were often taken hostage until men fulfilled a quota; during which time the women were raped repeatedly. Brill. For some years ivory was a principal source of the great wealth that Leopold and his associates drew from the new colony. Ascherson, Neal (1963). But other scholars use even higher numbers. June 11th, 2020. who owned land where rubber grew wild. "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. Morel soon quit his job and in short order turned himself into the greatest British investigative journalist of his time. He was a veteran of the American Civil War, a historian, a Baptist minister, a lawyer, and the first black member of the Ohio state legislature. But why was Leopold's Congo so horrific? 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. Throughout the 1870s, Leopold cunningly established a reputation as a great philanthropist and humanitarian who wanted to spread Christianity and civilization to Africa. 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'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. Paris: Editions L'Harmattan. Then, rather than perish in the impenetrable country of the cascades, Stanley took a wide detour overland to come within striking distance of the European trading station at Boma on the Congo estuary. Corrections? The largest mutiny involved three thousand troops and an equal number of auxiliaries and porters, and continued for three years. The king's stated goal was to bring civilization to the people of the Congo, an enormous region in Central Africa. You cannot download interactives. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. He used Henry Morton Stanley to help him lay claim to the Congo, the present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo. National Geographic Headquarters 1145 17th Street NW Washington, DC 20036. In 1879 Stanley returned to the Congo as Leopold's agent. Amidst all of this, some of the best of people was also seen, in the bravery and resilience of ordinary Congolese men and women who resisted in small and large ways, and the passionate efforts of several American and European missionaries and activists to bring about reform. New York: Africana Publishing Company, 1986. King Leopold II's rule over the Congo met fierce resistance. On Monday the University of Mons removed a bust of the late king, following the circulation of a student-led petition saying it represented the "rape, mutilation and genocide of millions of Congolese". Initially he was most interested in ivory, a material that was greatly valued in the days before plastics because it could be carved into a great variety of shapesstatuettes, jewelry, piano keys, false teeth, and more. For thousands of years, that territory had been conquered by nearby Netherlands, France, Germany, and Luxembourg. Belgian officers were afraid that the rank and file of the Force Publique would waste bullets, so they demanded a human hand for each bullet their soldiers used as proof that the killings had been done. Many of the women hostages starved, and many of the male rubber gatherers were worked to death. Hochschild, Adam (1998). La Force publique de sa naissance 1914: Participation des militaires l'histoire des premires annes du Congo. Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. Leopold II (1835-1909) wanted his country to join the league of European empires, but the Belgian state refused to finance its part in western Europe's expensive scramble for Africa. While Leopold portrayed this as a great humanitarian act, his real purpose was to gain control of the upper Congo River and to acquire more workers. The European colonization of Africa was one of the greatest and swiftest conquests in human history. A British shipping company had the monopoly on all cargo traffic between the Congo and Belgium, and every few weeks it sent to the port of Antwerp a young junior official, Edmund Dene Morel, to supervise the unloading of a ship arriving from Africa. Pakenham, Thomas (1991). Leopold II established a colony in the Congo to gain natural resources for Belgium and wealth for himself. With women as hostages and men forced to tap rubber, few able-bodied adults were left to hunt, fish, and cultivate crops. 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. distance dakar ziguinchor par la route, steve thomas obituary, testors enamel paint drying time between coats,

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