King Leopold's legacy of DR Congo violence. 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. However, the date of retrieval is often important. Presbyterian Reformers in Central Africa: A Documentary Account of the American Presbyterian Congo Mission and the Human Rights Struggle in the Congo, 18901918. Leopold was an intelligent and ruthless man who wasn't afraid to lie or kill in order to expand Belgium's power. 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. In January 1959, riots broke out in Leopoldville (now Kinshasa) after a rally was held calling for the independence of the Congo. Stanley made his way back to Europe with a sheaf of signed treaties in 1884. Baskets of severed hands thus resulted from expeditions against rebels. 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. As a result of King Leopold actions, thousands of African tribes populations decreased significantly. One particularly notorious practice grew out of the suppression of those rebellions. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. Harper & Row. In 1908, international pressure forced the king to turn the Congo Free State over to the country of Belgium. Estimates suggest more than 50% died there. The country of Belgium itself was only about five years old at the birth of Leopold II, who became the eldest surviving son of Leopold I, first king of the Belgians, and his second wife, Louise-Marie of Orlans. The Herero were traditional occupants of the temperate high plains of central Namibia. Belgium's education minister announced this week that secondary schools would teach colonial history from next year. Leopold II was the second son of Leopold I, first king of the Belgians, and his second wife, Marie-Louise of Orlans. [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. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. It would be "really significant for Congolese people, especially those whose families perished," she explains. (Colonizing other peoples, regardless of the justification, is wrong. Therefore, King Leopold should be condemned as a criminal for his Read More Thesis Critique Of King Leopold's Ghost (1952). t. e. Colonization of the Congo Basin refers to the European colonization of the Congo Basin of tropical Africa. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. In May 1885, Leopold took possession of his colony and named it the Congo Free State. 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. Brussels: Didier Hatier. 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. 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". 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 Province of Angola). 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. New York: Africana Publishing Company, 1986. In 1870 roughly 80 percent of Africa south of the Sahara Desert was governed by indigenous kings, chiefs, and other rulers. 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. 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. The first nationwide Congolese political party, the Congo National Movement, was launched in 1958 by Patrice Lumumba and other Congolese leaders. A master of public relations who portrayed himself as a great philanthropist, the king orchestrated successful lobbying campaigns in one country after another. Former President of Kenya Forbath, P. The River Congo: The Discovery, Exploration, and Exploitation of the World's Most Dramatic River, 1991 (Paperback). If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media. Early and Personal Life. Belgian King Leopold II ruthlessly seized control of the African continent on February 5, 1885, establishing the Congo Free State as a . They also sometimes eradicatedwhole villages that failed to meet the quotas as a warning to others. 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. Furthermore, as in any society where men and women are separated, traumatized, or in flight as refugees, the birth rate dropped precipitously. If that figure is accurate and it represents 50 percent of what the population had been in 1880, this would suggest a loss of 10 million people. All failed. (2022, June 2). The results of this rule were very uneven. For thousands of years, that territory had been conquered by nearby Netherlands, France, Germany, and Luxembourg. 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. It was the last part of the continent to be colonized. "It's a good thing that everyone is waking up, looking around and thinking 'is this right?'" In the early years the main commodity Leopold sought was ivory. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Leopolds reign over the Congo Free State, however, has become infamous for its brutality. For the earlier Bantu colonization, see. As the realities and suffering within the Congo Free State became more widely known, many European people spoke out against these abuses. As rubber prices soared, so did the quotas. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. 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. 1996 - 2023 National Geographic Society. These men were generally from other parts of the Congo or other colonies entirely, and the orphans and enslaved people had often been brutalized themselves. She or he will best know the preferred format. 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. Leopold's reign over the Congo Free State, however, has become infamous for its brutality. 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. Hoornaert, Andr and O. Louwers (1924). To secure their Leopold continued his action, even after the Belgium Parliament refused to annex the Congo. 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. Rather than control the Congo as a colony, as other European powers did throughout Africa, Leopold privately owned the region. 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. It is false to assume that one group of people is more civilized than another. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. 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. Around 20,000 children born to Belgian settlers and local women were forcibly taken to Belgium to be fostered. Leopold II established a colony in the Congo to gain natural resources for Belgium and wealth for himself. OF DECOLONIZATION 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. The royal coffers would become a central focus of Leopolds life, and he once grumbled to German Emperor William II while watching a parade in Berlin, There is really nothing left for us kings except money! Leopold soon decided that the best way to acquire wealth would be by establishing an African colony, at a time when the great European Scramble for Africa was under way. Many classrooms still have Herg's famous cartoon book Tintin in the Congo, with its depictions of black people now commonly accepted as extremely racist. "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). The bloodiest single episode in Africa's colonization took place in the center of the continent in the large territory, known as the Congo. Alice Harris, a British Baptist, took photographs of the atrocities she witnessed. 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. 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. [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. 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. Name Ahmed Kamel Date 2/17/22 Topic 6.2 Reading Check 1. 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. Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. Brussels: Institut Royal Colonial Belge. Pakenham, Thomas (1991). In the early 1890s, Leopold's private African army, the Force Publique (Public Force), drove the powerful Muslim slave traders out of the Congo. Although Stanley is best known as the man who found Livingstone, his trip across the Congo basin was the greater feat of exploration and had far more impact on history. 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. Explore in 3D: The dazzling crown that makes a king. Instead, the ships carried soldiers, and large quantities of firearms and ammunition. Encyclopedia.com. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. The king's colonial officials quickly set up a brutal but effective system for harvesting wild rubber. Manchester, U.K.: National Labour Press. 24 February 2004. Among those who weren't killed, many were punished by having a hand and/or foot amputated. L'histoire du Congo 18761900. There are at least 13 statues to Leopold II in Belgium, according to one crowd-sourced map, and numerous parks, squares and street names. 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. Birmingham Protest March 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. 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. As he put it, he did not want to miss out on the opportunity of getting a slice of "this magnificent African cake." King . 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. E. D. Morel contre Lopold II: L'histoire du Congo 19001910. The propensity for violence is . Why did King Leopold colonize the Congo? New and revised edition. In 1885 he proclaimed the existence of the misnamed tat Indpendant du Congo, or, as it was known in English, the Congo Free State, with himself the King-Sovereign.
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