Soldiers were also reportedly promised their freedom or given other incentives for killing the most people as proven by supplying the most hands. 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. Many women hostages were raped and a significant number starved to death. With women as hostages and men forced to tap rubber, few able-bodied adults were left to hunt, fish, and cultivate crops. New and revised edition. (Believing one people is more civilized than another is wrong.) Imperialism in Africa Assignment and Quiz Flashcards | Quizlet Throughout the tropics, people rushed to sow rubber trees, but those plants could take many years to reach maturity, and in the meantime there was money to be made wherever rubber grew wild. The people of the Congo were forced to labor for valued resources, including rubber and ivory, to personally enrich Leopold. William Roger Louis and Jean Stengers. 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. Leopold II was the second son of Leopold I, first king of the Belgians, and his second wife, Marie-Louise of Orlans. 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. The propensity for violence is . 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. Millions of Congolese then found themselves suffering near-famine, which made them vulnerable to diseases they otherwise might have survived. During that window of time those who profited were the people For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. 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. Belgium's Heart of Darkness | History Today Congo Free State - Wikipedia As he put it, he did not want to miss out on the opportunity of getting a slice of "this magnificent African cake." King . George Washington Williams: A Biography. He was interested in the Congo river basin because there were many natural resources such as rubber, minerals, ivory, diamonds, and gold. A renewed global focus on racism is highlighting a violent colonial history that generated riches for Belgians but death and misery for Congolese. Marchal, Jules (1996). Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity. She does not believe it will not be quick or easy. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. King Leopold II was the ruler of the Congo Free State, and the King of Belgium. Outside of the Cape of Good Hope and the Mediterranean coast, Europe had no African colonies of any significance. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited. 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. p.20. 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. The movement, in fact, eventually forced Leopold to relinquish his private ownership of the Congo to the Belgian state in 1908. 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. Starting in the early 1920s, however, the system became considerably less draconian, mainly because colonial officials realized that otherwise they would soon have no labor force left. Belgian King Leopold II ruthlessly seized control of the African continent on February 5, 1885, establishing the Congo Free State as a . 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. 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. 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. Bulletin Officiel du Congo Belge (1920). Forbath, P. The River Congo: The Discovery, Exploration, and Exploitation of the World's Most Dramatic River, 1991 (Paperback). At the time, his father, Leopold I, was the King of Belgium. 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. SCLC Formed He provided for no education or vocational training, which would stunt future Congolese leaders from making sound economic and political policies. "It's a good thing that everyone is waking up, looking around and thinking 'is this right?'" The horrific consequences of rubber's toxic past - BBC News Leopold (18351909) had ascended to the throne in 1865. King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild Plot Summary | LitCharts Tens, possibly hundreds, of thousands of Africans also died in two decades' worth of unsuccessful uprisings against the king's regime. King Leopold II's Colonization Of The Congo | ipl.org Because of his actions King Leopold should be condemned as a criminal for his exploration and abuse to the Congo land and people. Estimates suggest more than 50% died there. However, he added, "since history teaches that colonies are useful, that they play a great part in that which makes up the power and prosperity of states, let us strive to get one in our turn."[4]. wives' release, the men would have to disperse into the rain forest to collect the sap of wild rubber vines. 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. The king also faced enemies of another sort. (April 27, 2023). What Did King Leopold Of Belgium Do In The Congo? - Caniry Angela Thompsell, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of British and African History at SUNY Brockport. But for Leopold this posed no problem; he would acquire his own. Many of the women hostages starved, and many of the male rubber gatherers were worked to death. who owned land where rubber grew wild. And under such circumstances people tended to stop having children, so the birthrate plummeted as a result. 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. In 1870 more than 80 percent of Africa south of the Sahara was under the rule of indigenous chiefs or kings. 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 . Harper & Row. For many years Leopold II was widely known as a leader who defended Belgium's neutrality in the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian war and commissioned public works fit for a modern nation. Humankind will never know even the approximate toll with any certainty, but beyond any doubt what happened in the Congo was one of the great catastrophes of modern times.