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Colonialism in Congo:

A Human Tragedy
(or “How did Imperialism Effect
the Congo”?)

Slide 1 of 38
The region of central Africa now
known as the Congo is one of the
richest and most densely forested
places on earth.
Drained by one of the largest rivers
in the world , the Congo river basin
is home to many tribes and ethnic
groups.
During the early stages of
European colonialism, this part of
Central Africa was exploited by the
Portuguese mainly for slaves, but
the Europeans kept to the coast
and did not venture into the interior.
At a time when Africa
was being explored
from top to bottom by
Europeans, the interior
of the Congo remained
a “blank spot” to them
due to its harsh
environment, disease,
and hostile tribes.
Yet a few explorers brave enough
to enter the 1300 mile long river
system found the area to be full of
natural resources such as ivory and
rubber.

Moo
Explorers like Henry M. Stanley battled hostile
natives, disease, and natural obstacles to
“open up” the Congo for trade and exploitation.

“Dr. Livingston I
presume?”
Stanley’s explorations helped
Europeans get their mind
After
Stanley’s around the enormity of the
expeditions territory.
(1870s)

Before
Stanley’s
expeditions
(1850s)
With the investment of European and American
capitalists, Stanley helped build a railroad that bypassed
the cataracts at the mouth of the Congo and allowed
river trade to flow to the sea – greatly increasing the
ability of outsiders to make money in the Congo. The
rich world sat up and took notice.

Cataracts
(Waterfalls)
Yet with the “opening” of the Congo, a
pressing question appeared:

Congo
Which European
empire was going
to gain control of
Congo?

Slide 10 of 38
None of the Great Powers of
Europe were willing to let any
others have such a rich and
important colony. Wars had been
fought for far less.
In a rare moment of sanity, the
Great Powers decided to meet and
peacefully resolve their competing
claims to various parts of the world.

Congress of Berlin, 1878


They divided Africa, Asia, and the America’s
into “spheres of influence” and agreed not to
steal each other’s territory…

…they also agreed to give the Congo to a


small, powerless European nation so
insignificant that it could not threaten the power
of the others.
That country was Belgium, a
French-speaking nation no larger
than the state of South Carolina.
The king of that nation, Leopold II,
made sweet-sounding promises.

“Through my efforts I hope to bring about…


civilization to the peoples of the Congo
region by means of scientific exploration,
legal trade and war against Arabic slave
traders…to pierce the darkness which
hangs over entire peoples…”
But Leopold II was no humanitarian. His desire to own
colonies led him to try to buy colonies in the Philippines,
Formosa, Fiji, and Argentina. He failed.

It was only after cynically courting the explorers and


humanitarians of England, France, and Germany that he
became known as a friend of Africa.

His apparent goodwill toward Africa – and his ability to


play the Great Powers against one another at the Berlin
Conference resulted in him achieving his lifelong ambition
– to earn Belgium one of the richest colonies on the
planet…
Once Congo was safely under Belgium’s
control, Leopold began to set up a colonial
government designed to plunder the region of
its wealth...and go directly to a corporation that
he controlled. It became his own private
empire.
Using tactics perfected by other colonial powers,
The “Congo Free State” was turned into a Belgian
slave empire.
Slide 20 of 38
For twenty years the Belgians plundered
the Congo for ivory and rubber without
the knowledge of the outside world. Until
a British man named Edward Morel
noticed something strange…
As manager of a British shipping company
with dealings in Congo, Morel noticed that
ships were landing at Antwerp (Belgium) full
of ivory and rubber…yet they were returning
to Congo only with soldiers and weapons.
There was no trade occurring.

“Nothing was going into the Congo to


pay for what was coming out. How
was this rubber and ivory being
acquired?” (Through slavery.)
After investigating, Morel realized
that the Belgians had fooled the
world into thinking they were
civilizing Congo. He launched a
campaign to publicize the horrors of
the colonial regime.
Joined by other people of
conscience, Morel’s cause caught
the world’s attention.

G.W. Williams
went to Congo and risked death
to report the atrocities
G.W. Williams – an American “back to Africa”
activist and wounded Civil War veteran, was
initially excited about Leopold’s acquisition. Like
others, he was fooled by the image of Leopold as
a humanitarian. Upon visiting Congo in 1890, and
using his black skin as a disguise to enable him to
interview Africans, he changed his mind.
[Williams discovered that] in order to acquire the goodwill of
the Congolese Stanley’s men used a variety of tricks, such as
fooling Africans into thinking they had supernatural powers
to get Congo chiefs to sign their land over to Leopold.

For example…when shaking hands with chiefs they


used batteries and wires to convince them that they
had super strength...

Other times Stanley’s men would use magnifying


glasses to light their cigars and thereby fool chiefs
into thinking that they commanded the power of
the Sun and could ask it set fire to villages.

Yet other times white men would visibly load a gun


but slip the bullet into his pocket. Then he would
ask the chief to shoot him and, when the shot did
not appear to harm him, would produce the bullet at
his feet and claim to be immune.

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G.W. Williams
“Leopold’s military bases…caused a wave of
death and destruction, becaue the African
soldiers who manned them were expected to
feed themselves. These piratical [soldiers]
compel natives to supply them with [food] and
whenever the natives refuse…white officers
come with an expeditionary force and burn
away the homes of the natives.”
Pamphlets and newspaper articles exposed how
Leopold maintained control over the territory.

bribery

hostage taking

threats
Belgian methods Military force
of Control
misinformation and
propaganda
assassination
& murder
divide and conquer
Perhaps the most damning portrait came
from Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness”
– a novel based on his true experiences as
a riverboat captain in Congo. The novel’s
“Mr. Kurtz” was a murderous Belgian officer,
driven to insanity by his lust for power and
ivory.
Leopold’s good name was dragged
through the mud.
Historians estimate that during Leopold’s
reign, the Congo lost between 4 to 8 million
people due to violence and neglect. This
makes it one of the worst genocides in world
history. It is also largely forgotten.
Leopold died in 1909, never having laid eyes on his
beloved colony. After his death, the Belgian
government took control. The situation improved
greatly, but it wasn’t until Congolese nationalists
began to actively revolt in the mid 20th century that
Belgium finally granted Congo independence. But the
tragedy did not end.

Patrice Lumumba,
Prime Minister
Despite having gained its independence, Congo had been left
without lasting infrastructure or stable political structure,
resulting in many more decades of brutality and war at the
hands of dictators, warlords, and corporations. Today it remains
in the grip of a civil war that has killed more people than any
conflict since WWII.
What factors led to the man-made
tragedy in the Belgian Congo?

Who are the heroes and villains of


this story?

(Make a list.)
This presentation was created by
M. Richardson at Oakland Mills
High School solely for use by a
high school class under academic
fair use provisions of copyright law.
It is not intended for public use and
is based largely on the following
book:

Hochschild, Adam. King Leopold’s


Ghost. Mariner Books. 1999.

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