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Scramble for Africa and King Leopold II

Missette Fleurissaint Kaitlin Godwin Leah Haas Period 4. Scramble for Africa and King Leopold II. Britain was working to abolish the slave trade in Africa, and had managed to halt most of it around the shores of Africa. The story was different inland.

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Scramble for Africa and King Leopold II

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  1. MissetteFleurissaint Kaitlin Godwin Leah Haas Period 4 Scramble for Africa and King Leopold II

  2. Britain was working to abolish the slave trade in Africa, and had managed to halt most of it around the shores of Africa. The story was different inland. • Muslim traders invaded from the north of the Sahara and on the east coast and continued the slave trade as it was their livelihood. Britain, wishing to stop this slave trade out of Africa, began to try to take control of African territory. End of the Slave Trade

  3. Many Europeans desired to travel and explore Africa, mostly to discover the fabled city of Timbuktu and the course of the Niger River. Soon curiosity became a mere novelty and explorers began to chart desirable traits of land and acquire indigenous peoples for the wealthy people who financed the trips to Africa by European explorers. Exploration

  4. Trade for raw materials and other “legitimate” trade were encouraged over slave trade. Exploitation of the continent was necessary for European countries to make money. Cash crops were grown on the abundant land to sustain European cities and their citizens. Capitalism

  5. Worked in the name of King Leopold II of Belgium by exploring parts of Africa and establishing treaties on his behalf with chieftains of tribes along the River Congo. Stanley also started a colony along the River Congo in King Leopold’s name as Belgium could not sustain one. Many European explorers followed in Stanley’s footsteps to explore and settle in Africa. Henry Morton Stanley

  6. King Leopold II (1835-1909) Beginning in 1876 King Leopold of Belgium held many conferences on establishing Belgian influence in central Africa. Leopold’s main objective was to exploit the profitable ivory market in Central Africa by creating a trade route between the Upper and Lower Congo. The region was reported to be rich in other produce as well, such as mineral resources.

  7. As rubber became popular, so did the exploitation of the resource. The picture to the left depicts the results of the forced duty of rubber tapping. Leopold would hold male’s wives and children as hostages until they filled their rubber quota. Refusal would result in limbs being cut off. Exploitation of Resources

  8. Leopold upheld the image that he wanted to suppress slave trade, and promote free trade and scientific enterprises. • Violating his contract however, Leopold decreed that Belgium had the right to all unclaimed territory in the Congo. Considering the Africans lack of modern claims to land, his decree reigned over most if not all of the continent. • Leopold eventually invested in the slave trade between the Arabs so he could fill his Force Publique, which acted as a police force against slave trade, and monopolized a lot of the ivory trade through import duties. • The brutality of Leopold was recognized by the international community and pressured the Belgium parliament to have Leopold removed, which ended successfully. Leopold destroyed all evidence of his atrocities. • By the end of Leopold’s reign in 1908 the Congolese population had decreased by nearly 10 million people which can be attributed to murder, starvation, exhaustion and exposure, disease, and plummeting birth rates. Butcher of the Congo

  9. “African Landscape.” G Static. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2014. <https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQARrAFOBHpyUgvwsSCcyBy5r3c8PW40pE5xLze2srKtEL5-wjW>. “Cash Crops.” Support Ghana. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2014. <http://www.supportghana.co.uk/images/cash-crops.jpg>. “Henry Morton Stanley.” G Static. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2014. <https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRKwSSqS55Cjky7XE1WJCJV13Zq5QysqyBfljpRI77dB5Q-oRsM>. “Henry Morton Stanley.” NNDB. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2014. <http://www.nndb.com/people/284/000092008/henry-morton-stanley-2-sized.jpg>. “Niger River.” Freedom Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2014. <http://freedomonline.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/niger_river.jpg>. “River Congo.” Korrectiv Press. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2014. <http://korrektivpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/river-congo.jpg>. “Scramble for Africa.” Folio Society. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2014. <http://www.foliosociety.com/images/books/illustrations/lrg/SCA_13140271736.jpg>. “Timbuktu.” Paradise in the World. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2014. <http://paradiseintheworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/timbuktu.jpg>. Boddy-Evans, Alistair. "What Caused the Scramble for Africa?" African History. About.com, n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2014. <http://africanhistory.about.com/od/eracolonialism/a/ScrambleWhy.htm>. Schimmer, Russell. "Congo Free State 1885-1908." Genocide Studies Programs. Yale University, 2010. Web. 3 Feb. 2014. <http://www.yale.edu/gsp/colonial/belgian_congo/>. Works Cited

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