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Belgian Colony of Congo. Why King Leopold Wanted Congo. Company Rule. The Congo Free State was the personal domain of King Leopold II of Belgium His rule is known as the most brutal of all colonial rulers
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Company Rule • The Congo Free State was the personal domain of King Leopold II of Belgium • His rule is known as the most brutal of all colonial rulers • He gave Belgian businesses free access to the Congo, who administered the colony and exploited the mineral and human resources • The treatment of the Africans was so hard that when the Belgian government took control of the territory in 1908, it became known as the Belgian Congo • However, the Belgian businesses still ruled the colony
Where the story begins… • In 1872, Henry Stanley, an American journalist, ventured into the central region of Africa, known as the Congo, and located a “lost” British explorer named David Livingstone.
The news of Stanley’s successful venture became a sensation in Europe, and the King of Belgium, Leopold II, became instantly interested in the territory known as, “The Congo”.
In particular, Leopold was drawn to Stanley’s reports of rubber trees, ivory-tusked elephants, and gold-wearing natives.
The Congo Free State • Leopold sent the famous explorer of Africa, Henry Morton Stanley, to negotiate treaties with the natives. • Native chiefs were offered trinkets or cloth if they would place an X on a document in foreign tongue.
The Congo "I do not want to risk...losing a fine chance to secure for ourselves a slice of this magnificent African cake.”--Leopold II Belgian Congo
The Congo Free State • Use of river to gain access to ivory- and rubber-rich interior made the Congo a coveted area for colonization. • European nations negotiated and agreed to respect each others’ claims to African territory, Leopold made claim for Congo. The Berlin Conference, 1884-1885
Leopold waged a skillful public relations campaign to promote his “Congo Free State” as an effort to stop the Arabs from running a slave trade in Africa. This, of course, was a ruse. Slave raids such as this one carried out by the kingdom of Dahomey in return for European muskets and money provided Leopold II with his “humanitarian” excuse for going into the Congo.
Promises, Promises • Leopold promised the European nations at the conference that he would build a nation of free Congo states, like the United States, and end the slave trade.
Leopold, Stanley, and the Congo • Stanley began to sign treaties with over 450 native chiefs from the Congo • As a result, Leopold gained rule of these lands given up by the chiefs • In 1885, after the Berlin Conference, Leopold was given personal rule over the newly declared Congo Free State • Leopold had what he wanted because other European powers recognized his hold over Congo
Chiefs of Ngombi & Mafela, in return for "one piece of cloth per month to each of the undersigned chiefs, besides present of cloth in hand," they promised to "freely of their own accord, for themselves and their heirs and successors for ever...give up to the said Association the sovereignty and all sovereign and governing rights to all their territories...and to assist by labour or otherwise, any works, improvements or expeditions which the said Association shall cause at any time to be carried out in any part of these territories....All roads and waterways running through this country, the right of collecting tolls on the same, and all game, fishing, mining and forest rights, are to be the absolute property of the said Association.” --Treaty handing over land to Leopold II
The Congo Free State: Leopold’s False Promises • European countries recognized Leopold’s claim to the territory in 1885 because of: • Stanley’s treaties for Leopold • Leopold’s assurances that he would end slavery • Leopold’s promise that the Congo would remain a free trade area. • The colony “belonged” to Leopold personally.
Instead, Leopold began a 70 year plunder of the Congo of its rubber, ivory, gold, diamonds, copper, and tin. • And, his Belgian forces enslaved Congolese peoples with regularity.
Leopold II • Exploitation of resources • Ivory, Rubber, Minerals • One of the greatest international scandals of the early 20th century • Forced/slave labor • Starvation • Disease • Torture/mutilation • Directly and indirectly eliminated 20% of the population • 10 to 13 million people A 1906 Punch cartoon depicting Leopold II as a rubber vine entangling a Congolese man Kevin P. Dincher
The Congo Free State :“The Profit Imperative” • Leopold drove slave traders out and portrayed it as humanitarian act. • Reality: he did it to gain control of region. • Leopold paid his ‘agents’ in the Congo a percentage of profits, encouraging them to make the trade more and more profitable. • Also authorized the use of as much force as was deemed necessary.
The Congo Free State :“The Profit Imperative” • Colony not profitable in first few years. • Soon the idea of free trade was abandoned • Natives could only trade with Leopold’s representatives, with 50% of profits going to Leopold himself. • Profit required cheap labor (gathering rubber is very labor intensive).
Leopold’s Abuse of the Congo • Agents ‘encouraged’ young men to work by holding their wives and children captive until each man’s quota was met. • Many who resisted were killed on the spot. • Others were beaten with whips made from dried hippo hide with sharp edges. • 20 lashes resulted in unconsciousness • 100 lashes resulted in death.
Women kept hostage to force their husbands to go and gather rubber. Rubber was harvested by climbing the rubber tree, tapping into it and letting the sap run all over the slave’s body, where it would congeal. Later he would peel the rubber off his body, taking any body hair with it. Rubber harvesters were given impossible quotas to fill each month. In addition to enduring the hardships of gathering rubber in the jungle, many of them were killed by wild animals.
"The station chief selects the victims....Trembling, haggard, they lie face down on the ground...two of their companions, sometimes four, seize them by the feet and hands, and remove their cotton drawers....Each time that the torturer lifts up the chicotte, a reddish stripe appears on the skin of the pitiful victims, who, however firmly held, gasp in frightful contortions....At the first blows the unhappy victims let out horrible cries which soon become faint groans....In a refinement of evil, some officers, and I've witnessed this, demand that when the sufferer gets up, panting, he must graciously give the military salute.” -- Stanislas Lefranc, Belgian prosecutor The chicotte, a particularly vicious type of whip made from rhinoceros hide.
Belgian Congo Two victims (l.) who lost their hands, one because his wrists were tied too tightly, the other because company militia cut it off to claim him as killed and get a reward. Below, a father looks at the severed hand and foot of his daughter
Primary Source: Roger Casement, Report from the Congo Basin in 1903 • Here Nkwabali took up the tale from Moyo, the Bangongo chief: ‘We said to the white men, We are not enough people now to do what you want us. Our country has not many people in it and we are dying fast. We are killed by the work you make us do, but the stoppage of our plantations, and the breaking up of our homes.’”
"I have just returned from a journey inland to the village of InsongoMboyo. The abject misery and utter abandon is positively indescribable. I was so moved, Your Excellency, by the people's stories that I took the liberty of promising them that in future you will only kill them for crimes they commit.“ John Harris (Missionary) Kevin P. Dincher
The men in this photo are holding human hands. sun.menloschool.org
5-8 Million Victims! (50% of Popul.) It is blood-curdling to see them (the soldiers) returning with the hands of the slain, and to find the hands of young children amongst the bigger ones evidencing their bravery...The rubber from this district has cost hundreds of lives, and the scenes I have witnessed, while unable to help the oppressed, have been almost enough to make me wish I were dead... This rubber traffic is steeped in blood, and if the natives were to rise and sweep every white person on the Upper Congo into eternity, there would still be left a fearful balance to their credit. -- Belgian Official
Leopold’s Abuse of the Congo • Revolt broke out. • Leopold sent troops into villages to exterminate the young men. • To make sure bullets weren’t wasted, soldiers were expected to return with the severed right hands of those they killed. • Soldiers who couldn’t meet quotas or spent bullets hunting would cut hands off of living women and children. Between 1895-1908 an estimated 8-10 million people died due to murder, mistreatment and starvation.
The “Hand” Tax • Hands cut off as proof of killing or punishment: received payment for hands and “proved” that supervisors were not “wasting” bullets on game hunting
Leopold’s men then proceeded to rape the land of its riches, especially ivory and rubber, ruthlessly using forced labor to get the job done. "It was most interesting, lying in the bush, watching the natives quietly at their day's work. Some women ...were making banana flour by pounding up dried bananas. Men we could see building huts and engaged in other work, boys & girls running about, singing.... I opened the game by shooting one chap through the chest. He fell like a stone....Immediately a volley was poured into the village.” "Six shots & four deaths were sufficient to quiet the mocking.”--Henry Stanley
The First Modern Genocide? From 1885-1908 the Congolese population declines by one-half to 10 million due to 1) murder 2) starvation/exhaustion 3) disease 4) low birth rate An estimated 10 million people died during this time
Effects of Imperialism on Congolese Continued • They were forced to collect sap from rubber plants by European Companies that King Leopold II issued. • A near 10 million Congolese died from the brutality of Leopold’s rule. • Humanitarians all around the world wanted big changes because of the horrible acts of Leopold. • The Belgium Government took control in 1908, away from the vicious Leopold. • There was slavery throughout Africa and they were beaten and forced to work but that would soon be over because they were going to gain independence from Belgium soon.
Effect on the Congo: The Human Rights Movement • Public pressure eventually forced Leopold to sell the Congo Free State to the Belgian government. It became The Belgian Congo in 1908 • The Belgian Government ended the worst of the atrocities, but still controlled the fate of the African natives “For their own good.” • The African natives were never consulted about their future
Imperial Power Removed In Congo • In 1908 the Congo was surrendered by King Leopold II to Belgium. • It was renamed the Belgium Congo. • Working conditions were harsh but the Belgium rule improved them significantly. • People began to demand self rule. • The Belgium government agreed to give their political power to the people because they were so confident that they would later regain control. • The Belgium Government was wrong, on June 30,1960, Congo gained their independence. • Joseph Kasavubu and Patrick Lumumba were the new president and prime minister of the Belgium Congo.
Benefits and Modernization • The Belgian modernized the colony • The Belgians built railroads and automobiles • They brought over electricity and telephones • ("Encyclopedia Britannica,“). http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/59224/Belgian-Congo
Cultural Imperialism • The Belgians forced many different Congo tribes to live together • The Belgians set up Belgian style schools • The Congolese lost their native language and way of religion • The Belgians brought a new system of law • (Everything Culture," ). http://sfbayview.com/2011/50-years-after-lumumba-the-burden-of-history/
Resistance and Independence Movements • Congo rebelled from beginning • The first Congolese party started in 1958 whose name was Congo nation movement • In 1959 riots broke out and Congo people demanded independence • Congo became an independent republic on June 30, 1960 • ("Encyclopedia Britannica," ). http://www.rnw.nl/africa/article/belgian-reign-terror-casts-shadow-over-congolese-anniversary-0
Consequences on the Occupied Region • When the Belgians left the country was unstable • The Congo lost a lot of its resources • Most people live in poverty • Government corruption has caused civil wars picture:mydailyclarity.com (Democratic Republic of the Congo, n.d.).
