The cornucopia of the Congo’s available natural resources comes with a heavy burden to its native people. Time after time, the indigenous people of the Congo, fall victim to exploitation, enslavement, and treachery spurred on by competition for the raw materials of the land.
When imperialism was at its height, European countries seized every last morsel of land for their own. With its lavish resources and vast amounts of land, Africa became the next desirable continent to conquer. In 1885, King Leopold II became one of the first to claim a central African country, the Congo, for himself and his country, Belgium ("D.R. Congo Backgrounder"). With a facade of nobility, many Europeans believed Leopold’s efforts in the Congo were in the name of
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Under the guise of a philanthropist, Leopold tricked the local chiefs into agreeing to treaties which stole their land right from under their feet (Hochschild). The people of the land were either displaced and forced to find new land or enslaved and forced to harvest the overflowing natural resources. In the case of the Congo, the main coveted resource was rubber (Oliver). Leopold and his army worked Congolese men to death harvesting the naturally growing rubber. Starvation, disease, abuse, and terror ran rampant amongst the indigenous people, while birth rates dramatically decreased (Oliver; Hochschild). An estimated 10 million Congolese people were ruthlessly murdered at the hands of Leopold and his army all for the sake of reaping natural resources required to fulfill Western demand ("D.R. Congo Backgrounder"). Over the course of 75 years, Belgium remained in control of the Congo and cruelly exploited it’s …show more content…
From 1965 up until present day, the Congo’s fate has exchanged from hand to hand due to weak, unstable, and changing governments ("D.R. Congo Backgrounder"). No matter the government in charge, the Congo always falls to misfortune with its native people paying the cost. Today, the Congolese people continue to be exploited due to the abundance of natural resources found on their land. Heavily sought after minerals, often used in electronics, are the modern culprits instigating the violence (Fehr). Competition is rife in areas where tungsten, diamonds, tin, and gold, dubbed “conflict minerals,” are more common (Fehr). Rebel groups constantly fight over the precious resources and often at the Congolese civilians expense. Caught in the crossfire, civilians are severely injured or lose their lives. When a rebel group finally wins their turf, the natives found on it, including children, are forcefully displaced, subjected to sexual violence, enlisted to fight for the rebel army, or enslaved ("D.R. Congo Backgrounder."). Once again, the Congolese people succumb to violence provoked by competition over natural resources.
If this genocide continues, and the Congo itself or external governments don’t intervene, the native set of Congolese people with be entirely slaughtered. Irresponsible and uneducated Western buyers indirectly contribute to the atrocities in the Congo because a majority of raw materials
The book mainly chronicles the efforts of King Leopold II of Belgium which is to make the Congo into a colonial empire. During the period that the European powers were carving up Africa, King Leopold II of Belgium seized for himself the vast and mostly unexplored territory surrounding the Congo River.
Leopold paid a large monthly price to a journalist to ensure a stream of sympathetic articles about his activities in the Congo. The French did not feel threatened by Belgium or by Leopold’s claims. Their main fear was that when the king ran out of money, as they were sure he would, in his expensive plan to build a railway, he might sell the whole territory to their rival, Britain. When talking to the British, Leopold hinted that if he didn’t get all the land he wanted, he would leave Africa completely, which meant he would sell the Congo to France. The bluff worked, and Britain gave in. Staff in place and tools in hand, Leopold set out to build the infrastructure necessary to exploit his colony. Leopold’s will treated the Congo as if it were just a piece of uninhabited land to be disposed of by its owner. Leopold established the capital of his new Congo state at the port town of
...abor to get what he wanted, ivory and rubber. Leopold was able to colonize and pillage Congo for its resources during the Scramble for Africa through forced labor. The quote that sums up my essay and the book is best described at the end of chapter 15. Massacring huge numbers of natives will eventually frighten the survivors into gathering rubber. This shows the intentions of forced labor by the Force Publique and the reason for the population drop in Congo during Leopold’s rule.
Hochschild concludes that the world must never forget the events of Leopold’s Congo. This event is evidence that it is the result of human greed that led to so much suffering, injustice, and corruption.
King Leopold and his allies’ had great power over the Congo, which he soon exploited for its large supply of rubber. As said in the King Leopold’s Ghost, “For Europ...
The land Leopold had obtained was about eighty times larger than that of Belgium itself. Plus, Leopold was proclaimed the “sovereign” ruler of all the Congo Free Sta...
During the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century, King Leopold II of Belgium invaded the Congo and used it to procure more wealth for himself and his nation. In doing so, as many as ten million Congolese were decimated, and they faced unspeakable horrors. Hochschild argues in King Leopold’s Ghost that all actions taken by King Leopold II were done out of nothing more than sheer greed and selfishness, and he used any means necessary to get what he wanted, and manipulated others into following suit by exploiting their own greed and racism. The only way the brutality was combated, Hochschild further goes on to describe, was through the actions of the few with a higher moral character.
When the Age of Imperialism began in 1875, it effected Africa in many ways. Nowhere was the competition for colonies more intense than in Africa. Europeans went after North and South Africa splitting up the continent. Egypt and Sudan were taken over by Britain to obtain the Suez Canal. Imperialism helped to develop Africa’s economy and turned it into a continent of colonies.
Adam Hochschild painted a very vivid picture of the cruelty and injustices done to the Congolese from 1885 to 1908 in his book King Leopold’s Ghost. Hochschild shows us how manipulative King Leopold was in his desire for fortune and more power. This paper will point out the how King Leopold was a silver tongued snake, how he used his charm to win him the colony of Congo, and how his greed caused many innocent lives to be lost. This can be seen in the examination of how he gained control of the colony and his management thereafter.
Africa is a land of riches like no other, so as expected, European countries would have some sort of desire to conquer properties in whatever way they did. As stated in African Colonies and their Exports Chart, countless of natural resources are found in different areas in Africa. Not only does the data show plenty of resources, but also a variety (Doc D). This confirms that Africa is a wealthy land that Europeans grew fond of and hoped to take over. Specified in Imports and Exports Graph, following the 1900’s, after the conference to divide up Africa was held, Britain decided to use Africa’s natural resources and specialize in many industries. The imports doubled from 4 million pounds, while the exports boosted from 2.5 million all the way to 21 million pounds (Doc. E). With this lucrative increase in trading and selling, it is fair to conclude that not only were resources a factor of beginning imperialism in Africa, but also a successful result.
This relates back to Congo, where violence spurred by ethnic rivalries is due to local groups’ desire to make money by getting into the extractive industries. In another example, Newmont, an American company, mines Ghanaian gold and pays the government part of the profits. Here, Burgis shined the spotlight on an environmental issue: the sodium cyanide spill in Kwamebourkrom that killed aquatic life and posed hazardous living conditions for locals (Burgis, 134). Finally, in the last few chapters, Burgis touched on Cecil John Rhodes’ legacy as the founder of De Beers, blood diamonds, imperialism, and violence carried out by local governments and mining companies in order to protect their interests.
... attention allowed economic exploitation in the Congo and its people devastated by human rights abuses, and even today the lack of international attention has caused many conflicts in and around the Congo. The economic exploitation of the Congo during colonial times robbed the country of wealth which could have been used to develop the land, and the lack of wealth has contributed to Congo’s poor standing in the world today. Lastly, the human rights abuses in the Congo Free State contributed to economic and political troubles during the colonial period and has continued into the present day, as human rights abuses are still prevalent in that region of Africa. Due to the lack of international attention, economic exploitation, and human rights abuses, the Congo Free State was harmful to the Congo region of Africa and its legacy continues to harm that region of Africa.
The king of Congo claims that the nation is being “lost” due to the “excessive freedom” allowed to the king of Portugal’s subjects in Congo (Mbemba 634-635). Illustrating that the merchants and individuals from Portugal both destroyed the economic market in Congo, as well as took excessive liberties regarding the people of the nation, Mbemba brings up the issue as these actions being taken as a threat to “the security and peace of” the “Kingdoms and State” (Mbemba 635). In the beginning of the letter, it's brought up about how the market in Congo has been flooded with goods that have been “prohibi...
...line were ruined. Transportation costs are very high which seriously hampers small producers’ access to markets. At the height of the conflict, about one third of the country's people were displaced. The chronic financial crisis became severe and the economy was close to collapsing. Poverty became deeper in the rural areas of the Congo where poor people are now powerless, vulnerable and isolated. This is a big contributor to the poverty Congo is experiencing today because little has improved and won’t improve until these problems are fixed.
As Marlow passes through the waters of the Congo, it is easily visible the trouble of the natives. “Black shapes crouched, lay, sat between the trees, leaning against the trunks, clinging to the earth half coming out, half effaced with the dim light, in all the attitudes of pain, abandonment, and despair.” (20) Show that the holding of these colonies has started. The soldiers have come in and taken the inhabitants and are destroying them and taking from them the one thing they deserve over everything, life. The imperialists seem to not care about the Africans and are just there for their land.