Heart Of Darkness Imperialism

The book “Heart of Darkness” by Joesph Conrad was written in the late 1890’s explores aspects related to imperialism and the “Scramble of Africa.” The Scramble for Africa refers to a time where African territories were colonized by European powers. These European powers would occupy, divide and colonize many African territories between the years of 1881 and 1914. This was during the time where the prospect of “New Imperialism” was taking over the world. New Imperialism refers to a time when countries all around the world were looking for colonial expansion. The new imperialism era was during the 19th to early 20th centuries. At this time, most of the powerful countries in the world were looking to expand their reign by gaining new territories.

The narrator tells us about the experience of visiting the Congo for work. However, there seems to be a difference between how imperialism is described in the book compared to reality. Therefore, throughout the essay we will be exploring the difference between how imperialism is described in the heart of darkness compared to imperialism in reality.

“Imperialism is an aspect in which countries extend power and domination by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas.”(Britannica) A form of imperialism took place when powerful European nations were taking over Africa. There were three motives to why these nations conquered Africa, the three main factors being economic, political, and social. The powerful European nations fighting for supremacy were Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. The book focuses on the Belgian rule in the Congo. The colonial regime in The Belgian Congo was known to be very brutal. This is due to the brutality they enforced on the local people. It additionally remains as an extraordinary case of the brutality of European lead in Africa for financial pick up. This

This was the case with Belgium and the Congo. This is due to the Congo having a rich variety of natural resources. The major exports from the Congo at that time included ivory, rubber, and precious minerals. All these resources combined were highly profitable and in great demand all over Europe. By trading these resources, Belgium was building its name in the EU. The aspect of ivory plays a huge role in the book as well. In the book we know that ivory is very valuable object for Kurtz. His focus in the Congo is not to trade, but instead take the ivory by force. The ivory is taken away from the native people by force, as well as treated by Kurtz with violence and suppression. This situation supports the case that imperialism is different. In the book natural resources are stolen from the native people by force, and are taken to other places to be used. Another aspect that plays a huge role is the environment in the Congo. During this time period, aspects such as mental disintegration and physical illness were present in the Congo. Illness playing a significant role in the book due to the characters being in a harsh environment. Since Kurtz has been in the Congo for longer he had nursed through two illnesses and was absent long periods of time. From this we can see that the explores at the time went through very harsh conditions. The book does a good job of describing the environment of the Congo at