Colonialism In King Leopold II

Colonialism is a relationship of ascendency between an indigenous (or forcibly imported) majority and a minority of transcontinental invaders. Colonial rulers have the power to make the essential decisions that affect the lives of the colonised people, which are implemented in pursuit of interests defined in a distant metropolis. Through the ability of rejecting cultural compromises with the colonised population, the colonisers extend their supremacy and their ordained mandate to rule. Nonetheless, Colonial conquest is a term that undermines the complexity within colonialism. To fully understand this period of time, you need to recognize and accept the complication of the motives, methods, the events that occurred and the history involved.

King Leopold II is a key figure to explore when looking at colonialism. He is described as a man who tried to obtain territories to exploit in almost every part of the world through any method he could think of. Throughout his life he was looking for opportunities for personal gain. He studied in British colonies on how to manage a colony which shows us his ambition. In 1885 he successfully conquered Congo. However, he had hopes of taking more than just what was in Africa. His colonial conquests motive was seen was far from economic gain but for ‘territorial greed’. He had no capitalist gains to think of but rather his aim was ‘pillage’ in the ultimate tradition sense. As many other colonisers had the motive of national interest, his motive was personal interest. The conquest could not have been seen as in the national interest as he had simply no support from the population of Belgium before it was under his control. Only once he had control, did he gain some sort of support from an insignificant number in Belgium. However, the key to analysis of King Leopold II is in his activities that were strategically planned to look like philanthropy through his funding of various African organisations and at the various conferences he spoke at. He did not mention capitalist motives as he had no interest, the times he did were only for the ears of those listening. The Berlin conference of 1884-5 is an example of where he spoke about his ambitions to end the slave trade and create peace. He put forth humanitarian motives, but it is clear that can see this was far from his objective as the population of Congo was reduced by half under his reign due to the greed he had taking all that was left for the population whilst killing them. Through analysing King Leopold’s rule, it can be shown how at the forefront his humanitarian motives were simply a cloak for his hidden agenda of personal