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The impact of colonialism on Congo
The impact of imperialism on the congo essay
Congo imperialism
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No for a Second Colonization of the Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of Congo is occupied by multinational! The Democratic Republic of Congo known as Congo State is the third largest country in Africa beside Sudan and Algeria with its superficial land of 2,344,885 square kilometers. Congo is surrounding by nine different countries from North to South, and West to East; Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, Congo Brazzaville, Angola, Central African Republic, and Sudan. The dense climate, geographical position location, and resources such as cobalt, diamonds, tin, tungsten, zinc, silver, copper, gold and so more make Congo an attractive place by many international countries in the world. (McBride). The Democratic Republic of Congo was discovered and occupied by the King Leopold II of Belgium in 1876 as his own property since till Jun 30th, 1960 when it got officially its independence as a free state. The King Leopold II established the sovereignty of Belgium, and personal control over Congo in way to exploit its resources however he wanted. The Yale University published a document about genocide studies program, and stated that the King Leopold II worked so hard to gain control over the Congo basin by taking away all the vacant lands throughout the whole Congo territories, reducing the Congolese people's rights to their own villages and farms, and imposing the merchants to limit their commercial operations in rubber to bartering with the natives. After given up Congo as a personal rule by the king Leopold II due to his abuse of power, the Belgian parliament decided to take control of the Congo, and annexed it as a colony of Belgium in 1908 which thereafter was under the control of the Belgian parliament ... ... middle of paper ... ...inate the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo as the Africa First World War which had involved neighborhood countries such as Angola, Burundi, Chad, Namibia, Uganda, Rwanda, and Zimbabwe. According to the United Nations, this war took about 3.5 million of Congolese people in 2006, and continued to kill at least 45,000 of people each month of 2008. (McGreal, Chris). Enough is enough! Today Congolese people have tolerated enough of emulation, murders, exploitation of natural resources of Congo by the neighborhood countries and multinational. As the Congolese of diaspora around the world have understood the plan against Congo that does not serve the DR Congo but Rwanda and Uganda, all as one body have decided to fight non matter what against all the enemies of Congo who are planning to balkanize the Republic Democratic of Congo. (International Crisis Group, 2003).
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
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’s Ghost is a historical analysis by Adam Hochschild, professor at Berkley, of Belgium’s King Leopold II’s orchestration of a private empire in the Congo at the end of the 1800s. During this particular time in history, the great political powers in the world set their eyes upon Africa as a prospect for exploration, annexation and exploitation. In King Leopold’s Ghost, Hochschild recounts the great human cost of Belgium’s imperial effort, and the willingness of the world to turn a blind eye to the blatant terrorization of a people. This book is an account of the atrocities which took place in the Congo at the bidding of King Leopold II, why they happened, why they did not stop, and most importantly why no one remembers what happened to those unfortunate peoples of the Congo as a result of imperialism and globalization.
The land Leopold had obtained was about eighty times larger than that of Belgium itself. Plus, Leopold was proclaimed the “sovereign” ruler of the entire Congo Free State, granting him the power to exercise total control, where as, in Belgium, Leopold was forced to rule under a constitutional monarchy.... ... middle of paper ... ... “Africa Imperialism” History of Imperialism.
...trage about violence in the Congo, Belgian administrators took a census in 1924, as they were concerned about the shortage of available workers. The same year, the official committee of the National Colonial Congress of Belgium declared: “We run the risk of someday seeing our native population collapse and disappear,” that the Congo state would be nothing more than a desert without the native population.
The late 19th century saw a new wave of European Imperialism. The colonies of England, France, and Germany are some of the most common examples of late imperialism, but this wave of late imperialism saw the rise of a new major European power: Belgium. King Leopold held a massive tract of land in Central Africa that would come to be know as The Congo Free State. According to the editors of The Encyclopedia Britannica (2015), a small group of investors headed by King Leopold would be drawn to the land after Morton Stanley’s exploration of the land during the 1870’s. Once they had acquired their land they would set up a system that was meant to extract maximum profit from the natural resources of Central Africa. They had a complete disregard
Congo was an astounding bestseller novel. It was a great fictional novel that took place in the depths of the Congo rainforest. The novel was later made into a movie. Both the novel and the movie were good, however, I prefer the novel. It just seemed like a more entertaining piece than the movie. This movie was based much upon the novel, but had many alternatives and a completely different ending than the novel.
... 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.
It is widely debated why exactly King Leopold decided to conquer the Congo, but the general consensus seems to be that it was out of the belief that “the highlands of the Congo may be as rich in gold as the mountains of the western slope of the American Continent” (Stead). In the mid-1870s, the King hired Henry Stanley, who was familiar with many parts of Africa, to help him go about conquering. During the following years Stanley stayed in Africa, talking various tribes into signing over their lands and rights. After this was completed the King officially took over the Congo, renaming it the Congo Free State. This was especially ironic because all natives of the country were either forced to give up their way of life in exchange for virtual slavery in the ivory trade, agriculture, or the rubber traffic, or die trying to escape fate. Leopold was undeterred by the amount of suffering and death in the Congo, brought on by his rule. Belgian soldiers and officials were known for their cruelty in their methods to make, and then keep, Congo natives wo...
Africa has long been a nation of conflict and strife. Certain countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have a prolonged history of corrupt leaders, violence and lack of resources. These conflicts often can lead to spill over and create wars in their neighboring countries. When a weak state has internal conflict it often spreads to surrounding weak states as it did with many of the countries in central Africa. This type of crisis will often involve the entire world in a variety of capacities such as militaries, foreign aid and the global economy. Congo especially has proved to create problems that continue to persist in the modern world and much of that is due to leadership of Motubu Sese Seko. “The conflict [in Congo] produced tremendous carnage: as many as 3.8 million dead and many more injured or displaced. Both phrases of the war (1996-97 and 1998-2002) involved domestic militias, a massive foreign invasion, and shifting alliances – with Angola, Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe playing major roles. Even though the was has officially ended, peace remains elusive”(Atzili 2007 pg 141). One player’s internal conflicts spread through an entire continent and affected the whole world and caused enormous damage. All countries need to strive to maintain strong institutions to be a good global citizen and one of the keys to this is leadership.
Congo's Civil War began on November 2nd, 1998 when Laurent Kabila tried to drive out Rwandan militants who helped him overthrow Mobutu Sese Seko.2 Sese Seko came into power in 1966 when he led a rebellion to overthrow the government of Patrice Lumumbra. Sese Seko led to Africanizing of the country by requiring that all citizens drop their Christan names, and by renaming all the geographical locations with more African names.3 During the 1980's Sese Seko's government received support from the United States, in response to communism's rising popularity in Africa. Because of the misuse of the funds and wealth generated by natural resources, the rich got richer and the poor fell farther into poverty. Sese Seko abused Congo's natural resources and eventually helped lead the country into a state of economic ruin. In 1997 Sese Seko was overthrown by Laurent Kabila. When Kabila took over the country it was in terrible condition but he did nothing to try and improve the state of the nation. When he tried to expel the same Rwandan rebels that helped him come to power, he started a war that eventually led to his death. Many various ethnic and rebel groups inside of Congo who relied on the Rwandans for protection joined the uprising.4 Africans inside and around Congo chose s...
Over a period from 1960-1965, the first Republic of the Congo experienced a period of serious crisis. There was a terrible war for power that displayed senseless violence and the desperation to rule. There were many internal conflicts among the people. The country eventually gained independence from Belgium. For many countries this would be a time for celebration. Unfortunately for the people of the Congo this became a time to forget. Almost immediately after independence and the general elections, the country went into civil war. Major developed cities like Katanga and Kasai wanted to be independent from the Lumumba government. Different factions started to fight the government and Katanga and Kasai tried to secede from the rest of the country out of fear of the mutinous army that was out of control looting and killing.
An overwhelming majority of African nations has reclaimed their independence from their European mother countries. This did not stop the Europeans from leaving a permanent mark on the continent however. European colonialism has shaped modern-day Africa, a considerable amount for the worse, but also some for the better. Including these positive and negative effects, colonialism has also touched much of Africa’s history and culture especially in recent years.
The craftiness of colonialism on Africa changed its history forever but there were good and bad effects because they built schools and improved medical care but they also had segregated benefits and resource drainage.