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The 19th and early 20th Centuries saw the European civilizations starting to branch out. This could be as a result of sudden and extensive industrialization. They became conscious of other areas around the world which, while inhabited by less technologically developed cultures and presented promise of perfect opportunity to colonize - that is, to spread European 'civilization' to native peoples in exchange for cheap labour and natural resources. The nationalist feeling among major powers of Europe such as Britain,France, Russia and later Germany caused them to become fiercely competitive, and each country strove to accumulate more overseas territory and 'spread civilization' to locations such as Asia and Africa, to a truly unprecedented extent. King Leopold II of Belium has the dishonourable reputation of being one of the most brutal and cruel rulers of the 19th century, for his actions done in Central Africa, mainly the Congo. There are arguments defending the actions claiming that hes actions furthered Congo, by modernizing and civilizing Congo. The counterarguments, and one which will be argued for this paper, is to show the fact that king Leopold II has committed rather unforgivable crimes against the people of Congo, this was done for his love of materialistic love for wealth from the ivory and rubber gathered through force labour. His actions in 22-year reign in Congo can be classified as too inhumane and unjustifiable. In order to effectively illustrate the argument, the essay will be divided into various parts for clarity and coherence purposes. A historical foundation will be outlined initially in order to provide the reader a backdrop behind the moral blindness of the leader, the various parties that acted as a footho... ... middle of paper ... ...ce Publique (FP), a military corps which comprised of regular soldiers and mercenaries from other countries. Their mission was to campaign against the Arab slave trade in the Upper Congo and to protect the economic interests. [16] The first major hurdle Leopold had to overcome in consolidating his new realm was the dispersion of Arab slavers living along the Lualaba River. In The 1860s, the slavers were firmly entrenched in the region and did not necessarily recognize Leopold's claim to the area. Given that an aim of the Berlin Conference was to see the abolitionment of Africa's interior slave trade, the slavers knew their livelihood was threatened. This situation was complicated by a history of previous interactions during which slavers operating in the area had shown hospitality and friendship to individual European missionaries and agents operating in the area.

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