The Horrors of Imperialism: The Belgian Congo

Imperialism is the policy of extending the rule or authority of an empire or nation over foreign countries, or of acquiring and holding colonies and dependencies. In 1870, the European powers took over the African Congo and enslaved the natives. Moreover, they were forced to work the land, so the Europeans could obtain the products they needed by using a cheap labor force to turn around and sell them at a profit. These products included such commodities as rubber, diamonds and coffee (A New World Order: Imperialism and World War I). Unfortunately, the people of the Congo were beaten, over worked, raped, and even killed by the European powers if they did not do their job correctly or if they refused to do their task entirely. Eventually, the enslaved

people were tired of struggling for survival and fought back with all the power they could find within their community. At first, the European imperialist’s motives appeared pure but in reality the era was a reign of terror. The horrors of imperialism were eventually exposed and the world reacted with outrage.

The Belgian Congo, located in the interior of the African continent became extremely attractive to the Europeans. “Beginning in the 1870s, Europeans brought much of the world under their influence and control. The new imperialisms exploded out of a combination of causes.” (Esler 564) As a result of the Industrial Revolution in Europe, some of the world’s most powerful nations experienced a change in economics. There was a shift in the economy from farming to mass production, and what followed was an economic depression. “Africa provided a source of cheap raw materials for the factories while providing the customers for products manufactured in Europe” (http://project...

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...an them out of the area. Though this worked fairly well for the Africans, the Mashona started to fight against Ndebele which resulted in the spread of the immune crippling dieses, small pox, amongst the tribe and setting them at a huge disadvantage.

The use of violence was not always used to resist the European powers, sometimes the women of the tribe would participate in these movements that protested against the British (African Resistance to Colonial Rule). They simply used their words instead of violence to fight the British. Due to the fact that more and more men were giving in to the European powers the women had no other choice but to stand up and use the power they had. Sometimes the protests would end in mortality due to the rumors spread by local colonial administration that made the women of the protest tell others that resulted in their death.