Europe’s Thirst for Power; AKA Africa’s Struggle With Culture #4

The final step of this unit is the group presentations. For this assignment, each group presents their topic in the format of a brief power point, a videolicious, and an interactive survey. During each presentation, each student is expected to take notes and write a short summary of how each topic relates to the theme “People, Places and Power”. My summaries for each topic are written below.

Native Americans and the West: White settlers assumed power over both a place and its people: Native Americans in the West. Power was assumed by settlers based on their belief that they were culturally superior to the “savages”.

Labor vs Big Business: People with financial power, such as Carnegie and Rockefeller, use other people to gain more power and money. When people in power abuse subordinates, it can instigate revolts. Frick, for example, cut workers’ wages in order to be more successful, which caused the Homestead Strike.

Asian Immigration: Americans assumed a power over Asian immigrants, especially towards jobs. Acts such as the Chinese Exclusion Act were created to discriminate Asians. The place where a person comes from can impact how they are treated and their amount of power in a new place.

European Immigration:  When the Europeans faced discrimination and religious intolerance in their homeland, they moved to another place in pursuit of change. The immigrants suffered poor living and working conditions in America unfortunately. The power immigrants had in America was solely based on the place that they were born and their status as immigrants.

Imperialism in America:  Extreme nationalism and economic power caused Americans to believe they were superior over other countries. The Annexing of Hawaii and Spanish-American War both resulted from an abuse of power.

 

Europe’s Thirst for Power; A.K.A Africa’s Struggle With Culture #3

The first and final group activity for this unit was creating a power point, video essay, and survey about each topic. In my group was Jane D, Justin C, and Emily F. Each person contributed to my overall knowledge of the topic. Jane, for example, explained the force behind the rubber boom; she taught me that the Industrial Revolution created a growing need for rubber, which was also the time rubber was discovered by Charles Goodyear. I learned this information while Jane and I were making the power point presentation. Jane also helped me understand Congo’s position before European Imperialism. She explained that Congo was considered a free state before and during Belgian rule. Emily also added to my understanding of Imperialism in Africa. Emily clarified why the Force Publique dismembered natives’ hands. I previously assumed that dismembering the hands was a form of intimidation, but she explained that the hands were also proof that the Force was killing people. She also told me that the hands became a sort of currency in Congo. Justin expanded my technological intelligence during the group activity. He showed me how to import pictures into Google Docs, rather than pasting them in a document. Collaborating with others in a group is always beneficial in understanding information better. The group I worked with was extremely organized and truly helped me understand Imperialism to the fullest.

Despite my group’s effectiveness, we did have a long and bumpy process of creating the photo essay. We first decided which pictures to use in the video. That needed a great deal of collaboration and searching in all of the sources to ensure we all agreed on the same pictures. Next, we decided the order of the pictures, which was unanimous. After a script was written for each picture, we filmed the essay. This was where the problems began. Each picture on “Videolicious” can only have around 7 seconds of recordings. The original script was far too long to fit into the video, so we had to shorten it down. Despite our improvements, the script was still a bit long, and we found ourselves rushing through it to fit all of the information into the video. After multiple tries, our group got a system down and recorded the final video with no extra seconds. Creating the video included an assemblage of different steps, but my group was able to get everything done in time. Overall, our script was succinct and provided enough information. My group did well with making the subject clear and concise. The pictures we used are not very clear, though. It is somewhat difficult to see the pictures, but that was out of our control. I feel like I contributed a proficient amount during the assignment. I could definitely work on spreading out the work better, rather than piling myself with most of it. I liked my group and I think we all worked well and had equal amounts of participation.

Europe’s Thirst for Power; A.K.A Africa’s Struggle With Culture #2

As previously mentioned in the last post, my topic for this unit is “Imperialism: Europe and Africa”. For this assignment, an online interactive source was provided. This source was used to help deepen my understanding of the circumstances in Congo. The British Museum provided a multitude of sources in a student activity titled “The Wealth of Africa, Congo Free State”. The website was organized into five different “sheets”, each with a broad topic question and different sources to help answer the question. Pictures were also provided as sources. Primary sources were helpful to understand the situtation in Congo from many different historical perspectives The link is given below.

Click to access CongoFreeState_Students_WkSheets_UPDATED.pdf

Key Terms:

Berlin Conference– meeting of European powers in 1884 to prevent violence in colonization; took place in Berlin, Germany with no Africans invited

Brussels Conference– meeting in 1876 where Leopold proposed a protectorate over Congo

Direct rule– sending officials and soldiers from country of power to administer their colonies and turn them into provinces; practiced by French

Dr. David Livingstone– best known explorer-missionary who crisscrossed Africa for 30 years; he wrote about the natives with sympathy, was opposed to slave trade and believed the only way to end it was to share Christianity with interior of Africa; blazed the trail for journalist Henry Stanley

Explorers– in the early 1800’s, explorers like Mungo Park and Richard Burton began to push into the interior of Africa; they endured great hardships, were fascinated by African geography, but didn’t understand African natives

Force Publique– military force stationed in Congo through direct Belgian rule. Served as the backbone to the rubber boom, enforcing intimidation in local villages

Imperialism– the domination by one country of the political, economic, or cultural life of another country or region

Indirect rule– using sultans, chiefs, or other local rulers to govern colonies and encouraged local children of ruling class to get education in country of power to “westernize” new generation of leaders; practiced by British

King Leopold II– Belgian King who hired Stanley to explore Congo River basin and arrange treaties with African leaders; he spoke publicly about a civilizing mission to carry light to barbarians, but privately dreamed of conquest and profit; his activities set off a scramble by other European nations

Liberia– independent republic since 1847, where some free blacks from US settles

Maxim gun– British advance used in persuading Africans and Asians to accept Western control and defeat forces; Invented by Sir Hiram Maxim

Menelik II– emperor of Ethiopia who made many advances; he used profits from ivory sales to buy modern weapons, hired European advisors to teach soldiers how to use guns, army conquered neighboring lands, planned modern roads and bridges, and set up western schools; is hailed by Africans for his victory over Imperialism

Missionaries– Catholics and Protestants sought to convert Africans to Christianity; they built schools, medical clinics and churches; they took a paternalistic view of Africans where they saw them as children in need of guidance

“New Imperialism”– European embarked on a path of aggressive expansion in the 1800’s encouraged by their new economic and military strength

Protectorate– local ruler left in place, but was expected to follow advice of European advisers on trade or missionary activity; cost less to run than a colony and didn’t require large military commitment

Rubber boom– in the early 1890’s, a worldwide need for rubber increased drastically, causing prices to raise; served as a money-maker for Leopold, who was in debt from Congo investments, because rubber vines grew abundantly in Congo

Sphere of influence– an area in which an outside power claimed exclusive investment or trading privileges

William Sheppard– black American reverend who was sent by the Southern Presbyterian Church to be a missionary in Congo

Enduring Understandings:

People oftentimes feel empowered when united culturally, but if the power is too strong, the group’s efforts for reform will be unsuccessful.

• The men of Congo had no motivation to harvest rubber and refused to do it, until the Force Publique began taking women and children hostages as an incentive for the workers to meet the quota (King Leopold’s Ghost, 160)
• Africans resisted against European powers. The Algerians battled the French for many years, The Zulus and Asante both battled with the British. Most of these efforts failed. Ethiopia was one of the few successful resistances against European Imperialism. (World History, 324)
• The whole population of Congo resisted Western brutality, but nevertheless, the population decreased from the living conditions under Leopold II , “The population of the entire state is said to have declined from some 20 million to 8 million.” (The Wealth of Africa, 5)
• If a village refused to accept the rubber regime, Belgian troops would shoot all people in sight as a tactic to force the village into their control (King Leopold’s Ghost, 165)

The power structure of a given place influences the culture and beliefs of its citizens.

• West Africa in the early 1800’s was a largely Muslim empire as a result of Muslim leaders like Usman dan Fodio (World History, 319)
• The Transatlantic Slave Trade was banned in the early 1800’s by European nations, but it took many years to end it because of leaders’ continual violation of the law (World History, 320)
• King Leopold’s thirst to lead rubber trade with Congo drastically impacted the culture and living conditions; women and children were taken for hostage, kept in unsanitary living conditions, and sold back to their families for goats-only after the rubber demand was met. Because of this, men changed their labor strictly to rubber-collecting, in order to stay out of harm from the Force Publique. (King Leopold’s Ghost, 161)
• Menelik II was emperor of Ethiopia and used European weapons and education systems to create a strong army. Menelik was able to use European technology to defeat other European colonies, which caused the civilians to worship him and follow his beliefs (World History, 324)
• “In the lake district things are pretty bad… Whole villages and districts I knew well and visited as flourishing communities in 1887 are today without a human being; others are reduced to a handful of sick or harassed creatures who say of the government: ‘Are the white men never going home; is this to last forever?’” (The Wealth of Africa, 5)

When the motivation of a power is mainly economic, laborers under the rule suffer greatly from intense pressure to thrive.

• Any villager who didn’t meet the rubber quota faced a chance to be flogged, executed, amputated, or their villages could be set on fire (The Wealth of Africa, source 2, pg 4)
• “Not only did rubber collection provide no profit [for the Africans], but it also caused a crisis of subsistence because villagers could not tend to their plots when they were most needed.” (The Wealth of Africa, source 2, pg 5)
• Daniels once wrote that Leopold’s state in Congo was less of a state than a trading company. His main focus was profits, rather than the health of natives. (The Wealth of Africa, source 4, pg 6)
• Leopold himself even admitted that “there have been cases of misjudgement on the part of Congo officials. Most likely cruelties, even crimes have been committed.” (The Wealth of Africa, source 1, pg 6)

The years of European Imperialism were those of economic success for King Leopold II and Belgium, but not for the rest of Congo. The rubber boom in the early 1890’s forced hard labor on the natives, but resulted in immense wealth for Leopold. Healthy, able-bodied men especially suffered during the rubber boom, because they were the only laborers chosen to harvest rubber.  These able-bodied men lived in villages and were at the bottom of the power structure during this time period. The men of Congo underwent

Mutilated victims (The Wealth of Africa, source 4, pg 5)

multiple hardships. For one, their wives and sometimes their children were taken as hostages by the Force Publique to create incentive to work (King Leopold’s Ghost, 161). In order to get their family members back, the village men had to gather enough rubber to meet a given quota. According to Ascherson, “In late 1907, [the British] Vice-Consul Armstrong found that Africans were being obliged to work an average of twenty days a month solely to pay the rubber tax” (The Wealth of Africa, 4). If these taxes weren’t paid, troops were sent to spread fear in the village by killing men (The Wealth of Africa, source 8, pg 4). As seen in the picture to the right, the troops oftentimes cut off hands as proof that cartridges weren’t wasted. All of the strain, time, and intimidation that resulted from rubber harvesting left the men of Congo with no profits; in fact, working for the Force Publique forced the laborers to neglect their own crops (The Wealth of Africa, source 2,  pg 5). King Leopold’s power over Congo is ultimately represented in the picture below. His had control over the quality of villagers’ lives, as symbolized by the snake wrapped around the villager. The picture is accompanied by the caption “stifled in coils of rubber”(The Wealth of Africa, source 4, pg 4).  The snake strangling the man is also symbolic of the negative impact the rubber boom had on villagers. Village men of Congo underwent extreme hardship, both mentally and physically. King Leopold and the Belgian government inflicted fear and pain into the lives of all natives during Imperialism in Europe. 

 

 

 

 

Europe’s Thirst For Power; A.K.A Africa’s Struggle With Culture #1

“People, Places and Power” is quite a self-explanatory theme; people, places, and power all influence events in history and give explanations as to why certain things happened. History would not be made if were not for people, both individuals and groups. As for places, they act as a form of identity of people, depending on the culture and resources of the location. Power can be control of both places and people. The unit focuses on people, places and power and how this theme relates to one of six student-choice topics. No matter which topic a student has chosen, each student is assigned four reflections. These reflections each are in different formats; ranging from blog posts to class presentations, most assignments are individually graded. For this unit, my topic is “Imperialism: Europe and Africa.”

Key Terms:

African Elite– western-educated upper class

Berlin Conference– meeting of European powers in 1884 to prevent violence in colonization; took place in Berlin, Germany with no Africans invited

Direct rule– sending officials and soldiers from country of power to administer their colonies and turn them into provinces; practiced by French

Dr. David Livingstone– best known explorer-missionary who crisscrossed Africa for 30 years; he wrote about the natives with sympathy, was opposed to slave trade and believed the only way to end it was to share Christianity with interior of Africa; blazed the trail for journalist Henry Stanley

Explorers– in the early 1800’s, explorers like Mungo Park and Richard Burton began to push into the interior of Africa; they endured great hardships, were fascinated by African geography, but didn’t understand African natives

Imperialism– the domination by one country of the political, economic, or cultural life of another country or region

Indirect rule– using sultans, chiefs, or other local rulers to govern colonies and encouraged local children of ruling class to get education in country of power to “westernize” new generation of leaders; practiced by British

King Leopold II– Belgian King who hired Stanley to explore Congo River basin and arrange treaties with African leaders; he spoke publicly about a civilizing mission to carry light to barbarians, but privately dreamed of conquest and profit; his activities set off a scramble by other European nations

Liberia– independent republic since 1847 where some free blacks from US settles

Maxim gun– British advance used in persuading Africans and Asians to accept Western control and defeat forces; Invented by Sir Hiram Maxim

Menelik II– emperor of Ethiopia who made many advances; he used profits from ivory sales to buy modern weapons, hired European advisors to teach soldiers how to use guns, army conquered neighboring lands, planned modern roads and bridges, and set up western schools; is hailed by Africans for his victory over Imperialism

Missionaries– Catholics and Protestants sought to convert Africans to Christianity; they built schools, medical clinics and churches; they took a paternalistic view of Africans where they saw them as children in need of guidance

“New Imperialism”– European embarked on a path of aggressive expansion in the 1800’s encouraged by their new economic and military strength

Protectorate– local ruler left in place, but was expected to follow advice of European advisors on trade or missionary activity; cost less to run than a colony and didn’t require large military commitment

Rubber boom– in the early 1890’s, a worldwide need for rubber increased drastically, causing prices to raise; served as a money-maker for Leopold, who was in debt from Congo investments, because rubber vines grew abundantly in Congo

Sierra Leone– British colony made in 1787 in West Africa for former slaves

Sphere of influence– an area in which an outside power claimed exclusive investment or trading privileges

William Sheppard– black American reverend who was sent by the Southern Presbyterian Church to be a missionary in Congo

Enduring Understandings:

People oftentimes feel empowered when united culturally, but if the power is too strong, the group’s efforts for reform will be unsuccessful.

• The men of Congo had no motivation to harvest rubber and refused to do it, until the Force Publique began taking women and children hostages as an incentive for the workers to meet the quota (King Leopold’s Ghost, 160)
• If a village refused to accept the rubber regime, Belgian troops would shoot all people in sight as a tactic to force the village into their control (King Leopold’s Ghost, 165)
• Africans resisted against European powers. The Algerians battled the French for many years, The Zulus and Asante both battled with the British. Most of these efforts failed. Ethiopia was one of the few successful resistances against European Imperialism. (World History, 324)

The power structure of a given place influences the culture and beliefs of its citizens.

• West Africa in the early 1800’s was a largely Muslim empire as a result of Muslim leaders like Usman dan Fodio (World History, 319)
• The Transatlantic Slave Trade was banned in the early 1800’s by European nations, but it took many years to end it because of leaders’ continual violation of the law (World History, 320)
• King Leopold’s thirst to lead rubber trade  with Congo drastically impacted the culture and living conditions; women and children were taken for hostage, kept in unsanitary living conditions, and sold back to their families for goats-only after the rubber demand was met. Because of this, men changed their labor strictly to rubber-collecting, in order to stay out of harm from the force Publique. (King Leopold’s Ghost, 161)
• Menelik II was emperor of Ethiopia and used European weapons and education systems to create a strong army. Menelik was able to use European technology to defeat other European colonies, which caused the civilians to worship him and follow his beliefs (World History, 324)

While studying history in school, Europe and the Americas are most often the topic of study. But what about Africa? The topic “Imperialism: Europe and Africa” focuses on African countries before European colonization in the late 1800s and how Imperialism impacted the culture, living conditions, and economic situation of countries in Africa. Pertaining to the theme “People, Places and Power”, the European Imperialism in Africa is a prime example of a repressing power, which affected both the people and geography. King Leopold II of Belgium was the epitome of a dictator (World History, 321). The place Leopold ruled over was Congo; a country that journalist Henry Stanley was ordered to explore and make treaties with African leaders (World History, 321). Congo’s geography was an unexpected perk for King Leopold. Wild rubber was native to Congo, and served as a huge profit for an indebted Leopold (King Leopold’s Ghost, 159). On the other hand, the natives of Congo did not profit from the rubber boom; according to Gondola in 2002, “The Force Publique arrived in a village and began looting it in retaliation for the villagers’ refusal to carry out orders. The soldiers then attacked the villagers and seized their women, whom they declared as hostages until the chief could bring in the required quantity of rubber…” (The Wealth of Africa, 4). The events in Congo exhibit how much of an impact a country power can have on the native people and how drastically a place can change under certain rulers.