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. 
Emma Loves History! 