Last year a UN working group called on Belgium to apologise for atrocities committed during the colonial era. Soon after Stanley returned from the Congo, Leopold tried to recruit him. Belgian King Establishes Congo Free State - National Geographic Society The army become known for its brutality, with the officers and soldiers being accused ofdestroying villages, taking hostages, raping, torturing, and extorting the people. Its report that year to the Belgian king mostly focused on disease, but stressed that forced labor for rubber and other products "subjects the natives to conditions of life which are an obstacle to their increase" and warned that this situation, plus "a lack of concern about devastating plagues ancient and modern, an absolute ignorance of people's normal lives [and] a license and immorality detrimental to the development of the race," had reached "the point of threatening even the existence of certain Congolese peoples" and could completely depopulate the entire region (Bulletin Officiel, 1920, pp. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. One by one the other great mysteries had been explored: Though the Congo had been one of the first to be attempted, it remained a mystery. Belgian Congo | History & Facts | Britannica EUROPEAN EFFORTS TO REINVENT OVERSEA, Kenyatta, Jomo 1891(? Leopold II implemented a forced-labour system in the Congo that was quickly copied by other European colonial powers. Archive pictures from Congo Free State document its violence and brutality. Belgium took over the colony in 1908 and it was not until 1960 that the Republic of the Congo was established, after a fight for independence. In January 1959, riots broke out in Leopoldville (now Kinshasa) after a rally was held calling for the independence of the Congo. For thousands of years, that territory had been conquered by nearby Netherlands, France, Germany, and Luxembourg. Forty years later virtually all of it had been transformed into European colonies, protectorates, or territories ruled by white settlers. VideoThe secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure, LGBT troops take love for Eurovision to front line, Why an Indian comedian is challenging fake news rules. Pakenham, Thomas (1991). In May 1885, Leopold took possession of his colony and named it the Congo Free State. Belgium's education minister announced this week that secondary schools would teach colonial history from next year. A British shipping company had the monopoly on all cargo traffic between the Congo and Belgium, and every few weeks it sent to the port of Antwerp a young junior official, Edmund Dene Morel, to supervise the unloading of a ship arriving from Africa. The movement, in fact, eventually forced Leopold to relinquish his private ownership of the Congo to the Belgian state in 1908. On 29 May 1885, after the closure of the Berlin Conference, the king announced that he planned to name his possessions "the Congo Free State", an appellation which was not yet used at the Berlin Conference and which officially replaced "International Association of the Congo" on 1 August 1885. Dec 14, 2022. King Leopold's Rule in Africa. Stanley made his way back to Europe with a sheaf of signed treaties in 1884. The New York Review of Books. The results of this rule were very uneven. The royal palace is yet to give its own response. It was down to rubber. King Leopold II was the ruler of the Congo Free State, and the King of Belgium. But rumours of abuse began to circulate and missionaries and British journalist Edmund Dene Morel exposed the regime. These men were generally from other parts of the Congo or other colonies entirely, and the orphans and enslaved people had often been brutalized themselves. But why was Leopold's Congo so horrific? "We run the risk of someday seeing our native population collapse and disappear," declared the permanent committee of the National Colonial Congress of Belgium in 1924, "so that we will find ourselves confronted with a kind of desert" (Hoornaert and Louwers, 1924, p. 101). Bennett, Norman Robert. In 1924 the first territory-wide census, when adjusted for undercounting, placed the number of colony inhabitants at some ten million. Initially, government and commercial agents focused on acquiring ivory, but inventions, like the car, dramatically increased the demand for rubber. Keen on establishing Belgium as an imperial power, he led the first European efforts to develop the Congo River basin, making possible the formation in 1885 of the Congo Free State, annexed in 1908 as the Belgian Congo and now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. But for Leopold this posed no problem; he would acquire his own. Male rubber gatherers often died from exhaustion. By the end of the 19th century, the Basin had been carved up by European colonial powers, into the Congo Free State, the French Congo and the Portuguese Congo (modern Cabinda . Leopold's most formidable enemy surfaced in Europe. who owned land where rubber grew wild. Omissions? Belgian officers were afraid that the rank and file of the Force Publique would waste bullets, so they demanded a human hand for each bullet their soldiers used as proof that the killings had been done. King Leopold II and the Congo The European colonization of Africa was one of the greatest and swiftest conquests in human history. On February 5, 1885, Belgian King Leopold II established the Congo Free State by brutally seizing the African landmass as his personal possession. Ascherson, Neal (1963). Votin, Herero Leopold financed development projects with money loaned to him from the Belgian government. The country of Belgium itself was only about five years old at the birth of Leopold II, who became the eldest surviving son of Leopold I, first king of the Belgians, and his second wife, Louise-Marie of Orlans. When did George Washington Williams visit the Congo? The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited. Bierman, John (1990). Although the domestic affairs of his reign were dominated by a growing conflict between the Liberal and Catholic parties over suffrage and education issues, Leopold concentrated on developing the countrys defenses. To curry diplomatic favor, he allowed several hundred Protestant missionaries into the Congo. However, the date of retrieval is often important. Some writers, almost entirely in Belgium, claim that such estimates are exaggerated. Tens, possibly hundreds, of thousands of Africans also died in two decades' worth of unsuccessful uprisings against the king's regime. (2022, June 2). No one will ever know the precise figures, but, from all these causes, demographers estimate that between 1880 and 1920 the population of the Congo may have been slashed by up to 50 percent, from perhaps 20 million people at the beginning of that period to an estimated 10 million at the end. He built the Africa Museum in the grounds of his palace at Tervuren, with a "human zoo" in the grounds featuring 267 Congolese people as exhibits. Standing close by, one visitor said, "I didn't know anything about Leopold II until I heard about the statues defaced down town". Therefore, its best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publications requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html. says Ms Kayembe. In DR Congo itself, no-one has really noticed the Belgian protests, says Jules Mulamba, a lawyer in the south-eastern city of Lubambashi. In the early 1890s, Leopold's private African army, the Force Publique (Public Force), drove the powerful Muslim slave traders out of the Congo. LEOPOLD II (18351909; ruled 18651909), king of Belgium and personal sovereign of the Congo Free State. Army officers often demanded of their men a severed hand from each rebel killed in battle. A hundred lashes of the chicotte, a not infrequent punishment, could be fatal. As rubber prices soared, so did the quotas. Standing on the dock, Morel realized that he had uncovered irrefutable proof that a forced labor system was in operation 4,000 miles away. Since the 15th century, European explorers had sailed into the broad Congo estuary, planning to fight their way up the falls and rapids that begin only 100 miles (160km) inland, and then travel up the river to its unknown source. In addition, Leopold's regime faced resistance from within his own conscript army, whose soldiers sometimes found a common cause with the rebel groups they were supposed to pursue. Published in many American and European newspapers, it was the first comprehensive, detailed indictment of the regime and its slave labor system. Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity. Franklin, John Hope (1985). Women and children were often taken hostage until men fulfilled a quota; during which time the women were raped repeatedly. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/congo-free-state-atrocities-rubber-regime-43731. The couple's first son, Louis Philippe, died in infancy prior to Leopold II's birth. Encyclopedia.com. ThoughtCo. Imperialism in Africa Assignment and Quiz Flashcards | Quizlet Under his reign, the Congolese people were terrorized with forced labor and harsh treatment. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher. After Morel orchestrated a protest resolution by the British Parliament, the government, in response, asked its representative in the Congo to investigate his charges. Tens, possibly hundreds, of thousands of Congolese fled their villages to avoid being impressed as forced labourers, and they sought refuge deep in the forest, where there was little food and shelter. Video, The secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure, US black man George Floyd in police custody, statues of racist historical figures vandalised or removed, "rape, mutilation and genocide of millions of Congolese". In order to enforce the near impossible rubber quotas imposed on villages, agents and officials called on the Free States army, the Force Publique. If the estimates from varied sources of a 50 percent toll in King Leopold's Congo are correct, how many people does this mean? So they outsourced the task to Leopold, who used personal diplomacy to convince the European powers to grant him control of a large portion of the Congo basin. Manchester, U.K.: National Labour Press. London: George Allen & Unwin. Millions of Congolese then found themselves suffering near-famine, which made them vulnerable to diseases they otherwise might have survived.
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