Horrors of the Belgian Congo 1885-1908 Bryn Bodayle

Humanitarian Disaster

• Deception, exploitation, & mutilation - genocide

• Vansina estimated population decreased by half

• Hochschild estimates loss of 10 million

• Causes: murder, starvation, exhaustion, disease, birth rates

• Present day crises

The Conference of Berlin 1884-1885

Deception:King Leopold II

• Desires for wealth and power

• Eyed the valuable ivory in the Congo

• Humanitarian promises awarded him control of Congo as the Congo Free State

• Nearly absolute control

• Almost immediately went against his pledges

Exploitation

• Monopoly: all ivory and rubber harvested given to Leopold

• “Labor tax” from tribes

• Failure to meet rubber quotas met with dire consequences

• Force Publique

• Severed hands for bullets

More Exploitation

• 1908 - Controversy caused Leopold to relinquish control to Belgian government

• Cobalt and copper mining replaced the rubber tapping

• Leopold and subsequent rulers kept Congo in a subdued state

• Brutal Belgian rule lasted until 1960 when the Congo gained its independence

Bibliography

• Wrong, Michela. "Belgium Confronts Its Heart of Darkness." The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, 23 Feb. 2005. Web. 29 Nov. 2012. <http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/belgium-confronts-its-heart-of-darkness-6151923.html>.

• "Belgian Congo." Yale University. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2012. <http://www.yale.edu/gsp/colonial/belgian_congo/index.html>.

• Hochschild, Adam. King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999.