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by Adam Hochschild
King Leopold’s Ghost
King Leopold II of Belgium1835-1909
Dissatisfied with ruling a tiny country barely older than his own reign
Adept at manipulating press, public relations, and foreign powers
Exceedingly avaricious, though he learned to conceal this fact
Expensive tastes, especially for obtaining and renovating his palaces and initiating huge public worksHe will be designated henceforth by this graphic:
Europe in 1900
The Belgian CongoPreviously the Congo Free State (1884-1908)
Henry Morton Stanley
Welsh explorer and journalist who passed himself off as American
Made several voyages of discovery through central Africa while writing newspaper dispatches to be telegraphed home
Travelled with a retinue of hundreds: cooks, guards, porters, scientists, etc., many of whom died along the way
Often cut his way through the jungle with machetes and opened fire on the natives with the slightest provocation
Public icon of his dayHe will be designated henceforth by this graphic:
1841-1904
General Henry Shelton Sanford
“General” is an honorary title, actually he was an American businessman and diplomat
Assigned originally as an American official to a diplomatic post in Belgium; when his term was up went to work for LeopoldHe will be designated henceforth by this graphic:
1823-1891
Taking over the CongoStanley goes on his first African adventure, the search for David Livingstone. He is successful, ensuring his undying fame. Leopold realizes what a lucrative resource interior Africa is and determines to rule it. Publicly, he is outraged by “Arab” slave trading and wants to see the Congo liberated. He and Sanford recruit Stanley.Stanley goes back to Africa and forces chiefs, sometimes at gunpoint, to sign over all their land, labor, and trading rights to Leopold’s front agency.
Leopold needs official recognition of his Congo from other countries. He dispatches Sanford to the United States.
Sanford convinces Congress and the president to declare their recognition of the “Congo Free State”, as Leopold dubs his own private country, officially run by his front agency.
Colonial RuleAfricans were seen as less than human. Leopold’s objective was to squeeze as much money from the Congo as possible before he died or market prices dropped. He cared about Africans only as a source of labor. They were put to work:
Carrying supplies
Building railroads
Chopping wood for steamships
Gathering rubber
A soldier’s job:-collect a given quantity of wild rubber-keep the natives in line
How a soldier proceeded:-take all the crops and animals found in a village-kill a few villagers to make his point-cut the right hands off the corpses -take the women and children hostage-send the men of the village out to gather rubber-kill or beat any men who brought slightly less than the required amount of rubber-release the hostages who hadn’t died in prison-continue to next town
E. D. MorelEdmund Dene Morel was a British journalist and politician
Had a job with a company that contracted for King Leopold.
Realized while looking through the cargo lists of ships traveling to and from the Congo that the only explanation for the goods being transported was slave labor
Quit his job to write for newspapers and pamphlets full time, mostly in protest to Leopold’s Congo
He will be designated henceforth by this graphic:
1873-1924
Roger Casement
British consul working in the Congo
Documented the abuses witnessed there in long, detailed reports
Couldn’t protest actively due to his position in the British government; his reports, however, were extremely important, and he donated generously
He will be designated henceforth by this graphic:
1864-1916
The Conflict
Casement and Morel met in England and together decided to establishthe Congo Reform Association.
King Leopold fought back by doing his best to get the press on his side. He bribed and traded favors and finally decided to send his own delegation of 3 judges to the Congo to report favorably on the situation. Unfortunately for Leopold, the delegation was so appalled by what they saw that they hindered his cause rather than helping it.
The CRA held meetings across Europe and America, which drew thousands of supporters
Morel was particularly good at both fundraising and attracting well-known personalities to the cause. Politicians, clergy, and royalty all lent their voices.
ResolutionKing Leopold was finally forced to sell the Congo to the Belgian government.
For his personal country, Leopold received:-45.5 million francs towards his building projects-50 million francs “as a mark of gratitude for his great sacrifices”-Belgium assumed the Congo’s 110 million francs’ worth of debt-all this in addition to the fortune he had made off his African slaves over the yearsMorel reluctantly agreed that Belgian rule was an acceptable solution
The reports of atrocities coming from the Congo quieted down over the years, though not entirely. It was, after all, still the same companies and the same people operating in the Congo.
Brief Analysis
Contemporary and historical sources both put the number of African deaths in the Congo during Leopold’s reign at roughly 10 million, half the area’s population.
The scary part?That wasn’t at all an unusual statistic in similar parts of Africa.
Why the international outcry over the Congo?In a word, politics. Morel and many others were strong
British nationalists, staunch supporters of colonialism. They deluded themselves into believing that it was just Leopold who was flawed, not the whole colonial system.
Also, the Congo was a huge area controlled by the king of a small, insignificant country. Europe was on the brink of the first world war and none too eager to upset its power balance.
Not until late in the nineteenth century would African states be able to really get justice.
Hochschild, Adam. King Leopold’s Ghost. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998.
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