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THE DARK HEART OF KING LEOPOLD II OF BELGIUM
Kevin P. Dincher
www.kevindincher.com
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at CSU East Bay
Leopold II (1835 – 1909)• King of the Belgians: 1865 – 1909
• Family Connections
• Mother: Louise d’Orleans, Princess of France
• Wife: Marie Henriette Hapsburg, Archduchess of Austria
• Sister: Carlota of Mexico, Empress of Mexico
• 1st cousin: Queen Victoria
• 7th cousin 6 times removed: Kevin Dincher
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Leopold, 1844
Belgium• October 4, 1830: Belgian Revolution
• Southern provinces declared independence from the Netherlands• Catholic, officially French-speaking and
neutral
• Constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy
• 1831: Leopold I • Elected “King of the Belgians”• House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
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Leopold II
1855: Became member of senate• Immediately began urging
establishing Belgian colonies• Overseas colonies were the
key to a country's greatness
1865: Became king• 1866: first of three
unsuccessful attempts to acquire the Philippines from Spain
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Leopold II
1876: Convened the Brussels Geographic Conference
•Proposed an international benevolent committee
• “Propagation civilization among the peoples of Central Africa” (Congo)
• Multi-national• Scientific• Humanitarian
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Leopold II and Marie Henriette
Leopold II
1876-1878: International African Association (AIA)• Association Internationale Africaine
• Private holding company disguised as an international scientific and philanthropic association
• Leopold served as chairman twice
• Primary Achievement• Convincing Belgian people and European countries that his interests in
Africa were altruistic and humanitarian
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Leopold II
1878: Study Committee of the Upper Congo• Comité d'Études du Haut-Congo
• Exploration• Scientifc• Humanitarian• Commercial
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Leopold II
• 1879: International Association of the Congo (IAC)• Association Internationale du Congo• International Congo Society
• Humanitarian/philanthropic• Scientific• Commercial/economic
• Official Stockholders• British/Dutch businessmen• Belgian Banker
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Leopold II
• 1879: International Association of the Congo (IAC)• Henry Morton Stanley
• Five-year contract • Establish bases in the Congo • Secure trade route for ivory market
• Rubber and minerals
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Dr. Livingston, I presume?
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Henry Stanley …
…a fearless newspaper reporter ready to do whatever it takes to get a story, regardless of any danger to his life!
Leopold II
"I do not want to miss a good chance of getting us a slice of this magnificent African cake."
King Leopold II
1885• Resolution passed in Belgian
Parliament
• Transferred the IAC charter to “Congo Free State”• État indépendant du Congo
• Leopold: Roi-Souverain• Person property - private colony
• Established Force Publique (FP)
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Leopold II
"I do not want to miss a good chance of getting us a slice of this magnificent African cake."
King Leopold II
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1885: Congo Free State• Leopold pledge to uphold Berlin
Conference• Suppress East African slave trade• Promote humanitarian policies• Guarantee free trade within the
colony• Impose no import duties for 20 yrs.• Encourage philanthropic and
scientific enterprises
Leopold II• Exploitation of resources
• Ivory, Rubber, Minerals
• One of the greatest international scandals of the early 20th century• Forced/slave labor• Starvation• Disease• Torture/mutilation
• Directly and indirectly eliminated 20% of the population• 10 to 13 million people
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A 1906 Punch cartoon depicting Leopold II as a rubber vine entangling a Congolese man
"I have just returned from a journey inland to the village of Insongo Mboyo. The abject misery and utter abandon is positively indescribable. I was so moved, Your Excellency, by the people's stories that I took the liberty of promising them that in future you will only kill them for crimes they commit.“
John Harris (Missionary)
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Hochschild: Great Forgetting
Royal Museum for Central Africa • Large collection of colonial artifacts
Blankenberge, Belgium• Monument shows a colonialist bringing "civilization" to the black
child at his feet
Oostend, Belgium• Monument to Leopold II with grateful Oostend fishermen and
Congolese. • The gratitude of the Congolese to Leopold II for having liberated
them from slavery under the Arabs.
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I have undertaken the work in Congo in the interest of civilization and for the good of Belgium.“
Monument, Arlon, Belgium
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1. Everything’s related!2. When we learn about other people, times and places, we learn about ourselves.
The Dark Heart of King Leopold IIAdam Hochschild
King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
• Lecturer, Graduate School of Journalism at UC Berkeley
• Other Works:
• To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918
• Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves
• The Mirror at Midnight: A South African Journey
• The Unquiet Ghost: Russians Remember Stalin
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The Dark Heart of King Leopold II• Other Resources
• Handout, page 2
• Course Slides Online• www.kevindincher.com
• Click on COURSES• Click on THE DARK HEART OF KING LEOPOLD II OF BELGIUM• Click on COURSE MATERIALS AND RESOUCES (at bottom of page)
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Africa• Reconquista: 711 – 1492
• 1139-1179: Portugal as independent• 1249: capture of the Algarve
• Henry (Enrique) the Navigator (1394-1460)• Son of King and Queen of Portugal
• 1415: Battle of Ceuta (Morocco)• “Key to the Mediterranean”• Caravan routes
• Major northern trade center on the
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Africa
Battle of Ceuta•45,000 Portuguese
• Practical Failure
• “Success”• Energized Europeans• Ripple effect
• Expansion beyond continent
• “Christendom”
• Portugal took the lead• 1415-1505: expanded along the Pacific Coast of North Africa
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Africa
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Henry the Navigator• Trade routes• Prester John Legend
1420 Madeira Island
1427 Azores
1434 Beyond Cape Bojador
1441 First Slaves from Mauritania
1444 Senegal River (Beyond Sahara/Muslims)•Gold/Slaves*
1444-1446 40 ships trading at Lagos, Portugal*
1456 Cape Verde Islands
1490 Cape of Good Hope
1498 Vasco da Gama: Portugal to India
*1552: slaves made up 10% of population of Lisbon
Africa
First Wave of European Colonization•1415 – 1830•Primarily involved the colonization of the Americas•Also some colonies in India and Maritime SE Asia
Africa•Trading posts•Atlantic slave trade
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Slavery
1. “…the right by some individuals to possess, buy, sell, discipline, transport, liberate, or otherwise dispose of the bodies and behavior of other individuals.”
Seymour Drescher
Abolition: A History of Slavery and Antislavery
2. “ … integral element is that children of a slave mother automatically become slaves
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Slavery
1760 BCE•Code of Hammurabi
• Earliest record of slavery as an established institution
1800• ¾ of all people alive in some form of slavery or serfdom.
• David P. Forsythe, Encyclopedia of Human Rights
1981•Mauritania: Last country to outlaw slavery
• Did not become a crime to own slaves until 2007
• Today: 10% to 20%) of the population lives in slavery. • 340,000 to 680,000
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Slavery: Classical Era
Ancient Greece• 30% of the population of some cities • Athens: majority owned at least one slave• Aristotle
Ancient Rome• Roman Republic
• vital to the economy
• Roman Empire• 25% of the empire's population• 30 to 40% of the population of Italy
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Slavery: Middle Ages
Vikings• British Isles and Eastern Europe• Sold on the Byzantine or Islamic slave markets• Ended in the 11th century - Serfdom
Spain/Portugal• Muslim raids on Christian territories
•Byzantine-Ottoman Wars• Both Christians and Muslims• Knights of Malta
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Slavery: Muslim Powers
Islamic Law: forbidden to enslave “People of the Book”• Muslims, Christians, Jews Sabian, Magians• Exceptions could be made if they were captured in battle• Expected to be freed if converted to Islam
Slave Trading: Iberian Peninsula• Muslim and Jewish merchants
• Brought slaves into al-Andalus from eastern Europe (pagan Slavs)• Re-exported them to other regions of the Islamic world• Christianization of Slavs ended practice
Africa
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650 – 1900
•4 million via Red Sea
•4 million through the Swahili ports of the Indian Ocean
•9 million along the trans-Saharan caravan route
African Slave Routes
Slavery Before the “Age of Discovery”Not about Race
Part of Human Nature• Aristotle
Consequence of Sin• Augustine
•No “Slave Economies”
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Atlantic Slave Trade
12 million African slaves to the Americas between 1600 and 1800
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70% to Brazil and Caribbean Islands
5% (600,000) to US•Half during colonial era
Brazil• Slavery = Mainstay of colonial
economy • Mining and sugar cane
• About 38% of all African slaves sent to Americas• 1761: slavery abolished in Portugal but
continued in colonies
• 1888: Last South American country to ban slavery
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Caribbean• Slavery = Mainstay of colonial economy
• Sugar cane
• About 38% of all African slaves sent to Americas• 1778: French alone importing 13,000 annually• Death rates for Caribbean slaves were greater than birth rates• Free blacks owned one-third of the plantation property and one-
quarter of the slaves in Haiti
• 1794: French Republic abolished slavery• 1802: Napoleon• 1804: Haiti a free republic
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United States• 1619: Jamestown
• 1st African indentured servants
• 1642: Colonies begin to codify slavery
• 1776: Declaration of Independence• Gradual abolition in North• Increase in slavery in the South
• 1787: US Constitution• Article I, Section 9: allowed the continued "importation" of slaves• Article IV, Section 2: Fugitive Slave Clause
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