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A presentation I gave for a history survey course covering 1700-1900.
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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.