This resume focuses on the colonial history of Belgium in Congo. You will get to know how king Leopold II gifted the country as his own possession and how later on the Belgian state demanded an immediate resignation of him as 'possessor' of the Belgian colony.
The truth about Congo
The beginning: the Berlin Conference (1885)
Otto van Bismarck: calls for conference
discussion with Europe (15), US and Ottoman Empire about division of Africa into 40 countries, free trade in Africa and
end of slave trade.
- Belgium gets Congo because, 1. Leopold II sent Stanley and he discovers the Congo Basin.
2. Great powers(Fr, Eng, Rus) do not get Congo through too much power. Dddd
ddddddddddddddddddddddddd They want to cut it off afterwards.
R Russia L Germany - Africa had 1100 peoples/tribes. Congo was difficult to access by rivers and almost no roads. 2/3 was rainforest. Wrong
idea that Africa was nothing, as Congo had long been doing copper trade with Portugal.
CONSEQUENCES:
1. Extract gold, ivory, rubber and cocoa from Africa.
2. Missionaries who have to spread the Christian faith.
3. Congo becomes Leopold II's 'one-man project'. ivory store in Ant.
Leopold II: the man behind the wheel (1885 – 1908)
Ivory trade
- Congo is appropriated to Leopold II.
money from the ivory trade for their own benefit,
= no great success hope of buying up for bargain price grows at Eng. and Rus.
Rubber trade
- High demand for rubber by invention rubber band
Leopold drives the Congolese population deeper into the rainforest.
- a lot of profit
- exploitation of the population
- Als who refused to work, then taking women hostage, executions, 'chicotte', burning up villages
punished by force soldiers
Non-cooperation/rebellious? Shoot to death and corpse as proof, they found superfluous
So cut off a hand and take it with you. They wanted to hunt, so they preferred to use their bullets
for other things. If they were suddenly without bullets, they were asked why their bullets were
gone, but no one was dead. That's why they just cut off their hands so they did not get in trouble
and so they could continue hunting for game.
- Idyllic picture of the rubber harvest for Belgian population as propaganda
- Low production costs + for international transport (= yielded a lot of money)
forced labor with a small wage in kind (e.g. clothing, salt, food...)
- working week of 40h not respected
Leopold II, a rich man who has difficulty sharing
Profit
shareholders private companies (= people who have invested in these companies get money for their investment. They have
actually invested and are now reaping a return due to the great rubber success.)
Leopold II (an amount of 1 billion euros)
- extension castle of Laeken
- Triomf arch of the Half-century party palace
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