The first citizens of the Congo were Portuguese settlers in 1483, but by 1879 King Leopold II of Belgium set up trading concessions and by 1908 The Belgian government officially took possession of the Congo. In the 1950s Congo became more advanced with river systems, railways, and airfields. At the time that was state of the art in Africa at that time. By 1957, Congo starts…
But otherwise they saw the continent as faceless, blank, empty a place on the map waiting to be explored, one ever more frequently described by the phrase that says more about the seer than the seen: the Dark Continent.” (Hochschild, 1).The imperialism of this time shows that the congo was even an afterthought for the people who “employed”…
The country of note that has a larger effect on this novel than any other is the small, seemingly irrelevant country of Belgium, just north of France, ran by one King Leopold II. As stated above King Leopold looked to Africa and saw only profit, respect, and exploitation of resources and slave labor, and he was very successful in this business, gaining much respect from other European powers and more importantly a lot of money and resources. Leopold is seen in history now as a horribly cruel tyrant who should be looked to on what not to do when making a…
By making a web of bilateral agreements at the Berlin conference in February 1885, he carved out the boundaries for this huge state. Once his ownership of the Congo was secure, the rubber boom erupted. Rubber sap was in great demand for tyres and other products, and the Congo was covered with such vines. Joint ventures ensued between Belgian, British and Dutch firms. The astronomical profits saved Leopold's colonial empire.…
During the 1700s and 1800s, the Europeans lost a significant amount of American colonies. Thus, various European countries such as France, Britain, Portugal, Spain, and Germany fought to imperialize African territory to replace their lost American work force and source of raw materials. One of the many areas that had been imperialized during this time was the Congo. Here, African citizens were…
Leffler also manages to note that the U.S. did care about the countries in the third world that managed to provide them with raw materials. These countries provided lifeblood to some U.S. industries and the Congo was no different. The Congo, particularly the Katanga region, had heavy mining industries that managed to produce things such as uranium. Most of the uranium used in the Manhattan project was provided by the Belgian Congo. Once Lumumba brought the Soviet Union into the situation by receiving their aid and weapons in an attempt to stabilize the government, it gave the United States the opinion that it was moving down a communist path.…
Similarly, Louis Bernard, a French colonial official, illustrates Imperialism as a nationalistic feeling of pride and dominance. Bernard intertwines the desire for power and the feeling of nationalism is his conquering of two provinces, Alsace and Lorraine (Document 7). European nations’ ambitions for control created the scramble for Africa, causing confusion, chaos, and massive death of the African people and…
The Congo Wars were a bloody conflict that occurred in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with the first war occurring from late 1996 to mid 1997 and the second war occurring from late 1998 to mid 2003. The first Congo War started in late 1996, when the Tutsis began to rebel against the authoritarian rule of one of the key players of the conflict, Mobutu Sese Seko, and his supporters, the Hutu. The Tutsis quickly gained traction and when they neared the capital of the DRC from various strategic points, Mobutu declared a state of emergency to try and regain control. Ultimately, this failed and a new president, Laurent Kabila, was established in 1997. A year later, a new rebellion in complaint of the remaining Hutu in the DRC by the Tutsi…
Natural resources played a significant role in the United States and the Soviet Union’s intervention into the Congo Crisis. In the years leading to the Congo Crisis, tensions heightened between the world’s two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. “After World War II, the relentless pursuit of resources was overshadowed by the political and ideological exigencies of the U. S. -Soviet rivalry” (Klare 50). However, the United States was perceived to be losing the arms race. So, the U.S. sought strategic minerals in the Congo, and established a pseudo colonial regime to protect their national security interests concerning containment and resources.…
During the Berlin Conference, King Leopold convinced the U.S. as well as every major and important power in Europe to recognize the legitimacy of his claim to an enormous swathe of land in Central Africa, the Congo Basin. He provided the outlandish claims that he would be a philanthropist and benefactor of the region’s development. Because the rest of the conference thought his ventures would only bring plight,…
The Congo gave into Belgium rule under the “King of the Congo,” Leopold. He forced the natives to obey him by practicing terrible acts of violence on those who refused to work for…
Between 1881 and 1914, the European powers invaded, divided, and occupied the continent of Africa during what is now known as, The Scramble for Africa. In doing so, they disrupted the lives of African people and permanently altered the physical and cultural landscape of Africa. In Basil Davidson’s, “The Magnificent African Cake,” he chronicles the beginning of colonialism in Africa, the impact of European rule on the continent, and the ideologies that justified the exploitation of the African continent and African people. Accordingly, the Europeans justified their exploitation of Africa, her inhabitants and her resources because the Europeans classified African people and their way of life as inferior to the western world.…
Belgian Congo, According to Rob in Halett started under the king Leopold II. He owned the Congo as private colony from 1885 to 1908. His possession of the said Congo was possible due to the help of United States of America. In the class, we concluded that Berlin Congress was the unique reason that decided the division of Africa. During Congo Free State, also known as direct company rule, almost half of the indigenous population was exterminated.…
In the newly formed Republic of the Congo, the west and east were battling for control of Katanga. Patrice Lumumba, the elected ambassador, was assassinated by President Tshombe and his men. The Republic of the Congo was responsible for providing over half of the world's copper and cobalt, two crucial minerals to the United States and the USSR weapontry departments at the time. As the superpowers of the world fought for more power over these mines, they played little to no attention about how dangerous the situation was becoming in the Congo. The Conflict then eventually leads to the call of Irish Peacekeepers.…
Traditionally, women would retain their own name, representing a residual link between their own clan and ancestral family. Christianity eroded the link between personal names and the uniqueness of individuals. Imperialism involved “turning Africa’s back” on previous centuries and traditional ways of life in an attempt to start the process on “dis-Africanizing Africa”.11 Cultural imperialism had a tremendous influence on African identity and heritage. Secondly, African people were exploited by European colonists. King Leopold II of Belgium formed a privately controlled government named the “Congo Free State”.…