Imperialism In King Leopold's Rape Of The Congo

Superior Essays
India, the Americas, Pacific Islands, and Australia, by the nineteenth century had already been explored, conquered, and exploited by Europeans; however, Africa remained the last unmapped and unexplored continent in the world. In the eyes of the Europeans, Africa was still dark—the white Europeans had not yet civilized the continent. Although Africa, specifically the Congo, was inhabited by native tribal civilizations, the Europeans did not see Africa as sophisticated. Therefore, countries like Britain, Germany, France, Portugal, and lastly Belgian, rushed to Africa to claim land. Although many countries exploited the African lands by taking raw materials—ivory, gold, rubber, and other minerals—historians have criticized King Leopold of Belgian …show more content…
Although Hochschild spends the majority of his book explaining how gruesome Leopold’s actions were, he ultimately comes to the conclusion that racism and colonial mentality were more to blame for the exploitation of the Congolese people than the actions of the King more than the wickedness of one person; furthermore, he brings to the reader attention that “what happened in the Congo is, unfortunately, no worse than what happened in neighboring colonies, since France’s rubber colony saw a fifty percent decrease in the native population and the German South West Africa colony experienced genocide where sixty thousand natives were killed (680). Although Hochschild novel greatly contributed to it’s field by providing people with a new story of colonial history, there are some weaknesses that relegate the overall strength of his argument. For instance, Hochschild relies heavily on a one sided criticism of Leopold and other colonial countries. In addition, Hochschild did not get to his argument quick enough. During the first section of his novel it was difficult to follow his argument or see where his novel was going. However, overall Hochschild’s re-exposition of Leopold’s atrocities, and more broadly speaking the atrocities of all colonial powers, teaches the reader that if it weren’t for people who stood up against the typical colonial mentality, people like Leopold, Stalin, and Hitler would define or represent human

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The Scramble for Africa, when European countries rushed to claim land in Africa to colonize, a period of time after the Berlin conference in 1884, a meeting between European powers discuss splitting parts of Africa among them while not including any African leaders in the meeting. Before the Berlin Conference the European countries for 300 years from 1500 to 1800, were trading along the coast of west Africa. They traded for gold, ivory, and slaves, but never did they venture deep into Africa. There were many reasons to why the European countries decided to imperialize Africa in the late 19th century. There was the sense of a national competition that brought nations to compete with each other in obtaining the most land, technological advances…

    • 1163 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    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.…

    • 1597 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In order to rule over the land, Leopold had to deceive the world in believing that he had to look after the African people to stop the self violence that occurred between the tribes. In reality however, Leopold was using the people as forced labor to produce the raw materials he needed like rubber to sell in the global market. He believed that colonies were inferior to the mother nation. According to King Leopold’s Ghost, “Leopold did not care whether the colonial wealth he wanted came from the precious metals sought by the Spaniards in South America, from agriculture, or – as would turn out to be the case – from a raw material whose potential was as yet undreamed of.” (Hochschild pg 38).…

    • 1060 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Not too long ago, Africa was a country of wealth, attracting many European countries. However, the wealth did not come without a cost. Europeans had little knowledge of Africa because of the dangers of disease such as malaria. Europeans did not explore Africa either because they only needed Africa for slaves. After slavery was outlawed, Europeans decided to explore more of Africa.…

    • 590 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Even though the African nation experiences no resounding victory, the novel still draws to a close with an optimistic outlook as Leah reflects on her future in the Congo. “It’s taken ten years and seems like a miracle, but the Americans are losing in Angola. Their land mines are still all over the country…but in my dreams I still have hope” (Kingsolver 607). Leah is emphasizing that Angola may be war-torn still, but it is making progress towards freedom. During years of oppression under Belgian rule, the Congolese proletariat were kept subservient and uneducated, and though citizens were growing tired of this way of life, nothing improved until one individual or a group of like individuals made the executive decision to revolt.…

    • 611 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The purpose for Hochschild to write his text was to inform readers on the cruelty of natives by European powers in the 19th century, specifically focusing on King Leopold and his control over the Congo. Before King Leopold was taken down he began to burn all physical/written records on what he did to the people in the Congo, so Hochschild 's text is extremely important for readers to read in order to get enough information about this tragedy, because many have not even heard the cruel ways of Leopold and he was just as bad as Hitler; who is well known. Headrick supports Hochschild’s argument because he goes more into detail on how imperialism is possible due to the technological tools used by the Europeans in the 19th century. While he does not focus on individuals and has no emotional affect in his text, he provides facts for the reader. Reading The Tools of Empire and the reading King Leopold’s Ghost helps you better understand what happened in the Congo under Leopold’s rule because you receive background…

    • 770 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Africa is a continent known for its plentiful natural resources, and unfortunately European countries also noticed this early on. Europeans began to colonize African countries, and soon enough they would control most of Africa's territories. European imperialism endured for 300 years, between 1500 and 1800. What drove the European imperialism was economic prosperity, national competition, and cultural beliefs.…

    • 876 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Europeans Over Africa Dbq

    • 151 Words
    • 1 Pages

    One of the main reasons the Europeans took over the land was for the good trading and resources in Africa. There were many important resources in Africa that would be useful to the Europeans, like cotton, gold, rubber, sisal, coal, zinc, copper, ivory, etc. Europeans wanted to take over the land so they could use the resources in Africa to make useful things like fabrics, fuel, food products, rope, coins, and other useful items (Doc D). If Europeans took over Africa, they'd be able to trade with a larger variety of people and countries, which meant getting a larger variety of resources (Doc A). After the Europeans took over Africa, they used the resources there to their best advantage; the Europeans sold and traded lots of the resources in…

    • 151 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Congo Wars: The Congo War

    • 253 Words
    • 2 Pages

    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…

    • 253 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As political and industrial revolution scoured across Europe in the 19th century, governments and businesses began to take a particular interest in a continent of Africa. Due to the challenges it presented in previous centuries, it was not susceptible to imperial conquest similar to the Western Hemisphere in the 16th century. With the outset of the Industrial Revolution, along with its subsequent aspiration for raw materials and potential markets, a new set of motivations helped shape the dispute whether or not to make a presence in Africa. From economic gain, to building a sense of national honor and pride, European powers consumed the continent below them with a mentality that only the “survival of the fittest” being able to prevail.…

    • 388 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Effect of European Control The large continent of Africa is the home to many African tribes. Africa has many resources that other countries desire to have for themselves. During 1884, these European countries met at what was called the Berlin Conference, where they discussed how they were going to divide the continent up between themselves. They gave no say to the people living in Africa.…

    • 875 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    African Slave Trade Dbq

    • 890 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Europeans immediately started taking advantage of the Africans’ resources. Diamond says, “Europeans entering Africa enjoyed the triple advantage of guns and other technology, widespread literacy, and the political organization necessary to sustain expensive programs of exploration and conquest”. They were clearly trying to obtain guns as well as other items in order to increase their power. However, there is still the question of how the Europeans were able to develop all of these technologies before the Africans did. According to Diamond, all of these technologies went back to food production, with Eurasia having much more food production especially as compared to sub-Saharan Africa.…

    • 890 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    Sailing into the middle of the story was a young Congo River steamboat officer named Joseph Conrad. And looming above them all, the duplicitous billionaire King Leopold II. With great power and compassion, King Leopold's Ghost will brand the tragedy of the Congo--too long forgotten--onto the conscience of the West. Early in the imperial colonial period slavery was the chief reason for exploiting central Africa.…

    • 1868 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    Congo Empire

    • 1116 Words
    • 5 Pages

      The mighty Congo Empire, at Cote d’lvoire, Aka, the Ivory Coast of West Africa had the Burkina Faso warriors originally from the Bantu migration 600AD. They were skilled in horse riding and the use of the bow. Their earliest history starts with the Dagomba tribe neighboring the Boussansi, the Ninisi, the Gourounsi and the Kabisi their union brought about a great warrior kingdom called the Mossi. The greatest warriors of this Empire were the Wagadogo and the Yatenga.…

    • 1116 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    He portrays him as someone with selfish motives who wanted to be seen as a hero to gain power and attention within the international community, his focus was to gain fame and prestige as an explorer. Although he didn't commit the crimes Leopold did, he is a factor in the conquering of Congo in the first place. He killed natives on his exploration and supported Leopold's economic ventures instead of making them known to the public. Hochschild highlights how Leopold was a greedy man who wanted to increase his own wealth at any costs. He was able to manipulate the public into believing that his reasons for conquering the Congo were purely philanthropic.…

    • 1429 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays