The Belgian Congo

The Belgian Congo All the major European powers were colonizing in the 19th Century. One colony was Belgium's Congo. The Kingdom of Belgium did not own it. It was the personal property of that country's king, Leopold II. Leopold used the Congo to make huge amounts of money. King Leopold and his countrymen committed many human rights violations while governing the Congo. The people in his country did not worry though. They were distracted because King Leopold built many things for them in Belgium with the money he made from the Congo.

The Berlin Conference On 15 November 1884, an international conference was convened in Berlin. Thirteen European nations attended. The United States also came. The reason for the conference was to organize the colonization of Africa. The imperialist countries wanted to make rules for how to make African colonies part of their country. Also they wanted to make rules about how to make and change the borders of African colonies. King Leopold thought he could use these rules to take control of the Congo.

Why Did Leopold Want to Make the Congo His Colony? The natural resources of the Congo were most important to Leopold's plans. Copper rapidly became one of the colony's major exports. The harvesting of ivory and rubber was also profitable. These industries all relied primarily on indigenous labor. The companies forced native Africans to work for them. In an effort to increase exports, Belgium charged Congolese a tax, which they could pay in rubber. Another law required Africans to work 40 hours a month for the state (the government). Other laws said native Africans had work in construction, make food, and work for the military

The Effects of Imperialism in the Congo Local agents of Leopold's administration were given much power to enforce the laws. Entire villages were held QuickTimeª and a responsible for making TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor are needed to see this picture. enough rubber, and their women and chiefs would usually be held captive until the village made the rubber. The chicotte, a hippo-hide whip, was widely used to punishing people if they did not follow the rules of the government. It was not uncommon for workers to be beaten to death with this instrument. Sometimes, company officials and armed African soldiers would set themselves up as local kings or even gods, killing and mutilating people who spoke out against them. There are many stories of soldiers and officials returning from expeditions with strings of ears or collections of amputated hands. Leopold did make a lot of money from the Congo, much of which he spent on lavish public projects in country, Belgium. The Congo was eventually taken from Leopold's control and made a Belgian colony. This was because too many people heard about the effect Leopold and his officials had in the Congo.

Leopold borrowed a lot of money for his projects in the Congo. This is called debt. The Belgian government made the people of the Congo pay King Leopold’s debt. The Belgian government invested in basic projects like schools, hospitals and roads. They built a railroad in the Congo. However, the Belgians were not interested in making any major changes in the Congo. Many Belgians thought the native of Africa was by nature to be used to labor for Europeans. After Imperialism After Belgium got the Congo from Leopold, the real rulers of natives' lives were the missionaries. They established Westernstyle schools and churches, which suppressed the native way of life. By the 1950s, however, Africans fought hard for independence, and for a free Congolese republic. This was created in 1960, after a period of intense civil war. Civil war has continued, in some form or another, up to the present day, with no stable government since.