Primary Factors that Undermine King Leopold’s Rule Essay

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Approximately a hundred years ago, millions of people died in an African country, Congo through atrocities committed under the rule of one King Leopold. Leading Congo from the late 19th to 20th Century, Belgium’s King Leopold II curved his status as the ruler of Congo and left a trail of inhumane history. King Leopold of Belgium defined himself as an emperor from where he made a huge amount of personal fortunes, in the mix of his men committing atrocities in one of Africa’s most expansive and mineral-rich countries. Through tricky political manipulation and lies about humanitarian reasons for his occupation, the Belgium King managed to lay the groundwork for future exploitation of natural resources.

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He managed to organize Brussels’s Geographical Conference in 1876, which saw the formation of an organization in the name of the International African Association. Leopold intelligently claimed and gained control of Congo from the US after forming a breakaway organization by the name of, International Association of Congo. After taking control of Congo, he claimed it a free country by declaring free trade, thus gaining the support of other European countries. Although there was little knowledge of resources at the time, the ivory trade and later the natural rubber became the critical source of his massive wealth through exploitation. He owned concession companies, with which he used to exploit the Congo resources, supported by his military. However, despite building such a strong empire, his downfall was a result of many factors some of which started as early as his rule began. This paper critically analyzes factors that undermined King Leopold’s control of Congo, after the strong development of anti-colonial mentalities among the different people of the world and the Congolese themselves.

Brutality against the People

Leopold’s leadership later would regenerate into a tyranny after turning against those same people who helped him drive away from the Arab traders. After the successful acquisition of Congo under the disguise of protecting it from Arab traders who he accused of going against the principle of humanity, Leopold used the same hostility to punish the people of Congo against the will of many former supporters. He used his position to acquire massive economic power, which enabled him to purchase guns and other weapons to enslave the native Congo people into helping out in the exploitation of their resources (Bierman 88).

He killed numerous elephants for Ivory, and as rubber demands increased around the world during that time and period, he ensured maximum exploitation by enslaving the villagers into the gathering of the resource from the jungle. He used his army to enslave the native people of Congo, wherein on many occasions they brutally whipped and killed them if they failed to work and produce the set target of harvest per person. Soldiers would test whether the new guns meant for war were working on the native people who allegedly failed to comply with the standard of work as setting up by the master. As Stanley states, “the machine guns were of valuable service in helping civilization to overcome barbarism” (Bierman 62; Hochschild 97). In fact, on certain occasions, the guns would sometimes be used to strike villages and burn houses within certain surrounding villages as long as there was slight suspicion that they might attack their masters (Hoschschild 99). The slaves’ wives also faced the wrath of their husband’s failures as they would be tied in chains until the time their husbands would harvest enough to satisfy the master’s demands every day.

Visibly, the rest of the world was neither protected from the open evil that native Congolese experienced. As stated earlier, Leopold had powerful political trickery. With this rare ability, he managed to convince the US to acknowledge and recognize his occupation and rule in Congo. The shipped slaves continued to be brutally worked in the West, while the remaining lot in Congo went even through worse experiences. It is ridiculous that even as late as September of 1902, a Congolese by the name Ota Benga got displayed as an African specimen “in the monkey house of New York’s Bronx Zoo” (Hoschschild 176).

Criticism from Some European leaders and the World

After marshaling public and world support against Arab traders, Leopold grabbed the opportunity to occupy Congo and named renamed one of the towns Leopoldville in his owner, after getting assistance from Stanley who help clear the way for steamboats (Hoschschild 67). The town was later to be combined with Kinshasa to form the nations’ headquarter (Hoschschild 145). Characteristics of a colonial master, Leopold identified local chiefs whom he liaised with to acquire land and made them sign certain contracts, which they barely understood the contents. For example, one such contract note read thus: “one piece of cloth per month to each of the undersigned chiefs, besides present of cloth in hand” in response to what African chiefs would get by giving out land and its resources, that is, “freely of their own accord, for themselves and their heirs and successors forever….” (Hoschschild 72)

Leopold used the said Association to drive African Chiefs to sign contracts, and it is this Association that he used to get public support, which helped him drive off Arab slave traders after identifying the resources that he later exploited with gusto. However, one of the main critics of Leopold and his ways was Germany’s Bismark, who saw the King’s early claim of the region as insincere and greedy. Bismark’s statements such as ‘swindle’, ‘fantasies’ were seen as targeting Leopold (Hoschschild 83). This kind of criticism was bound to cause problems to the Belgium Congo King as initially, he managed to convince his fellow European leaders to support his occupation of Congo through the declaration of free trade within his territory. More criticism was eminent as the world became alert of the goings-on in this African expansive country. The likes of Morel E.D., William Sheppard, and many others gained courage and exposed the rot in human brutality in Congo. Morel even managed to neutralize the intention of some leaders, like Senator John Morgan, whose agenda was to repatriate all the Blacks to Africa so that they could help liberate the nation by speaking against the evils committed. According to Senator Morgan, this was the only way to convince all African Americans to go back to their native country (Hoschschild 242).

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Public Sentiment

As time wore, the rebellion was rife. King Leopold got a dose of his trickery when he formed several commissions to investigate the claims of human atrocities. This was in a bid to boost public confidence in him through unconvincing public relations efforts. The investigations were never to make it any further as one of the judges listening to witness accounts of events reportedly broke down in tears (Hoschschild 251). King Leopold finally gave up the reign and decided to sell the country to his country, Belgium and the country later got independence after years of brutality committed under one man’s authority. However, the county’s first Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba was killed, allegedly by American intelligence as he was perceived as a communist (Hoschschild 302).

Conclusion

After successfully acquiring Congo from the Slave traders, Leopold later became not what he preached when he build his reputation earlier during acquisition efforts. He applied hostility in his rule, brutally killing the native Congolese and enslaving them in one of the most grueling colonial stories of brutality. Through the massive wealth he got from exploiting the labor and natural resources of the native people of Congo, Leopold used his ability to rein terror on the people. But this brutality was later to come to an end when he faced criticism both locally and internationally. Bismark was one of the notable figures to criticize him as early as he settled to control Congo. The United States was one of the victims of Leopold’s trickery and got trapped into accepting the legitimacy of his rule. The US was also not innocent in the game as they were accused of playing partisan in the Congo dealings as they also had vested interest.

These kinds of pressure were later to become Leopold’s destruction as he became completely tyrant in his rule. The world became more concerned with the Congo events. Several leaders like Morel E.D. were later to gain the courage to expose the rot in Congo. This was the end of King Leopold’s rule as he sold the country to his mother country, Belgium which later let the country get independence.

Works Cited

Bierman, John. Dark Safari: The Life behind the Legend of Henry Morton Stanley. New York. Alfred A. Knopf. 1990. Print.

Hoschschild, Adam. King Leopold’s Gost: A story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa. Boston. Mariner Books. 1998. Print.

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IvyPanda. 2021. "Primary Factors that Undermine King Leopold’s Rule." December 12, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/primary-factors-that-undermine-king-leopolds-rule/.

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IvyPanda. "Primary Factors that Undermine King Leopold’s Rule." December 12, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/primary-factors-that-undermine-king-leopolds-rule/.

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