Belgians in the Congo

SWBAT: analyze the impact Belgians had on the people living in the Congo using quotes from primary sources.

Homework: Read pages 671-673 and answer the questions.

Do Now: look to the image to the left. What do these images have in common with one another?

Homework Review

Berlin Conference• Representatives from 14 nations came together for the Berlin Conference of

1884-85 to discuss colonization of the African continent.

• The representative from Germany, Otto von Bismarck, declared they were all there to promote the three C: Commerce, Christianity, and Civilization.

• The conference had 3 aims. To ensure free trade for all nations throughout the Congo. To ensure free navigation for all countries on the Niger River of west Africa. To agree on a set of rules by which Europeans could proceed to divide the rest of

the continent.

• Not a single African representative was at the meeting and few of those in attendance had set foot in Africa.

The Results• King Leopold II of Belgium will gain the most from

the conference. The one man there who had the most experience in

Africa was his friend and paid employee. Through the use of manipulation and pitting France

and Great Britain against one another, Leopold walked away with the Congo, an area rich in natural resources.

• Those in attendance signed the Berlin Act which promised to do the following: Protect freedom of religion in all territories. “watch over the preservation of the native tribes and

to care for the improvement of their moral and material well-being.”

Suppress slavery.

Why the Congo?

• “I believe that the time has come to spread ourselves outwards; we cannot afford to lose more time, under penalty of seeing the best positions, which are already becoming rare, successively occupied by nations more enterprising than our own.”

• Why is Leopold looking to enter the Congo?

Leopold and the Congo• Until the later part of the 19th century, few Europeans had ventured into the Congo basin.

• Why? The rainforest, swamps and accompanying malaria, and other diseases,

made it a difficult environment for European-style exploration and exploitation.

• Leopold II had wanted to acquire a colony for Belgium even before he ascended to the throne in 1865.

• He believed that the acquisition of a colony would bestow international prestige on his relatively young and small home country.

The Goal• “[Our goal is]...to open to civilization the only part of the globe where it has yet to penetrate…. It is, I dare to say, a crusade worthy of this century of progress…. In bringing you to Brussels I was in no way motivated by selfish designs.”

• What was Leopold’s goal according to the quote? Do you think it’s legit?

The Real Goal• Although very few outside the Congo region

knew it yet, Leopold’s endeavors there had little to do with the well-being of the people.

• Most of Europe was convinced he was engaged in a grand humanitarian effort.

• He assured people that he was investing vast sums of his personal wealth in projects supposedly undertaken for the good of the Congolese people.

• The real goal: make money.

• Rubber was becoming more and more important as Europeans began to find more ways to use it- in car tires, hoses, and industrial equipment.

The Congolese Suffer• In an effort to increase exports, an 1892

tax was levied against residents of the Congo, which could only be paid in rubber.

• A 1903 law then required Africans to work 40 hours a month for the state.

• Soon the Belgians began to hire soldiers to make sure that the natives produced the raw material.

• Local agents of Leopold's administration were given wide discretionary powers concerning methods of enforcement.

Quote Analysis• Read the quotes to the left. On the right, analyze the quote and explain what the quote says about life in the Belgian Congo.

• After, you should write a paragraph responding to whether the Belgians satisfied the goal set out at the Berlin Conference.

• This needs to be done 5 minutes before the end of class.

The Effect in the Congo• King Leopold became incredibly wealthy from

the sale of rubber and the Congo paid the price.

• Environmentally, the method that most harvesters used to get the sap destroyed the trees and vines they took it from.

• The Congolese people faced incredible violence at the hands of the Belgians.

• Between the 1880s and 1903 the population of the Congo was reduced from over 20 million people to about 8.5 million. 

• In short, it was genocide.

• Until Hitler, Leopold II was the man who set the standard for wickedness and evil.