Colonialismin the Congo

Lea 8B

Colonialism is a practice of domination which involvesthe subjugation of one people to another. (StanfordEncyclopedia of Philosophy; May 9, 2006). Colonization is an oldphenomenon in history which is full of examples of one countrygradually expanding by incorporating other territories andchanging the countrys ways of dealing with its people.

One of theseexamples is the colonialismof Congo, formerlyknown as Zaire located inthe African Great Lakesregion of Central Africa.

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Zaire (Congo) was populated as early as 80,000 years ago.During its history the area has also been known as Congo, CongoFree State, Belgian Congo and Zaire. The

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Before colonization, therewere many different socialorganizations around the Congo Riverbasin. The tribes that used to livethere were known as IndigenousPeoples.

In pre-colonial times, Kaire wasconquered by 3 main kingdoms; Kongo, theLoango (which developed during the17th century) and lastly, the Tio.

Bantu* speaking peoples arrived in the Congo around1000BC from Nigeria. Bantu peoples had a huge impact on theregion as they introduced agriculture and metalworking in thearea. This led to an increase in food production which wastraded with other communities nearby. Before colonialism,districts were a group of villages and provinces were a group ofdistricts controlled by a governor. Villages, districts and provincesformed a kingdom which was ruled by a king. The king was thepolitical and spiritual ruler named Manikongo.

*Bantu: one of the old African Languages 3

4The Portuguese had founded the Congo River in about 1482.The Congo River and its surroundings, as well as its daily climatechange in weather, play a massive role to the indigenous people inCongo as it provides a source of food and water which is importantfor the tribal peoples. This trading carried on through the tribesmainly during slave trade era.

In the 1480s, Portuguese shipsarrived in Central Africa at the mouth of theCongo River-the center of the KongoKingdom. Congolese were happy to trade withthe Portuguese because they had a goodrelationship and got good items from each other.The Kongo were also hoping that theywould get some technological goods fromthe Portuguese. A few years later, thePortuguese found that Kongo was lacking in gold,copper and other resources that theywanted. The Portuguese then found thatAfrican Labor would be a much morevaluable product.When the Portuguesesuggested slave trading, it was not new to theCongolese people. However, the influence of thePortuguese and their high demand for slaveschanged African societies. Problems betweendifferent countries in the region started totake place because of searching for newcaptives who could be traded for Europeanmanufacture goods-including weapons.

Slaves were oftenprisoners of war captured fromenemies. These people wereusually ransomed back to theirfamily, or sold to others.Enslaved people were allowed toearn money or own land, andeven get married to locals.Generations later, enslaved Africansand their descendants wereoften able to go into theirnew societies. Despite thesetraditions, some slaves were stillabused and many wantedfreedom.

5King Leopold II wanted Belgium to have colonies, however, Belgiumrefused, so he then tricked the other superpowers in handing him a huge part ofCongo. The Kingdom of Belgium did not own it. It was the personal property ofKing Leopold II. Unfortunately, Leopold II was only interested in profits andused Congo to make huge amounts of money. In 1884, the Conference ofBerlin (1884-1885) finalized the colonial partitioning of the Congo. The Belgianparliament voted in favor of announcing the Congo as a Belgian colony on October18, 1908.

Leopold made a lotof money from theCongo, which he spent onpublic projects in hiscountry, Belgium. TheCongo was eventuallytaken from Leopold'scontrol and made aBelgian colony. People sawhow successful tradewas there and so theywanted to conquer it forgood so that they coulduse the money fortheir countrys benefit.

Belgium didn't start earlier with preparing the Congolese people inrunning their own country. Belgium had a thirty year plan to slowly hand overpower to the local population. But nothing ever came of it as the wave ofindependents in Africa happened at a much more rapid pace than anyone couldhave imagined.

Leopold pledged tosuppress the Congolese slavetrade; promote humanitarianpolicies; guarantee free tradewithin the colony; impose noimport duties for twenty years;and encourage philanthropicand scientific enterprises.Beginning in the mid-1880sLeopold issued a series ofdecrees that eventually violatedthese conditions. Leopold firstdecreed that the State assertedrights of proprietorship overall vacant landsthroughout the Congo territory.

King Leopold II

The natural resources ofthe Congo are mostly whyKing Leopold conqueredCongo. Congo was very rich innatural resources-but the mostresources they had were copper,tin and rubber. Copperquickly became one of thecolonys major export for trade.The harvest of rubber wasalso beneficial during trade.These industries all dependedprimarily on the labor ofindigenous peoples.

These companies forced nativeAfricans to work for them. To increaseexports, Belgium charged Congolese peoplea tax which they could pay in rubber.6

King Leopold wanted a steady flowof income to come into his smallincome and he wanted Congo for its greatsupply of copper, tin and rubber.

7The Congolese people suffered greatly, sometimes,company officials and armed soldiers would set themselves up aslocal kings or even gods, killing and mutilating people who spokeout against them. There are many stories of soldiers andofficials returning from expeditions with strings of ears orcollections of amputated hands.

Male rubber tappers andporters were exploited and drivento death. Leopold's agentsheld the wives and children ofthese men captive until theyreturned with their rubber jobs.Those who didnt want to or failedto supply enough rubberwould have their villages burneddown, children murdered, andtheir hands cut off as a lesson towhat they have done.

The Congolese were sofrightened that they started to runaway and hide in forests. In return,the Belgians burned villages andofficers sent their soldiers into theforest to find and kill hiding rebels.To prove their success, soldierswere ordered to cut off and bringback dead victims right hands asproof that they had not wastedtheir bullets.

The Belgians used the Congolese as workers in order forthem to get their trading items. Villages were held responsiblefor making enough rubber, and theirwomen and chiefs wouldusually be held captive until the village made the rubber. Thechicotte (ahippo-hide whip), was widely used to punishing theseindigenous people if they did not follow the rules of the government.Sometimes, the workers are beaten to death with this tool.

Leopold took most of the indigenouspeoples lands and left them with very little rights.

8From 1885 to 1908, it is estimated that the Congolesenative population decreased by about ten million people.

Congo lost many of its traditions and culture because of thevery little amount of tribes that were left. There werent enoughindigenous people to carry on the traditions-especially since they werefrightened at that time.

Fast FactsPopulation:70 millionCapital:BrazzavilleArea:2.3 million squarekilometersLanguage:French, Lingala,MonokutubaReligion:Christian, Animist,MuslimCurrency:CFA francLife Expectancy:50GDP per Capita:U.S. $900Literacy Percent:84

Congo gained its independence in1960. Today, the economy of the DRC (anation endowed with vast national resourcewealth) is slowly recovering after decades ofdecline.Yet the DRC is still a fragile, conflictcountry with huge a reconstruction need,but very little tax headroom and weakinstitutions.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) isa country with vast resources. Its surface area(2.3 million km2) spans the equivalent of two-thirds of theEuropean Union. Just under 40% of the nearly 70 millioninhabitants live in urban areas. The country has a lot ofagricultural and mineral resources. The DRC has thepotential to be one of the richest countries on theAfrican continent and a driver for African growth.

The Congolese carry out wonderful culturesto this day, and are known for their singing.Songs fill the air during the performance of choresand recently have been recorded. Rumba andother forms of music are played with native andWestern instruments. 9

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