Transcript King Leopold’s Ghost - North Clackamas School District

King Leopold’s Ghost
written by Adam Hochschild
King Leopold’s Ghost
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Life before Africa
King Leopold II was the king of Belgium from 18651908. At that point Belgium was a small country not
much older than the king itself.
King Leopold’s wish was to obtain a colony in Africa.
Explorer Henry Morton Stanley seemed like the
perfect man to help.
Henry Morton Stanley
Henry Morton Stanley (American) went to
Africa on a quest to find Dr. Livingston,
the man who discovered Victorian Falls
(the head waters of the Nile). His quest
was successful, catching the eye of King
Leopold II
Quest for Power
King Leopold commissioned Stanley to travel down the
Congo river and buy land from Congo chiefs. Because of
the language gap, the Congo chiefs were tricked into
signing deals that left them with virtually no power.
Through negotiations, King Leopold was able to establish a
colony for himself.
The colony was his and not that of his country, Belgium.
Although King Leopold told the world he was trying to save
the Congo from the heathenish “Arab Slave Trade”, his real
motives were money.
Congo
Wealth in the Congo
King Leopold saw that he could make a lot of money out of
the Congo from ivory and mainly rubber.
In order to transport goods, he decided to build a railroad.
King Leopold never went to Africa himself
The railroad took many workers and years to build, in the end
resulting in a rickety dangerous track.
Although King Leopold condemned the “Arab Slave Trade”,
he instituted slavery of the Africans during his regime
Rubber
Acquiring rubber was an arduous and dangerous task
Cruelty
The native Africans were put to work
gathering rubber from vines. If they did
not fill their quota, the Europeans
would shoot them.
When the Congolese died the people
under King Leopold’s power would cut
off the right hand of the dead African.
Victims
The hands of the boy
sitting were destroyed by
gangrene because
soldiers had tied them
too tightly
The right hand of the
boy standing was cut off
by a soldier who
claimed he was dead.
Knowledge
The outside world was largely unaware of the horrors going
on in the Congo because not a lot was printed in the paper
E.D. Morel a worker for the Liverpool shipping line, the
primary company carrying goods to and from the Congo,
noticed that the ships to the Congo were carrying more
military supplies than trading goods.
The only explanation for this was that there was slavery going
on in the Congo
He had an uncanny ability to find out information, and he
started a campaign against the cruelty in he Congo.
Campaign against King
Leopold’s Congo
Sir Roger Casement also joined E.D. Morel in the
effort to let the world know about the atrocities in the
Congo
George Washington Williams was the first to report
from the front of the evil going on in the Congo
Casement had also seen first hand the dreadfulness of
the Congo, and he did not hold back writing about it
to newspapers.
E.D. Morel
Sir Roger Casement
George Washington Williams
The end of King Leopold’s
regime in Congo
King Leopold eventually had to sell his Congo to the
Belgium government because….
-The movement against him and his Congo was growing
stronger.
King Leopold had hired Colonel Henry I. Kowalsky,
an influential famous American lawyer, in hopes of appeasing
the American public because Morel had stirred them up.
However, only a year after King Leopold had hired Kowalsky
he decided to put him out of circulation and send him on a
side mission to Nigeria. Kowalsky, angered by this rejection
leaked confidential information about the Congo to the
newspaper New York America
Congo: a colony of Belgium
Kowalsky triggered a series of other schemes against
King Leopold, and finally in the March of 1908 Congo
was sold to the Belgian government
King Leopold’s Ghost
Finally, in 1960 the Congo was granted
independence. However, the people of
Congo by that time were little adept to
sustain a government.
Even with independence, the rulers took
advantage of the Congo that King Leopold
had left such a mess.
“A man may destroy everything within himself, love
and hate and belief, and even doubt, but as long as he
clings to life, he cannot destroy fear.”
Perhaps in fear we seek an increased perception of life,
a more potent form of exitstence? I am frightened,
therefore I exist. The more frightened I am, the more I
exist.”