Congo Imperialism
The story of the Democratic Republic of Congo starts off with King Leopold II, the
King of Belgium from 1865-1909. King Leopold II was extremely interested in making
Belgium a world power, and did so by imperialism and colonization. In 1885, he made possible the formation of the Congo Free State (now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo) (Hochschild). This state was originally created as a way to open up the interior of Africa to European trade, specifically for ivory, which was extremely valuable at the time. Morton Stanley led this expedition, who established several stations on the
Congo River, and negotiated several treaties among local tribes to open trade(The
Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica). Even though they were able to unify …show more content…
The amount of control that Belgians had over the people of the Congo actually decreased, and riots eventually broke out (“Congolese win independence…”).
On January 4, 1959, riots eventually broke out in Leopoldville, and 34 Africans were killed by the Belgian government. This angered the people of the Belgian Congo, and more protests and riots broke out among the urban population, and the Congolese challenged the Belgian Government to punish them. In 1959, the Belgian government held an election of Congolese “puppets”, who planned to allow the Congolese rule, but only to the consent of the Belgian government, so that independence would become irrelevant. This was known to the Congolese, and the elections were boycotted by the people. As a result, the Belgian government cut funding for the colony, and the people were finally granted independence on June 30, 1960 (“Congolese win …show more content…
Ever since fighting has started, 5.4 million people
White 3 have died, and 45,000 people continue to die each month. This “war” was caused by conflicts with several neighboring countries, as well as internal conflicts, between the
Congolese people. The majority of these conflicts are surrounded by the country’s rich natural resources, as they are rich in copper, zinc, coltan, gold, etc. (Shah)
Although there is still some violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the majority of it has been resolved. As a matter of fact, the country just recently had their first democratic election in decades, and Joseph Kabila was elected. However, there is still major conflict between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. The military group M23 is apparently under influence of Rwanda, as BBC News states, “ It says M23 leaders "receive direct military orders" from Rwanda's chief of defence staff, Gen
Charles Kayonga, "who in turn acts on instructions from the minister of defence", Gen
James Kabarebe.” (“Q&A: DR Congo Conflict” ) This fight between Rwanda and the
Democratic Republic of Congo continues to this day, and has cost the lives of
King of Belgium from 1865-1909. King Leopold II was extremely interested in making
Belgium a world power, and did so by imperialism and colonization. In 1885, he made possible the formation of the Congo Free State (now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo) (Hochschild). This state was originally created as a way to open up the interior of Africa to European trade, specifically for ivory, which was extremely valuable at the time. Morton Stanley led this expedition, who established several stations on the
Congo River, and negotiated several treaties among local tribes to open trade(The
Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica). Even though they were able to unify …show more content…
The amount of control that Belgians had over the people of the Congo actually decreased, and riots eventually broke out (“Congolese win independence…”).
On January 4, 1959, riots eventually broke out in Leopoldville, and 34 Africans were killed by the Belgian government. This angered the people of the Belgian Congo, and more protests and riots broke out among the urban population, and the Congolese challenged the Belgian Government to punish them. In 1959, the Belgian government held an election of Congolese “puppets”, who planned to allow the Congolese rule, but only to the consent of the Belgian government, so that independence would become irrelevant. This was known to the Congolese, and the elections were boycotted by the people. As a result, the Belgian government cut funding for the colony, and the people were finally granted independence on June 30, 1960 (“Congolese win …show more content…
Ever since fighting has started, 5.4 million people
White 3 have died, and 45,000 people continue to die each month. This “war” was caused by conflicts with several neighboring countries, as well as internal conflicts, between the
Congolese people. The majority of these conflicts are surrounded by the country’s rich natural resources, as they are rich in copper, zinc, coltan, gold, etc. (Shah)
Although there is still some violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the majority of it has been resolved. As a matter of fact, the country just recently had their first democratic election in decades, and Joseph Kabila was elected. However, there is still major conflict between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. The military group M23 is apparently under influence of Rwanda, as BBC News states, “ It says M23 leaders "receive direct military orders" from Rwanda's chief of defence staff, Gen
Charles Kayonga, "who in turn acts on instructions from the minister of defence", Gen
James Kabarebe.” (“Q&A: DR Congo Conflict” ) This fight between Rwanda and the
Democratic Republic of Congo continues to this day, and has cost the lives of