How Did King Leopold II Contribute To The Rise Of American Imperialism
“A little more than a quarter of a century ago, a great genius for evil, having achieved in rapid succession a series of diplomatic master strokes, stretched out to reach the scepter which was to give him power over life and death of over 20 million human beings.” This great genius for evil, King Leopold II, was commonly known for the atrocities he committed in the Congo Free State. Leopold’s ability to gain control over the lives of the Congolese was due to the deceit and use of persuasion over head powers for a lucrative business. Specifically, in the Congo Free State, King Leopold II’s approach to governing, in an effort to gain the most profit, lead to violent atrocities and the deaths of many natives.
In effort to extract natural resources …show more content…
and gain profit, King Leopold’s first policy allowed him to take land from the native population; this altered natives’ abilities to provide for themselves. Specifically, this policy “gave the state the right to take for itself ‘vacant’ lands not effectively occupied by Africans.” All of this land he had taken comprised of 2.3 million square kilometers, which was almost 77 times greater than the area of Belgium. Because the land was taken away from the natives and put into the hands of the government, this caused harsh changes in the lives of the people who had once owned the land themselves. For example, famine was created among the villages due to the lack of adequate land to farm. Leopold had taken away the area that would provide a source of food for the families and people of the Congo. They were therefore unable to keep up their health due to the drastic change in organization of their state. King Leopold took the land primarily looking for a way to increase his profit. The consequence of the decreasing health of the Congolese also came from the taking of land in a way of ‘sleeping sickness’. The sickness was said to be caused by the “brutal change of ancestral conditions and ways of life that has accompanied the accelerated occupation of the territories.” The severe changes Leopold inflicted on the natives lives impacted their way of life and conditional health. In the duration of King Leopold’s rule the lives of the natives continue to be affected by more drastic conditions than just a decrease in health alone.
In light of the famine and inability to provide for themselves, the many natives were forced to work for Leopold, seeing as they hand no land to harvest their own source of profit. This also had negative impacts. Because Leopold had been gaining an adequate amount of money, he decided to create the rubber trade to increase his profit even further. Since the job was seen as a “low value-to-volume” ratio, Leopold saw this as an opportunity for profit that qualified most of the population to take part in the harvesting process. In this lucrative system, workers would have to travel farther as the local sources of rubber were depleting. In turn this would make villagers susceptible to attacks from wild animals, starvation and disease or even merely from the act of extracting the rubber itself from the tall trees. The population had decreased by 50% in the time that Leopold had been in rule of the Congo Free State. This astounding decline was on account of several factors including “executions, deaths in battles of resistance, separation of husbands from wives, people fleeing from the Congo Free State to neighboring territories and exhaustion from overwork.” Leopold’s objective for profit was beginning to become a reality when the rubber trade became “the catalyst that changed the Free State’s political economy from a largely conventional colonial regime into a company government pursuing profit maximization” although through extreme coercive means.”
Although beneficial, the organization of the Congo Free State was not as profitable as desired for a power hungry ruler like Leopold.
The system of economic imperialism to Leopold was “the establishment or exploitation of such dominion for continuing material advantage.” So, in order to increase his ‘material advantage’ Leopold created the Force Publique, a group of men that uses terror as a source of influence on workers to make the rubber trade move faster and more efficiently. Leopold thought “the use of terror [was] the most cost efficient method of imposing rule and facilitating extraction.” Therefore, the Force Publique was generally made up of strangers to the area so the soldiers would serve with out any sense of identification with the local groups. This made it easier for the orders of torture and even death to be achieved on Leopold’s demand. This had a prominent impact on the death toll in the Congo, when severed hands, noses, and ears became the proof the army showed officials that the native Congolese had not done their jobs. This then became the method of incentive for the men to work harder and faster to achieve Leopold’s marvel of increased profit. If there became a case where men were fleeing the area to get away from the harsh rule of Leopold, the officials would take the villages chief, women or children, “making then susceptible to rape, starvation or disease” and were not released until a ransom of rubber was paid. The natives were continually shown this practice of terror, and therefore it achieved Leopold’s goal to keep the natives hard at work to ensure no one else would become the victim of Leopold’s
negligence.
The explicit coincidence that a ruler, displaying no cognitive ability of sympathy, gained against all odds the control over a large territory, by the means of greed and financial desperation had created an organization so terrifying, that its reverberations are still felt over a century later in the form of a failed state. To gain the most profit out of his newly founded state, Leopold’s rationale contributed to a large number of atrocities committed in the 19th century. His control and need for money affected many lives in the Congo Free State and killed a vast number of native Congolese.
In effort to extract natural resources …show more content…
and gain profit, King Leopold’s first policy allowed him to take land from the native population; this altered natives’ abilities to provide for themselves. Specifically, this policy “gave the state the right to take for itself ‘vacant’ lands not effectively occupied by Africans.” All of this land he had taken comprised of 2.3 million square kilometers, which was almost 77 times greater than the area of Belgium. Because the land was taken away from the natives and put into the hands of the government, this caused harsh changes in the lives of the people who had once owned the land themselves. For example, famine was created among the villages due to the lack of adequate land to farm. Leopold had taken away the area that would provide a source of food for the families and people of the Congo. They were therefore unable to keep up their health due to the drastic change in organization of their state. King Leopold took the land primarily looking for a way to increase his profit. The consequence of the decreasing health of the Congolese also came from the taking of land in a way of ‘sleeping sickness’. The sickness was said to be caused by the “brutal change of ancestral conditions and ways of life that has accompanied the accelerated occupation of the territories.” The severe changes Leopold inflicted on the natives lives impacted their way of life and conditional health. In the duration of King Leopold’s rule the lives of the natives continue to be affected by more drastic conditions than just a decrease in health alone.
In light of the famine and inability to provide for themselves, the many natives were forced to work for Leopold, seeing as they hand no land to harvest their own source of profit. This also had negative impacts. Because Leopold had been gaining an adequate amount of money, he decided to create the rubber trade to increase his profit even further. Since the job was seen as a “low value-to-volume” ratio, Leopold saw this as an opportunity for profit that qualified most of the population to take part in the harvesting process. In this lucrative system, workers would have to travel farther as the local sources of rubber were depleting. In turn this would make villagers susceptible to attacks from wild animals, starvation and disease or even merely from the act of extracting the rubber itself from the tall trees. The population had decreased by 50% in the time that Leopold had been in rule of the Congo Free State. This astounding decline was on account of several factors including “executions, deaths in battles of resistance, separation of husbands from wives, people fleeing from the Congo Free State to neighboring territories and exhaustion from overwork.” Leopold’s objective for profit was beginning to become a reality when the rubber trade became “the catalyst that changed the Free State’s political economy from a largely conventional colonial regime into a company government pursuing profit maximization” although through extreme coercive means.”
Although beneficial, the organization of the Congo Free State was not as profitable as desired for a power hungry ruler like Leopold.
The system of economic imperialism to Leopold was “the establishment or exploitation of such dominion for continuing material advantage.” So, in order to increase his ‘material advantage’ Leopold created the Force Publique, a group of men that uses terror as a source of influence on workers to make the rubber trade move faster and more efficiently. Leopold thought “the use of terror [was] the most cost efficient method of imposing rule and facilitating extraction.” Therefore, the Force Publique was generally made up of strangers to the area so the soldiers would serve with out any sense of identification with the local groups. This made it easier for the orders of torture and even death to be achieved on Leopold’s demand. This had a prominent impact on the death toll in the Congo, when severed hands, noses, and ears became the proof the army showed officials that the native Congolese had not done their jobs. This then became the method of incentive for the men to work harder and faster to achieve Leopold’s marvel of increased profit. If there became a case where men were fleeing the area to get away from the harsh rule of Leopold, the officials would take the villages chief, women or children, “making then susceptible to rape, starvation or disease” and were not released until a ransom of rubber was paid. The natives were continually shown this practice of terror, and therefore it achieved Leopold’s goal to keep the natives hard at work to ensure no one else would become the victim of Leopold’s
negligence.
The explicit coincidence that a ruler, displaying no cognitive ability of sympathy, gained against all odds the control over a large territory, by the means of greed and financial desperation had created an organization so terrifying, that its reverberations are still felt over a century later in the form of a failed state. To gain the most profit out of his newly founded state, Leopold’s rationale contributed to a large number of atrocities committed in the 19th century. His control and need for money affected many lives in the Congo Free State and killed a vast number of native Congolese.