Adam Hochschild's "King Leopold's Ghost" is a lost historical account starting in the late 19th century continuing into the 20th century of the enslavement of an entire country. The book tells the story of King Leopold and his selfish attempt to essentially make Belgium bigger starting with the Congo. This was all done under an elaborate "philanthropic" public relations curtain deceiving many countries along with the United States (the first to sign on in Leopold's claim of the Congo). There were many characters in the book ones that aided in the enslavement of the Congo and others that help bring light to the situation but the most important ones I thought were: King Leopold, a cold calculating, selfish leader, as a child he was crazy about geography and as an adult wasn't satisfied with his small kingdom of Belgium setting his sites on the Congo to expand. Hochschild compares Leopold to a director in a play he even says how brilliant he is in orchestrating the capture of the Congo. Another important character is King Leopold's, as Hochschild puts it, "Stagehand" Henry Morton Stanley. He was a surprisingly cruel person killing many natives of the Congo in his sophomore voyage through the interior of Africa (The first was to find Livingston). Leopold used Stanley to discuss treaties with African leaders granting Leopold control over the Congo. Some of the natives he talked to weren't even in the position to sign the treaties or they didn't know what they were signing. And probably the most influential person in the book, E.D. Morel. Morel, an employee of a Belgian company that handled shipments to the Congo, noticed that the shipments coming to and from the Congo seemed really suspicious.…
Methuselah’s imprisonment reflects the fact that the Price girls and Orleanna are kept in The Congo against their will by Nathan Price so that he can spread the word of Bible which according to Rachel, is not “worth saving” (301). Methuselah is kept in a cage in the Price house. The parrot lives there as a pet who is kept captive and forced to live in the cage. It has spent most of its life “caged away from flight and truth” (211). Orleanna and the Price girls have a similar story because Nathan is “all psyched up to stay [in Congo] forever …” (201) and he has forced his family to stay with him against their consent. Nathan is the one who actually has got the power to decide the fate of the Price girls and Methuselah. Nathan “let the parrot go” (87) because its language was not in accordance with the principles Nathan had set for the house. Even though the Price girls wanted to keep the parrot, it was Nathan who decided to award him freedom. The same thing happens with Nathan’s family who is totally under his control. Orleanna, who feels “occupied by a foreign power,” (226) claims that she has been “swallowed by Nathan’s mission …” (226). She is not happy living in The Congo with Nathan but she has to because Nathan controlled her and her…
Both the Congo and the fictional family of the Prices underwent upheaval. As the Prices’ family…
Blacks and Indians that fought for their freedom in Florida only to be forgotten are the Tales of Angola. 1812 a free black community and called Angola grew along the Manatee River, the residents of the community were free blacks, runaway slaves and soldiers from the war. As the small community grew hate also grew a led to “the largest slave rebellion in the United States history” 1.…
What occurred in the Congro, Hochschild writes, is “no worse than what happened in neighboring colonies” (Hochschild 280). The shocking realization that the reader is left with is that King Leopold’s Ghost was not a story about one evil man, but a single instance of the perils of colonialism that were all to common during this time. By allowing the reader to observe and understand the what happened in the Congo at a granular level, Hochschild underscores the importance of the historical context in which these events were occurring…
Kingsolver builds this particular character in his image, rather than the image he sees himself to draw direct attention to Leopold. Price’s lust for power in conjunction with his monotheist ideals make him fit the mold Belgium created(Salvatore 159). Prices is unable to accept that “The laws of these people are part of what defines their culture, and by replacing their laws with Christian based laws, these people could lose what makes them who they are”(Wind 2). Price attempts to force the Congolese into his way of life, without fearing the cultural genocide he planned to complete. Price could not comprehend the truth; that the native Congolese saw no benefit in acquiring his help.…
The Congo Free State, later named the Democratic Republic of Congo, drastically changed in 1876 when it was first colonized by King Leopold of Belgium. The colony of the Congo Free State was ruled solely by King Leopold, who used it for his own personal advancement. He took advantage of the country's well-known sources such as rubber. King Leopold of Belgium took all profits made off of the resources for himself and left the native people with nothing. In addition, King Leopold enslaved these natives and treated them poorly. They were forced to do hard and dangerous labor and if they did not meet the King’s standards, they could be killed. While the inhabitants of the Congo Free State could not do much to retaliate against the King, other countries…
Belgium saw them as an easy target with big profits and imperialized. Belgium, as a western nation, also agreed to the ideas of Social Darwinism, the belief that the white European was better than the rest of the people in the world, chiefly based on their physical features. Simply put, they were racist. Most Europeans fell into this belief, but the Belgian people took this to an extreme. They enslaved the native people of Congo in their own country and forced work upon them. Quotas and taxes were created to ensure certain amounts of raw materials were gathered and harsh punishments were put into action for those who didn’t complete or meet their requirements. According to Mark Twain, “The amount of rubber needed to meet the tax requires the men to work for up 25 days each month harvesting the wild rubber vines in the Congo forest” [3]. According to this that would leave only 5 days a month for “regular” life for the Congolese people. They did not have the time or resources to educate themselves, make money, or to develop. In 1908 the Belgian government gave the natives better treatment, by taking away the direct ownership of the nation from Leopold and they made it an official colony of the Belgian government [4]. This decision came through by putting humanitarian pressure put on King Leopold. Conditions improved, schools, hospitals, and roads were built, but the cruelty and racism was still their because of the history they had of it. Also, the punishment, crimes, and cruelty was all that the people understood because they were forced to live in it their entire lives, and it was a hard to shift back. Even in today’s world, this industrialization and these policies have left a scar on the Congos. In both the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic Of Congo there is still political unrest and constant violence. On December 17, there were 22…
In Suzanne Preston Blier’s article Enduring Myths of African Art, she articulates seven of the most common myths believed around the world surrounding African art. Of those seven myths, one that stands most true is the myth that African art is bound by place; the idea that African art in particular travels nowhere and its ideas are constrained to just the cultures they are sculpted in. Blier states, “The African art of myth is also frequently presented, incorrectly again, as an art rigidly bound by place.”1 She continues to express how most of the African art objects and styles studied are judiciously ascribed to particular regions and cultures as if they have no ability to circulate…
King Leopold II developed his dream for colonization at an early age. Before he even took the throne he was on the lookout for unconquered land that could later be in his possession. The king wanted to become rich as a result of his new land through the process of trading. Once King Leopold II set his sights on the Congo, he would not give up until the land was his. He connived, manipulated and conned his way into the land. He did not care who got hurt; he just wanted his dream to be fulfilled.…
King Leopold is from Belgium, he came to Africa to take their natural resources because Africans were rich with resources. Belgians had companies in Africa and they worked their, Leopold got really greedy for natural resources and he started to invade in Africa. King Leopold started to make promises with the Africans saying that he was going to keep them very well educated, build hospitals and buildings for their needs Leopold didn’t keep his promises because he didn’t take care of the Natives and he abused/killed many of them, Natives really didn’t get anything from this experience only thing they got was abused and manipulated by “the great” King Leopold. Therefore, King Leopold didn’t follow his promises to the Natives, he followed the promises…
The two companies that will be the focus of this paper are Anheuser-Busch Companies and Coors Brewing Company (Coors). As of 2009, these two companies held 50.4 percent and 10.8 percent of the U.S. beer market, respectively[1]. The compound annual growth rate of the market value of the U.S. beer industry between 2005 and 2009 was 0.4 percent, reaching $77.6 billion in 2009, while the market volume grew at an even lower 0.2 percent reaching a volume of 24 billion liters.[2] Until 2002, the three major players within the industry, Anheuser-Busch, Coors and Miller Brewing Company, were domestically owned and together earned 75 percent of the industry revenues. This paper focuses on the U.S. beer industry and competitive strategies of two focal companies Anheuser-Busch and Coors, prior to 2009, before global giant InBev acquired Anheuser-Busch. Despite the dominant position of Anheuser-Busch, the different strategies pursued by these two organizations will draw different reactions from each firm, should a significant event impact them. This report highlights the differences in those reactions by (1) presenting an overall view of…
The Belgians of the Congo Free State in Africa obtained a vast amount of riches; however, much of it was taken out and brought back to Europe. Belgian ruler King Leopold made himself the dictator of the Congo and spent the riches to form what was nearly his own private colony, the Congo Free State. As we look at how Belgium profited from the colonization of Congo, I am going to refer to the books and films we used in class to help explore and define this topic more proficiently.…
Because of many of them having disfigurements, the people have adjusted to using parts of their bodies as tools and still continuing to go about their lives and work like normal people like how she observes the “lame Mama Mwanza who scurries down the road on her hands.” (Kingsolver, 1998, p. 102). They soon are able to recognize their neighbors because “People wear the same thing day in and day out, and that how [they] recognize them.” (Kingsolver, 1998, p. 102). One major cultural difference that she notices is that in the Congolese children, in “their married eyes” (Kingsolver, 1998, p. 107), many of the children, some no older than Ruth May, are already pregnant and having families within Kilanga. She also notices just how generous the Congo people compared to those within the Americas. As mentioned before, the Congolese have learned early on that they must rely on each other and provide for one another to survive, compared to how in America, there is already so much that it is seen as ‘worry about yourself’ country. This is definitely shown when after the Congo gained independence that the only one that still helped them was Mama Mwanza. “She made her over on the palms of her feet to give us oranges, Independence or not.” (Kingsolver, 1998, p. 206). This display of not pity but generosity means so much to the Prices. Throughout the novel, Leah observes and accepts these differences within the cultures, mostly because she is aware that the people simply don’t know any better. The only thought in their mind is survival and they do what they must to do…
African’s were among the richest of people back in the 1000’s. Effects of trade brought cities to faster than they rise. Great civilizations from Ghana to Zimbabwe both flourished but, had their tragic end. But, it provided them with a lot of things such as gold, salt slaves etc.…