What Was King Leopold II's Poor Treatment Of His Subjects In Congo Free State?
Section 1: Identification and evaluation of sources
The question of this investigation is “What explains King Leopold II´s poor treatment of his subjects in Congo Free State?”, and it will investigate what could contribute to explaining how and why King Leopold II of Belgium were able to treat his subjects in Congo so poorly. There could of course be several contributing factors that explains King Leopold II´s poor treatment, however, in this investigation, the focus will be on the factors that gave the King the amount of power that he had, and thus gave him the ability to treat his subject poorly. Therefore, The Crime of Congo by Arthur Conan Doyle and King Leopold´s Ghost by Adam Hochschild are sources of particular value for this investigation. …show more content…
King Leopold II did not actually ever set a foot in the country of Congo, instead he sent out agents, like for instance journalist and explorer Sir Henry Morton Stanley. According to Hochschild, Stanley was sent by his employer, the King, to travel up and down Congo River basin and set up trading posts, build roads and to accumulate treaties from the native chiefs in Congo. These treaties transferred land to the International African Association, however, considering these treaties were written in French, the African chiefs were not aware of what they were signing. Stanley returned to Belgium with approximately 450 alleged treaties, however, in the making of such treaties, Stanley thought that he was giving permission for the establishment of a station. Stanley was uninformed of the fact that he was bartering away the land, for the land was actually held by communal tenure for the whole tribe in the area, and was thus not his to barter. As a consequent of these treaties, and the King´s deception towards amongst others Stanley, twenty million people were seized, and the entire prosperity and acreage of the country were declared to belong to none other than King Leopold
The question of this investigation is “What explains King Leopold II´s poor treatment of his subjects in Congo Free State?”, and it will investigate what could contribute to explaining how and why King Leopold II of Belgium were able to treat his subjects in Congo so poorly. There could of course be several contributing factors that explains King Leopold II´s poor treatment, however, in this investigation, the focus will be on the factors that gave the King the amount of power that he had, and thus gave him the ability to treat his subject poorly. Therefore, The Crime of Congo by Arthur Conan Doyle and King Leopold´s Ghost by Adam Hochschild are sources of particular value for this investigation. …show more content…
King Leopold II did not actually ever set a foot in the country of Congo, instead he sent out agents, like for instance journalist and explorer Sir Henry Morton Stanley. According to Hochschild, Stanley was sent by his employer, the King, to travel up and down Congo River basin and set up trading posts, build roads and to accumulate treaties from the native chiefs in Congo. These treaties transferred land to the International African Association, however, considering these treaties were written in French, the African chiefs were not aware of what they were signing. Stanley returned to Belgium with approximately 450 alleged treaties, however, in the making of such treaties, Stanley thought that he was giving permission for the establishment of a station. Stanley was uninformed of the fact that he was bartering away the land, for the land was actually held by communal tenure for the whole tribe in the area, and was thus not his to barter. As a consequent of these treaties, and the King´s deception towards amongst others Stanley, twenty million people were seized, and the entire prosperity and acreage of the country were declared to belong to none other than King Leopold