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King Leopold Imperialism Analysis

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King Leopold claimed his interest in the Congo was motivated by the desire to extend the benefits of European civilization to Africa. This ideology is referred to as the civilizing mission- the belief that it is Europeans duty and responsibility to bring forth civilization to non-European nations. Leopold hoped to achieve this by establishing trade relations for which the people of the Congo and Belgium could benefit. For his humanitarian efforts, he received support from other European nations as this justification was integral to European imperialism. The ideology of the civilized mission can be seen in a letter from King Leopold in which it states, “The aim is to regenerate races whose degradation and misfortune is hard to realize. The fearful …show more content…

The violence against the Congolese was caused by financial instability. This was primarily because Leopold lacked sufficient funds without the support from Belgium. As a result, the government was unable to generate revenue or pay for expensive military costs caused by civil disputes and constant revolts. After failed incentives such as restrictions on free trade, and taxing villages, the government turned to forced labour as a desperate attempt to generate revenue. Villagers were forced to collect rubber as a form of repayment to the state. When the rubber vines became scarce, the workers had to go further into the forest and if they officials were not satisfied they would cut the hands or heads of the workers. In addition, the officials would participate in slave-raids in which they would wage unjust wars with the natives as an incentive to acquire slaves. Through these practices it becomes clear that Leopold was not motivated by imperialism nor the civilized mission but rather motivated by desperation. With the failures and financial struggles, Leopold sought lucrative means to acquire wealth as well as compete with other imperial powers. It is notable that he did not enact on his promise of accomplishing the civilized mission as he failed to integrate a system of industrialism, or fund the creation of hospitals and educational systems. With this being said, there was no sufficient

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