Slavery In King Leopold's Ghost

Unfortunately, slavery has been a tactic and a business that has been around since the early 1600s. If it were not for slavery though, I believe the world would be exceptionally different. The slaves were used to build new lands, and were a key and integral part to building new countries and furthering civilizations. In fact, almost all of the developed countries today have in fact had slavery at one point. Moreover, advancement of countries owe their success to capitalism and competition, which owes its success to the slaves captured, abused, murdered, and worked. To understand the root of how new civilizations are created, or why pre-existing civilizations are raided and taken over, we need to have a strong grasp of the concept of capitalism.

European countries pushed forward and did this so they could produce goods they needed such as rubber and ivory. In specific, a slave named Ilanga described the event, saying “We were all busy in the fields hoeing our plantations, for it was the rainy season, and the weeds sprang up quickly, when a runner came up to the village saying that a large band of men was coming, that they all wore red caps and blue cloth, and carried guns and long knives…”(132). In addition, the way they treated the villagers was infinitely worse than how they entered the farmland. Ilanga continues to say “We were dragged into the road, and were tied together with cords about our necks, so that we could not escape. We were all crying, for now we knew that we were to be taken away to be slaves. The soldiers beat us with the iron sticks from their guns…” and “...While two or three others stuck the long knives they put on the ends of their guns into my husband. I saw the blood spurt out, and then saw him no more… Many of the young men were killed the same way, and many babies thrown into the grass to die..”