Berlin Conference Case Study
The Berlin Conference: Leopold II and the Congo Free State
Introduction
Political issues such as mismanagement, dictatorship and corruption characterize some of the most severe challenges facing the Democratic Republic of Congo. The importance of the situation could be explained by the continuous number of dictatorial challenges on Congo soil. Most assumptions and features of this study are already obvious; however, political issues in the Congo cannot only be attributed to the physical challenges such as dictatorship, mismanagement and corruption. The influence of Western European countries during and after colonisation plays a vital role.
In broad terms, this paper explores Belgian colonialism in the Congo and how it contributed to its
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Blij and Peter O. Muller, 1994, p. 294). Besides, the Berlin Conference was hypothetically structured to develop and civilize the aboriginal people of Africa to stimulate and support freedom of trade in the basin of the Congo, the slave trade, nonalignment of the grounds in the basin of the Congo, steering of the Congo, navigation of the Niger and the instructions regarding the future occupation on the coastline of the African continent as stated in the general act of the Berlin Conference on West Africa dated 26th February 1885 (General Act of Berlin on West Africa, 1885, p.1). If this was the case how come no African leader was invited to participate in the Berlin Conference since it would have been more coherent or reasonable to include African leaders? (D. Gondola, 2002, p. 56).
LEOPOLD II
To be able to understand thoroughly Leopold II motivation in occupying the Congo, one essential question could help us: Why was Leopold II or Belgium interested in the acquisition of the Congo? A country in central Africa seventy-six times the size of Belgium (H.J. Blij and P.O. Muller, 1994).
Over the years, many historians and academics have formulated several motivations and reasons to assist us in our research. To start, a careful study of the image below should help us not to confuse the Republic of Congo with its capital as Brazzaville and The Democratic Republic of the Congo with its capital as Kinshasa. In our case, we are discussing about the Democratic Republic of Congo with its capital as
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