Thesis Critique Of King Leopold's Ghost

Summary of the text: Adam Hochschild’s King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa is a historical fiction published in 1998 (Hochschild, 1998). It comprises a myriad of evidence to testify the Belgian King Leopold II’s atrocities in Congo between 1885 and 1908 for the sake of capturing the attention of various readers towards the Belgian imperialist delinquencies through a detailed narration of a number of main characters’, including George Washington Williams and William Henry Sheppard, experiences in Belgian Congo (Hochschild, 1998). In this excerpt, it illustrates William’s peaceful exploration in Congo as the first American-Black missionary. During his journey, not only did he explore the Congolese culture,

Africa was a giant magnificent cake. Many countries scrambled to cut into it and claim their own pieces of it as if it was theirs for the taking. The last unconquered piece of land was up for grabs which evoked top nations into sending explorers to claim the land for them. Africa during the rule of King Leopold II had many unexplored areas included his newly acquired land the Congo. The King’s charm, altered treaties, and a money hungry drive have all lead to the underlying problem of exploitation of the natives. In Hochschild’s novel King Leopold’s Ghost he details to readers that Leopold II was a man who managed to achieve his dream of developing a colony, but African exploitation fulfilled his dream.

He starts with how Europeans rose to power all over the world. He brings up that places such as Africa, Australia, Oceania, India, and Asia, on top of the Americas, were subjected to European rule where the native populations significantly decreased over the upcoming years. This relates to his thesis because he is using a pathos approach to appeal to his audience. For example he writes, “the overarching question for Native peoples in the twenty-first century is: will we survive?” (15).

This greed grew strong and grew into the establishment of imperialism through the use of slavery. While the greed is still growing the English have know lost all of their moral value and have cast aside the meaning of life for the Natives of the Congo. This hunger of greed allowed the civilized to become the uncivilized “savages” they paint the Natives to be. Mr. Kurtz is the man that the english view as the idol in a way but dies seeing “The Horror”(154) of all the darkness the “light”(68) has made.  Works Cited Qu, Caie.

In the race of European imperialism, European countries dominated innocent African colonies. The driving force behind this? Africa’s bountiful resources. Before Africa’s colonization, the European presence in Africa was extremely limited, mainly due to lack of exploration and diseases (Background Essay). However, this changed as European prominence became largely influential through the discovery of Africa’s resource rich lands.

In the open letter to King Leopold, George Washington Williams addresses the fact King Leopold is involved with the slave trade, whole sale and retail. He tells the people what is really happening in the Congo, and people listened. George Washington Williams has twelve points in his open letter, and between them all, they prove the injustice and gross misrepresentation King Leopold led to the rest of the world. Mr. Williams deserves much praise and respect for speaking out against these “crimes against humanity” which is a phrase he coins to represent deeply disturbing acts such as this in the

George Washington Williams, an African American legislator, and Kande Kamara, an African colonial subject, both experienced some of the most brutal products of European Imperialism. Williams, in the late nineteenth century, toured the Belgian controlled Congo and witnessed the harsh measures King Leopold implemented to maintain absolute control and bleed the country of its resources. Kamara, on the other hand, bore witness to the end result of overzealous imperial ambitions when he was forced to fight for the allies in the trenches of WWI. These two men’s experiences, although considerably different, both shed light on Europe’s colonial philosophy of racism and ethnic superiority and its position of immense power during this period.

When Belgium colonized Congo, the Congolese people’s world quickly changed from the past, influencing their lives heavily. Ten to twenty-three million people died during Leopold’s rule from 1885 to 1908 (Kenneth). The Congolese people weren’t treated fairly and faced many hardships. Most Congolese people died because of King Leopold’s treatment, including war, starvation, forced labor and disease(Bland). This goes to show how poorly King Leopold treated the people and how he didn’t care about the Congolese people, only the reward.

The outcome of a discovery does not always have a positive outcome for all parties involved, whether it is a rediscovery of past knowledge or the uncovering of new information, both may serve to affirm or challenge beliefs, resulting in different ramifications for individuals and their worlds. The author and illustrator of allegorical picture book ‘The Rabbits’ Shaun Tan and John Marsden employs ideas of historical context relating to colonialism and the loss of culture and freedom that took place throughout the process, similarly to Shakespeare’s tragicomedy play ‘The Tempest’, where the exploitation of the character Caliban is repeatedly highlighted revealing the dystopic turn of events the native people would have experienced after the

The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries can be regarded as the height of European New Imperialism. This movement can be regarded as the time when an insatiable European need for more land and colonies occurred, and the time when European intrigue with owning more than the motherland was present. The New Imperialistic actions of the European states arose after the World, to the extent that concerned the European interests, had been reasonably chartered and understood by the expenditures taken by the Europeans in the Age of Discovery. In a sense, once the European knew what was there, they wanted to own it and claim it as there own. Once the Cape of Good Hope had been passed, and the shores of Africa were chartered and recognized, the Europeans began to claim Africa to fulfill their thirst for more, as their initial desires for knowledge had been fulfilled.

So Europe invaded Africa, took possession of Africa, and divided Africa into colonies of Europe. The period of invasion, lasting some twenty years, was more or less completed by 1900. There followed a longer period, between sixty and ninety years, of direct European rule, called colonial rule. This was a time of profound upheaval for all of Africa’s peoples. It brought irreversible changes” (4).

The hypocrisy of King Leopold is soon challenged for his edicts on banning slave trade from a few witnesses. However, King Leopold is the reaper of native lands along the west coast port and eastern province because

The limbs weren’t only the workers, but the wives and children of the workers, to make them work harder. King Leopold should be punished for the actions and hardship that he made the people of Congo go through, and how many lives were innocent lives were lost. Another piece of evidence that King Leopold was abusing the Congo people is “When quotas were not met, beatings by the chicotte (whip) were common, as was the practice of taking women and children hostage to force their husbands to meet the tax.” (Background Essay.) This is just another example that King Leopold went to far to get what he wanted, and that he didn’t

The  Imperialism of Africa is a world nation over political, economic and cultural affairs of other countries and  region. The European Imperialism was caused by the loss of The American colonies during 1700s and 1800s. According to the passage, document B John Ruskin born in 1819 and 1900 stated that England must do to again a source of light, a center of peace, meaning to find the colonies as  fast as possible this was economic and political reasons. The Europeans took over Africa at which it was shown on Document A, every land has been taken over by the Europeans except for Libya and Ethiopia. According to this  continuous with the passage Europe and  the number one trade and sea power, another man named Fabri believed that Saxon British colonies would begin competing.

He believes that although imperialism “is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much... it is [redeemed by] the idea only,” showing that he thinks imperialism is rational if the belief in helping the ‘native’ people is sincere and unselfish (Conrad 7). While in reality, the Europeans exploit Africa so that it benefits only