The Belgians strongly desired the need for economic expansion because of rise of the industrial revolution. Nations such as the Belgians desired money, land and wanted more of it at a more rapid pace. In order for the Belgians to successfully meet their desires they began to imperialize the Congolese. According to an excerpt from Jules Ferry, “Colonial (Imperialist) policy is the child of the industrial revolution. It is necessary for wealthy countries where capital (money) is plentiful and accumulates (grows) fast, where industry is expanding steadily, where even agriculture must become mechanized in order to survive. Exports (goods sold to other countries) are essential for public prosperity (wealth).” It is clear that, Jules Ferry suggests that …show more content…
However cold-blood and violent interactions came across the Belgians and Congolese. Throughout time as the Belgians imperialized the Congo and forced the men to farm rubber, the Congolese men had insensitive goals in collecting rubber and when expectations were not met they were cruelly mistreated. According to the European human rights group Anti-Slavery International, “Congolese children and wives whose father failed to meet rubber collection quotas were often punished by having their hands cut off.”(Figure 1) It is spurfowl that brutality took place with interactions of the Congo. It is exceedingly clear that the Congolese were abusive, and gorifyinly injured by the Belgians. All in all the consequences of the Congo was admirable. Although deaths extends over the tens of millions the world became aware of this crisis and changes were demanded. As a result the Congo resulted to gain back their freedom and create a colony of there own eighty times the size of the
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
Imperialism allows countries to extend their power through a policy and influence through diplomacy or military force. The late nineteenth century was known as the “Age of Imperialism” a time when the United States rapidly expanded, defending many countries with not enough power to defend for themselves. United States was on a specific world mission to spread liberty and democracy. Along the way America came across China and it’s valuable resources, U.S. could trade for. Imperialism is a positive policy for the U.S.A. because it enlarges trade, helps weaker countries allowing them to spread culture, and expands industry.
The social reaction to expansionism continued throughout both movements because the opposing sides of each argument disagreed on completely different topics. Many during the time of Imperialism believed America was destined to expand due to the believed superiority of the Anglo-Saxon race (Doc 1), and was justified in expanding due to the fact that America would spread democracy and that they were required to expand because it was the “White Man’s Burden” (Doc 1-POV). This is also true for Manifest Destiny, which was built on the idea that God ordained the western hemisphere for Americans.
into harsh captivity until the male’s practically unattainable quotas were met and satisfied. Decapitation, exhaustion, and starvation became routine among impoverished slaves working under this corrupt regime. To show that they hadn’t wasted their ammunition, the army would cut off and collect native hands as a sort of trophy explained by author Mark Dummett (2004) as, “They needed these to prove to their superiors that they had not been ‘wasting’ their bullets on animals” (Chopping Hands section, para. 3). The pernicious act of severing and compiling hands also signified verification of the army’s efforts to halt any rebellious activity that may disrupt order. The army’s terrorization and brutality of adult and children, coupled with the infestation of European disease, exponentially decreased the Congo Free State’s population by millions.
During the 20th century, approximately 174 million people have been killed by the government only and mostly by the communist governments (Dominic & Abimbola, 39). The figures are quite shocking. This clearly depicts that governments exploits the innocent people and incite them to stand against their brothers and sisters. The same story happened in Rwanda in 1994. According to the UN reports, 75% of the Tutsi population was exterminated in the genocide.
What was the driving force behind European Imperialism in Africa? Between 1500 and 1800 the Europeans knew little about the interior of Africa their presence was to buy and sell slaves for pots, cloth, and weapons and set sail to America. Late as 1870 ten percent of Africa was under Europeans control and most was along edges by 1914 ninety percent of Africa was in control four years later. Due to the countries that held African colonies in 1914 that involved the British, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spain, and Belgian. France and Britain were the main conquer in African colonies, because there conqueror of land in Africa.
From King Leopold’s Public Letter, he says “The task which Belgian agents have to accomplish in the Congo is noble. It is incumbent upon them to carry on the work of civilization in Africa. The aim is to regenerate races whose degradation and misfortune is hard to realize.” Through those words, King Leopold, the king of Belgium, was trying to show the other countries that he was a
This sharp depature from previous policy resulted from economic, political, and cultural factors. The motives for this New Imperialism are all incorporated in documents 1,2,3, and 7. In document 1, Prince Leopold describes how industrialism has affected and progressed our country, as well as the domination of occupied colonies. This excerpt is bias because Prince Leopold is the heir to the throne, and that implies if there was a colony that was under their control, he would be the next political leader. The desire of Leopold to discover and exploit new colonies is one of the overall motives for imperailsm.
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.
In being an anti-imperialist the worrisome is not that one opposes the idea of expansion of religion, commercial, and constitutional. It’s that with the annexing of these tropical islands would come to a result of the American system of self government would be that America might abandon this idea that makes America that nation it is to this point. Three reasons why the U.S should avoid imperialism is because it fails to follow that criteria of the constitution, could lead to tyrants like behavior, and could lead to conflict One argument that can’t be missed is the fact that the constitutions sets forth a principle that states “consent of the governed” after further research this means that to imperialize and annex other islands would violate
Early missionaries and human rights advocates began to circulate news of the atrocities committed in the Congo. Women, as well as their children, were imprisoned as hostages. Flogging, starvation, and torture were routine. Tribes resisting enslavement were murdered. Incentives were provided for the people’s brutality towards the Africans.
This made large divides between the two cultures and later many civil conflicts between the groups. In 1994 when the president 's plane was shot down the government and Hutu militants blamed the Tutsis, radio broadcasts across the country encourages Hutus to take revenge and kill the Tutsis, in the end an estimated 800000 to 1 million people died. The globalization of Belgians colony and the scramble for africa through that part of the world into a blood conflict of cultures and terrorist/militant groups that still rages on
Leopold was able to fool the Europeans by creating an act where he seemed sincere, as well as promising to bring Christianity and other amenities of the modern world. He was also able to manipulate local officials by having them sign treaties, with many of them being illiterate. This way he was able to trick them into giving him lots of power. Johan Galtung had predicted that the Belgian government used various types of sources to take control of the Congo. In colonial Congo, Cultural Violence came first, which lead to a more severe Structural Violence, which
However, due to Congo's colonial past and the lack of education amongst the political elites, the Ituri turned to colonial solutions which only heightened the tension between ethnic groups. Evidently, Congo's decolonization process simply ensured that the new political elite would be reliant on colonial practices and institutions. This ultimately continued to drive ethnic tension within the region and contributed to the conflict between the Hema and
I recently spoke to a man who had both of his hands cut off by Belgian officials because he “did not meet his daily amount” of extracting rubber from the rubber trees. His name is Fabrice Mudiay and he’s 63 years old. I began, bluntly, by asking “Can you tell me about what happened to your hands?” Hesitantly he responded. “I was 6 years old, and at that time the colonization was coming to an end, and it was getting close to the end of the day.