The Belgian Congo

Origin of Belgian Congo

Personal colony of
Belgian King Leopold
II
1885-1908
Congo Free State
King Leopold II
1908-1960
Belgian Congo
Belgian government
Exploration of the Congo
Explorer Henry Morton
Stanley hired to map
the Congo
1879-1884

Establishes roads,
railway lines, and
military outposts

Signs treaties with

local native rulers.
 The Goods
Main trade goods:
Ivory
Rubber

John Dunlap 1887

invents rubber tire.
Demand for Rubber
skyrockets.
New black gold
 Colonial System
Force Publique
Leopolds private army
Used as enforcers

Camp system control

different regions.

Africans must meet

monthly quotas of
rubber.
 Discussion Question
How does the Force Publique compare and contrast to the
Sepoy Army in India?
Rubber
Liquid inside wild
rubber vines

Grown in the jungle.

Painful collection
process
THE PUNISHMENTS FOR FAILURE
The Chicotte
Leather whip made
from hippopotamus
hide.

Used to punish
workers.
 Mutilation
Hands, heads,
genitals
routinely
chopped off

Reason =
failure to
meet quotas

Every bullet
fired = 1 hand
 Discussion Question
Does the concept of the White Mans Burden justify or
condemn the acts of violence committed in the Belgian
Congo?

What do you think the average European would have argued?

What do you argue?

 Sickness
Europeans introduced
new sicknesses to
Africa:
Influenza
African sleeping sickness
Smallpox
Dysentary

Accounts for over

the deaths of natives!
Consequences
Death toll= 10 million

Destruction of native
villages, culture, way
of life

Some areas
population loss =
90%
 Discussion Question
Today in Belgium, and throughout Europe, the atrocities that
were committed under King Leopold in the Belgium Congo are
not widely known about. They are not taught in school, and
there is only 1 museum in all of Belgium that is dedicated to
the history of the Belgium Congo.

What do you think this says about how Belgians view their
history? Do you think it should change? If so, how?

What does the Belgian Congo tell us about how history is

sometimes studied and portrayed? (Think about itthe
Holocaust in Germany killed roughly 6 million Jews, the
Belgian Congo killed 10 million, and yet hardly anyone knows
about it.)