Edward Morel: The Black Man's Burden

The Black Man’s Burden In the late-nineteen century, the term new imperialism became an element of politics implemented by many European powers to impose their supremacy around the globe. Between 1870 and 1914, as a result of the Great Depression (1873-1879), imperialistic powers such as Britain, France, Germany, and Belgium, constructed colonies and protectorates in Asia and Africa in order to exploit their resources and their labor . In 1880, France and Britain led European nations in the “scramble of Africa,” which divided the continent from 1880 to 1914. After the king of Belgium Leopold II conquered most of the Congo River with the excuse of promoting Christianity and civilization, other European nations caught “African fever.” As a result of the Berlin Conference (1884-1885), to which Africans were not invited, the imperialist competition in sub-Saharan Africa began . Consequently, violence became an element implemented by all European nations to retain control and subdue the population. However, in Leopold II’s Congo Free State the levels of violence and brutality were excessively high. As a protest against the cruelty and abuses conducted by the Belgian troops, Edward Morel, a British journalist and socialist, wrote “The Black Man’s Burden” in 1903. In this document, the author condemned the conditions of African people in Belgian Congo, reconnecting them to the presence of European

This excerpt is extremely important because it makes us better understand the status of African people, subdued by the European nations, and how the concept of slavery was perceived and addressed by