King Leopold Imperialism

In the late eighteenth century imperialism became a major theme until the mid-eighteenth century. With the new imperialism Africa as a whole became colonized by different European countries. As described by Hochschild in the book Africa “had become the kingdom of slavery” (Hochschild, p.). Since the colonization of Africa symbolized the wealth and power the ruler of that country had Leopold needed to become apart of it as well. Leopold wanted the little country of Belgium to be seen as a contender with the large power house countries like England, France, and Germany. Throughout the book there was predominately violence in order to get the native to do labor intensive tasks for free. Leopold put his men in charge to do cruel things to these

Some even it to consider his way of controlling Congo to be a genocide. King Leopold’s actions can be easily described as deceitful. The whole time he was king he had wanted to have the reputation of “a philanthropist and humanitarian.” (Hochschild p.92) King Leopold also “won much praise for his patronage of Christian missionaries.” (Hochschild p. 92). He did this because he needed a cover in order to get away with all the mistreatment to the native people of Congo. He created committees in order to hide his real intentions so he can keep receiving the profits from the rubber. All of king Leopold’s actions “was directed towards one goal: money.” (Hochschild p. 94). That was his ultimate goal was to get as much money from the rubber as possible. He promised free trade to the countries like America he was trying to get to recognize Congo. However, when he it came time for him to sell his goods he put a duty on the goods to be imported. Due to his greediness he would make sure he got as much rubber as he could. He would allow the brutality that was given to the people who lived in Congo. Many people died in Congo not just from the severe violence but also because there was little to no medical care. Dangerous diseases were a very real threat to them and even his own people suffered greatly from them along with the natives. The exhaustion and malnutrition the natives would undergo along would cause casualties but when the epidemics hit Congo then the natives were dying not just because of the labor, and even the people that king Leopold allowed were getting sick with these deadly diseases. Over all king Leopold was a untruthful leader of Belgium who had everyone fooled that he created committees and hosted conferences because that is what he truly believed in but in reality he was doing all these actions in order to cover up his brutality and greed that took place in the state of