King Leopold Outbreak Research Paper

Thousands killed in the Leopold outbreak.
King Leopold should be condemned for his brutal actions, and for making the population more then half in population, like in Lukolela “The population in the villages of Lukolela in January 1891 must have been not less than 6,000 people, but when I counted the whole population in Lukolela at the end of December 1896. I found it to be only 719… but judge of my heartache when on counting them all again on Friday and Saturday last, to find only a population of 352 people.” (Document 5) In 1800-1900’s, King Leopold wanted to and planned to take control of the Congo people. He promised many people that he would do great things fo their land. The things he promised were to secure opportunities for all of

Instead of giving the people of Congo freedom, he took it away and made them work extremely hard, and giving them impossible quotas to meet. If they were not meet, he would cut off their family members hands, and their own to make them work harder, and as punishments. He would take the resources that they got, and used them to make him rich, and make the land flourish in terms of buildings, and making it more urbanized, but the Congo people were struggling to live everyday. As a result, thousands of Congo people were killed for the brutal work King Leopold made them do, and the population decreased significantly. Because of his actions King Leopold should be condemned as a criminal for his exploration and abuse to the Congo land and people. As a result of King Leopold actions, thousands of African tribes populations decreased significantly. Therefore, King Leopold should be condemned as a criminal for his

The population decreased drastically due to the working conditions and hard quotas of the missionaries, due to these hard conditions their consequences were extremely brutal. For example found in document 8 it states “it is blood curdling to see them returning with the hands of the slain, and to find the hands of the young children amongst the bigger ones evidence their bravery.” ( Document 8) This evidence contributes to the decrease in population amongst the African tribes in Congo. The African tribes hard work, was what they would consider lazy, and in return for that they would get limbs cut off, and severely, death could occur. 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