Transcript The Dark Heart of King Leopold II of Belgium

Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at CSU East Bay
THE DARK HEART OF
KING LEOPOLD II OF BELGIUM
Kevin P. Dincher
www.kevindincher.com
Kevin P. Dincher
LEOPOLD II
Africa
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Africa and
the Congo
Sherlock
Holmes
Joseph
Conrad
European
Colonialism
Cold War
Leopold
II
Charles
Darwin
Mark Twain
US
Imperialism
Slavery
Stanley and
Livingston
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Leopold II (1835 – 1909)
• King of the Belgians: 1865 – 1909
• Family Connections
• Mother: Louise d’Orleans, Princess of France
• Wife: Marie Henriette Hapsburg, Archduchess
of Austria
• Sister: Carlota of Mexico, Empress of Mexico
Leopold, 1844
• 1st cousin: Queen Victoria
• 7th cousin 6 times removed: Kevin Dincher
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Belgium
• October 4, 1830: Belgian Revolution
• Southern provinces declared
independence from the Netherlands
• Catholic, officially French-speaking and
neutral
• Constitutional monarchy and
parliamentary democracy
• 1831: Leopold I
• Elected “King of the Belgians”
• House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
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Leopold II
1855: Became member of senate
• Immediately began urging
establishing Belgian colonies
• Overseas colonies were the
key to a country's greatness
1865: Became king
• 1866: first of three
unsuccessful attempts to
acquire the Philippines from
Spain
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Leopold II
1876: Convened the Brussels
Geographic Conference
• Proposed an international benevolent
committee
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“Propagation civilization among the peoples
of Central Africa” (Congo)
Multi-national
Scientific
Humanitarian
Leopold II and Marie
Henriette
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Leopold II
1876-1878: International African Association (AIA)
• Association Internationale Africaine
• Private holding company disguised as an international scientific
and philanthropic association
• Leopold served as chairman twice
• Primary Achievement
• Convincing Belgian people and European countries that his interests in
Africa were altruistic and humanitarian
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Leopold II
1878: Study Committee of the Upper Congo
• Comité d'Études du Haut-Congo
• Exploration
• Scientifc
• Humanitarian
• Commercial
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Leopold II
• 1879: International Association of the
Congo (IAC)
• Association Internationale du Congo
• International Congo Society
• Humanitarian/philanthropic
• Scientific
• Commercial/economic
• Official Stockholders
• British/Dutch businessmen
• Belgian Banker
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Leopold II
• 1879: International Association of the
Congo (IAC)
• Henry Morton Stanley
• Five-year contract
• Establish bases in the Congo
• Secure trade route for ivory market
• Rubber and minerals
Dr.
Livingston, I
presume?
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Henry Stanley …
…a fearless newspaper
reporter ready to do
whatever it takes to get a
story, regardless of any
danger to his life!
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Leopold II
1881 – 1914:
• Scramble for Africa
• Race for Africa
• Partition of Africa
• 1870
• Europeans occupied about
10% of the continent
• 1914:
• only Ethiopia and Liberia
were independent
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Leopold II
• 1884-1885: Berlin Conference
• Portuguese initiative
• British support
• Bismark’s work
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Austria-Hungary
Belgium
Denmark
France
United Kingdom
Italy
Netherlands
Portugal
Russia
Spain
Sweden-Norway
Ottoman Empire
United States
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Leopold II
• 1884-1885: Berlin Conference
Belgium*
Britain
France
Germany
Italy
Portugal
Spain
Independent
*Recognized the International Association of
the Congo (IAC) as sovereign government
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Leopold II
• 1884-1885: Berlin Conference
• “Spheres of Influence”
• Region over which a state or
organization has a level of cultural,
economic, military, or political exclusivity
• An international prohibition of the
slave trade throughout their
respected spheres
• "International Society for the
Suppression of Savage Customs"
(Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness)
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Leopold II
1885
• Resolution passed in Belgian
Parliament
• Transferred the IAC charter to
“Congo Free State”
• État indépendant du Congo
• Leopold: Roi-Souverain
• Person property - private colony
• Established Force Publique (FP)
"I do not want to miss a good chance of getting us a slice of this magnificent
African cake."
King Leopold II
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Leopold II
1885: Congo Free State
• Leopold pledge to uphold Berlin
Conference
• Suppress East African slave trade
• Promote humanitarian policies
• Guarantee free trade within the
colony
• Impose no import duties for 20 yrs.
• Encourage philanthropic and
scientific enterprises
"I do not want to miss a good chance of getting us a slice of this magnificent
African cake."
King Leopold II
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Leopold II
• Exploitation of resources
• Ivory, Rubber, Minerals
• One of the greatest
international scandals of
the early 20th century
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Forced/slave labor
Starvation
Disease
Torture/mutilation
• Directly and indirectly
eliminated 20% of the
population
• 10 to 13 million people
A 1906 Punch cartoon depicting Leopold II as a
rubber vine entangling a Congolese man
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Leopold II
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"I have just returned from
a journey inland to the
village of Insongo Mboyo.
The abject misery and
utter abandon is positively
indescribable. I was so
moved, Your Excellency,
by the people's stories
that I took the liberty of
promising them that in
future you will only kill
them for crimes they
commit.“
John Harris (Missionary)
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Hochschild: Great Forgetting
Royal Museum for Central Africa
• Large collection of colonial artifacts
Blankenberge, Belgium
• Monument shows a colonialist bringing "civilization" to the black
child at his feet
Oostend, Belgium
• Monument to Leopold II with grateful Oostend fishermen and
Congolese.
• The gratitude of the Congolese to Leopold II for having liberated
them from slavery under the Arabs.
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I have undertaken the work in Congo in the
interest of civilization and for the good of
Belgium.“
Monument, Arlon, Belgium
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1. Everything’s related!
2. When we learn about other people,
times and places, we learn about
ourselves.
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The Dark Heart of King Leopold II
Adam Hochschild
King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror,
and Heroism in Colonial Africa
• Lecturer, Graduate School of Journalism at UC Berkeley
• Other Works:
• To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918
• Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an
Empire's Slaves
• The Mirror at Midnight: A South African Journey
• The Unquiet Ghost: Russians Remember Stalin
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The Dark Heart of King Leopold II
• Other Resources
• Handout, page 2
• Course Slides Online
• www.kevindincher.com
• Click on COURSES
• Click on THE DARK HEART OF KING LEOPOLD II OF BELGIUM
• Click on COURSE MATERIALS AND RESOUCES (at bottom of page)
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AFRICA
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Africa: Caravan Routes
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Africa
• Reconquista: 711 – 1492
• 1139-1179: Portugal as independent
• 1249: capture of the Algarve
• Henry (Enrique) the Navigator (1394-1460)
• Son of King and Queen of Portugal
• 1415: Battle of Ceuta (Morocco)
• “Key to the Mediterranean”
• Caravan routes
• Major northern trade center on the
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Africa
Battle of Ceuta
• 45,000 Portuguese
• Practical Failure
• “Success”
• Energized Europeans
• Ripple effect
• Expansion beyond continent
• “Christendom”
• Portugal took the lead
• 1415-1505: expanded along the Pacific Coast of North Africa
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Africa
Henry the Navigator
• Trade routes
• Prester John Legend
1420
Madeira Island
1427
Azores
1434
Beyond Cape Bojador
1441
First Slaves from Mauritania
1444
Senegal River (Beyond Sahara/Muslims)
• Gold/Slaves*
1444-1446
40 ships trading at Lagos, Portugal*
1456
Cape Verde Islands
1490
Cape of Good Hope
1498
Vasco da Gama: Portugal to India
*1552: slaves
made up 10% of
population of
Lisbon
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Africa
First Wave of European Colonization
• 1415 – 1830
• Primarily involved the colonization of the Americas
• Also some colonies in India and Maritime SE Asia
Africa
• Trading posts
• Atlantic slave trade
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ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE
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Slavery
1. “…the right by some individuals to possess,
buy, sell, discipline, transport, liberate, or
otherwise dispose of the bodies and behavior
of other individuals.”
Seymour Drescher
Abolition: A History of Slavery and Antislavery
2. “ … integral element is that children of a slave
mother automatically become slaves
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Slavery
1760 BCE
• Code of Hammurabi
• Earliest record of slavery
as an established institution
1800
• ¾ of all people alive in
some form of slavery or
serfdom.
• David P. Forsythe,
Encyclopedia of Human
Rights
1981
• Mauritania: Last country
to outlaw slavery
• Did not become a crime to
own slaves until 2007
• Today: 10% to 20%) of the
population lives in slavery.
• 340,000 to 680,000
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Slavery: Classical Era
Ancient Greece
• 30% of the population of some cities
• Athens: majority owned at least one slave
• Aristotle
Ancient Rome
• Roman Republic
• vital to the economy
• Roman Empire
• 25% of the empire's population
• 30 to 40% of the population of Italy
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Slavery: Middle Ages
Vikings
• British Isles and Eastern Europe
• Sold on the Byzantine or Islamic slave markets
• Ended in the 11th century - Serfdom
Spain/Portugal
• Muslim raids on Christian territories
• Byzantine-Ottoman Wars
• Both Christians and Muslims
• Knights of Malta
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Charles Bridge, Prague
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Slavery: Muslim Powers
Islamic Law: forbidden to enslave “People of the Book”
• Muslims, Christians, Jews Sabian, Magians
• Exceptions could be made if they were captured in battle
• Expected to be freed if converted to Islam
Slave Trading: Iberian Peninsula
• Muslim and Jewish merchants
• Brought slaves into al-Andalus from eastern Europe (pagan Slavs)
• Re-exported them to other regions of the Islamic world
• Christianization of Slavs ended practice
Africa
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African Slave Routes
650 – 1900
• 4 million via Red Sea
• 4 million through the Swahili
ports of the Indian Ocean
• 9 million along the trans-Saharan
caravan route
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Slavery Before the “Age of Discovery”
Not about Race
Part of Human Nature
• Aristotle
Consequence of Sin
• Augustine
• No “Slave Economies”
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Atlantic Slave Trade
12 million African slaves to the Americas between 1600
and 1800
70% to Brazil and
Caribbean Islands
5% (600,000) to
US
• Half during
colonial era
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Atlantic Slave Trade
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Slave Ship
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Brazil
• Slavery = Mainstay of colonial
economy
• Mining and sugar cane
• About 38% of all African slaves
sent to Americas
• 1761: slavery abolished in Portugal but
continued in colonies
• 1888: Last South American
country to ban slavery
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Brazil
• Enslavement of
Native Populations
• Jesuit Reductions
• The Mission
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Caribbean
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Caribbean
• Slavery = Mainstay of colonial economy
• Sugar cane
• About 38% of all African slaves sent to Americas
• 1778: French alone importing 13,000 annually
• Death rates for Caribbean slaves were greater than birth rates
• Free blacks owned one-third of the plantation property and onequarter of the slaves in Haiti
• 1794: French Republic abolished slavery
• 1802: Napoleon
• 1804: Haiti a free republic
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United States
• 1619: Jamestown
• 1st African indentured servants
• 1642: Colonies begin to codify slavery
• 1776: Declaration of Independence
• Gradual abolition in North
• Increase in slavery in the South
• 1787: US Constitution
• Article I, Section 9: allowed the continued "importation" of slaves
• Article IV, Section 2: Fugitive Slave Clause