Belgian Colonializm in the Congo Free State Essay

The violent and forced rule of the Congo is a horrific time in African history. The time period beginning with Henry Morton Stanleys first exploration to the Congo, and King Leopolds desire of this area, had been a nightmare for the people of the Congo. The civilizing mission to the Congo not only resulted in the killing of thousands of people but also the destruction of a culture. The two articles, Belgian Colonialism in the Congo, and the letter by George Washington Williams, are just two views from this time. Both articles depict very different opinions of what is going on in the Congo and also what should be allowed to go on there. These articles show the very different opinions of someone who has never gone and someone who has†¦show more content†¦What trade was conducted between Europeans and African traders occurred on the coast? (Class notes). When King Leopold decided that he wanted the Congo he knew nothing of the land or the people there, and he did not wish to kn ow. King Leopold relentlessly tried to gain control of this region for his own economic gain. In his Open letter in 1898 Leopold states that, ?I am pleased to think that our agents, nearly all of whom are volunteers drawn from the ranks of the Belgian army, have always present in their minds a strong sense of the career of honor in which they are engaged, and are animated with a pure feeling of patriotism, not sparing their own blood, they will the more spare the blood of the natives, who will see in them the all-powerful protectors of their lives and their property, benevolent teachers of whom they have so great a need? (article #1) This sentence directly states the idea of imperialist thinking. The idea that the people of the Congo are uncivilized and savage is the mindset of King Leopold during the time of Congo colonization. Leopold wishes to take the Congo solely for his own advancement. Allow he says that he wishes to civilize the people there, he does very little of that. The part in the letter where he says that it is better to spare their blood then your own is the way most of the people who went over to the Congo were thinking. A true imperialist idea, that the people there were no better then