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
Kevin P. Dincher
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
•
•
•
•
“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
Kevin P. Dincher
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
•
•
•
•
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
Kevin P. Dincher
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
Kevin P. Dincher
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