Jack J.
Cullo
Mr. Sebestyn
September 8, 2016
The Congo Free State is a unique case in the colonialization of Europe in Africa: it was
not granted to a country, but to a man. King Leopold II was granted total control of what is now
known as the Democratic Republic of Congo. The colony was eventually handed over to the
Belgian government in 1905 and renamed Belgian Congo. The three major ethnic groups that
were forced to abide under the reign of terror of King Leopold and the Belgian government were
the Bantu, babongo Pygmies, and the Mangbetu-Azande. The Bantu consists of many mini
ethnic groups that share a similar language. They were not native to the Congo, they originated
in North Africa and later migrated south and settled across the Congo River. The second largest
ethnic group were the Mangbetu-Azande who came from the northeast of Sudan. The Bobongo
pygmies are native tribes to the Congo who live within the forest.
The Congo was full of valuable resources, such as ivory, which was used primarily as
decoration due to its white coloration. There is also rubber, for which there was a rise in demand
due to a sudden boom of bicycles and industrial products. The Congo also has many valuable
minerals. All three resources were abundant in Africa, and in high demand in Europe. They could
have acted like civilized people and created friendly trade with the local tribes. They could have
also helped to set up a government, so that they could both make money together. Nope, instead
they claimed the land as theirs, and enforced boundaries on tribes who had already claimed the
land to be theirs. In order to gather the valuables and send them back to the home country
required lots of labor for the railroad, which also took a lot of work. So they used the advantage
of their guns to control the people and assert their will, and had the native Africans build the
railroads, extract the minerals, collect the ivory and gather the rubber.
The People who lived by the Congo basin were forced into hard labor that consisted of
gathering of resources and the building of rail roads, but the brutality of Europeans did stop there
due the lack of government and human rights. Europeans would kidnap, mutilate, rob and
murder African in order to show authority and power. Belgian use a public police systems
consisting mostly of loyal Africans natives and few Belgian officers. Their daily mission was to
subdue riots enforces labor and collection of valuables such as rubber. One of the public police
most con practice was use of quota which held each village to stander of rubber production and if
the standards was not attained they were to be punish violently. One punishment that used a
regularly by The Belgian Congos public police was the amputation of hand and feet of the
villagers. By 1950s the reign of colonialization ended after pressure colognes who slowly began
to get more rights, and the united nation.
The terror of Congo did not end there for the democratic republic of Congo would later face
corruption, rise of prices for valuables, and constant shift of regime. The beginning of Congo
independence started rough for its first prime minster Patrice Lumumba was either assassinate by
the United States or Belgian. After the death of Patrice Lumumba president Kasavubu assigns
Tshombe the new prime minister, but they did not keep control of the Congo for very long for
the notorious Joseph Mobutu gain control through violence. Mobutu renames both the country
and the Congo river Zaire. During his three decade reign he looted the country of its goods for
himself and booted out all European investment. The economy went stale and Mobutu stop
paying for the country military resulting in riots. Mobutus oppresses behavior help divide the
country between those who were for him and those who were against him. Tutsi rebels and other
anti-Mobutu rebels aided by Rwanda took control of Zaire capital Kinshasa, and renamed the
country Democratic Republic of Congo. The influence of Rwanda to the rebel would help
separate the country later. Laurent Kabila is the new president he was a savior but war returns
again to the Congo but not because of the president wrong doing. The blame would be put on the
neighboring countries Rwanda and Uganda who help fund rebels in east and north of the Congo.
Zimbabwe and Namibia joined forces with the government to stop Uganda and Rwanda form
getting more land. The war caused the death of 2.5 million people and a major step back in
progression of society. Even though the outside country has signed a peace pact multiple times
the rebel inside the region never stopped fighting causing the outside country to intervene even
today.
My plan to bring stabilization to the region of Congo is to spilt the rgion apart the center
would go to pygmies Bobongo pygmies because they have no need for political influence and
have perfect home in the rain forest. Then split the country into three different government
eastern side would be part of Rwanda, north side would be part of Uganda, and rest of the land
would be part of Democratic Republic of Congo. I split the country in this way because the
people in those regions have a closer tie to their respected country.
Work cited
News, BBC. Democratic Republic of Congo Profile - Timeline. BBC News, Bbc News,
5 Aug. 2016, Http://[Link]/news/world-africa-13286306.
A Brief History of Congo's Wars. The Christian Science Monitor, The Christian
Science Monitor, 29 Nov. 2011, [Link]
monitor/2011/1129/a-brief-history-of-Peterson, Andrew. History of Belgium Congo:
Imperialism, Genocide, and [Link], BBC News ,
[Link]
[Link].
Belgian Congo
[Link]
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