BELGIAN CONGO

BY:Gina Ferriola,

Lindsey Carter, Amy Myers

Initial Occupation1885 The Berlin Conference

approves King Leopold’s claim to “The Congo Free State” as his personal colony until 1908.

International investors supported his claim to Congo.

He established rule with his personal army and he also expected the Belgian army to assist.

Info Source: ("Congo Free State,").Picture: hbw2000.com

Ivory and rubber were the main exports. Both were collected through a system of slave labor controlled by Leopold’s agents.

The forest elephant population was depleted and the focused changed to rubber collection

Pneumatic tires drastically increases the demand for rubber.

Picture: vietnambusiness.asiaInfo Source: ("Congo- the Brutal," n.d.).

Benefits To The Imperial Power

Treatment Of Indigenous People8-10 million people died

as a result of Leopold’s policies.They were enslaved

Families were kidnapped to force people to produce rubber.

Cut off peoples hands if they did not produce enough rubber.

Info Source: ("Congo- the Brutal," n.d.).Picture: en.wikipedia.org

Belgian Congo Money

Picture: coins.ha.com

The Congo Free State Map

Picture: gutenberg.org

Belgian Congo Map

Picture: Culturegrams.com

The Democratic Republic of Congo

Picture: lonelyplanet.com

Indigenous perspective • King Leopold II and his army

took over power in Congo.• King Leopold II and the Force

Publique terrorized the Congolese by kidnapping the families of the workers and cutting off hands if they didn’t produce enough rubber

• In 1908 Congo was taken from Leopold and turned into a Conley ruled but the Belgians

• The worst abuses were eliminated because the Belgians still wanted the copper, oil, diamonds and other minerals

(Congo). http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2010/07/passing-of-patrice-lumumba.html

Benefits and modernization

The Belgian modernized the colony

The Belgians built railroads and automobiles

They brought over electricity and telephones

("Encyclopedia Britannica,“).

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/59224/Belgian-Congo

Cultural imperialism The Belgians forced

many different Congo tribes to live together

The Belgians set up Belgian style schools

The Congolese lost their native language and way of religion

The Belgians brought a new system of law

(Everything Culture," ).

http://sfbayview.com/2011/50-years-after-lumumba-the-burden-of-history/

Resistance and independence movements Congo rebelled from

beginning The first Congolese party

started in 1958 whose name was Congo nation movement

In 1959 riots broke out and Congo people demanded independence

Congo became an independent republic on June 30, 1960

("Encyclopedia Britannica," ).http://www.rnw.nl/africa/article/belgian-reign-terror-casts-shadow-over-congolese-anniversary-0

The Congo free state flag

The Democratic Republic of Congo

• Red for people's blood

• Yellow for prosperity

• Blue for hope

• Star for unity• (“Democratic republic of

Congo”).

http://flagspot.net/flags/cd.html

Consequences on the Imperial Power

• Belgium gained wealth from the rubber in ivory they exported.

• King Leopold was criticized for exploiting and enslaving the Africans.

• Edward Morrel wrote about the horrible situation in the Belgian Congo.• Belgium’s treatment of the

African people is an example of European Social Darwinism

(Congo Free State, 2011)

en.wikipedia.org

Consequences on the Occupied Region

• When the Belgians left the country was unstable

• The Congo lost a lot of its resources

• Most people live in poverty• Government corruption has

caused civil wars

picture:mydailyclarity.com(Democratic Republic of the Congo, n.d.).

Modern StatusCongo • GDP-$300 per year• Literacy rate-67.2%• HDI-.239 (rank 168)

Belgium • GDP-$37,900 per year• Literacy rate-99%• HDI-.867 (rank 18)

(The World Factbook, n.d.).seputarforex.com

Compensationwhen people realized the

Belgians were treating the Congolese horribly the international community forced King Leopold to end his rule and give control of the country to Belgium Most of the worst abuses

stopped: kidnapping of families, mutilation, and slavery.

Belgium apologized for killing the Congolese president Lumumba.

(Lumumba Apology: Congo's, n.d.)

blackhistoryheroes.blogspot.com

Mobutu

took control of Congo in 1965 -made all political parties illegal

because they were causing problems in the country

1967 he made one political party mandatory it was called the (MPR) Popular Movement of the Revolution.

Made Congo a policy of Africanisation country, he made a new flag, new national anthem, and changed the name of the country to Zaire.

Mobutu also changed the capital name from Leopoldville to Kinshasa.

The people of Congo even had to get African names, if they didn’t have one.

He bribed any of his rivals with money to keep them happy.

•Nationalized foreign owned business and made Western investors leave (Zaire).•1990 had to unban the rule against political parties and then in 1997 he was over powered and fled the country with his family.• Congo was in debt billions of dollars

by the 1980’s because of him but he didn’t care because he was billions of dollars wealthier

( Mobutu of Zaire, 2005-2011)fxcuisine.com

BIBLIOGRAPHY• Congo Free State. (2011). Retrieved February 14, 2011, from In Encyclopædia

Britannica website: http://school.eb.com/ eb/ article-9025854• Democratic Republic of the Congo. (n.d.). Retrieved February 22, 2011, from

http://school.eb.com/ eb/ article-9443169?query=democratic%20republic%20of%20congo&ct=

• International Human Development Indicators. (n.d.). Retrieved February 22, 2011, from UN website: http:’’hdrstats.undp.org/ en/ countries/ profiles/ Bel.html

• Lumumba Apology: Congo’s mixed feelings . (n.d.). Retrieved February 22, 2011, from BBC website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/ 2/ hi/ africa/ 1805546.stm

• The World Factbook. (n.d.). Retrieved February 22, 2011, from https://www.cia.gov/ library/ publications/ the-world-factbook/ geos/ cg.html

• Congo. (n.d.). Retrieved 2011, from Encyclopædia Britannica database.

• Encyclopædia Britannica. (n.d.). Belgian Congo . Retrieved from http://school.eb.com/ eb/ article-9015197

• everything culture. (n.d.). Democratic Republic of the Congo . Retrieved 2011, from http://www.everyculture.com