The Congo Free State (jul 1, 1885 – nov 15, 1908)

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Under the veil of humanitarian missions to bring Christianity and an end to slavery in the region, Leopold "created a coercive instrument of colonial hegemony" over native Congolese peoples (Lemarchand). Not only did Leopold aim to drain the region of its rich natural resources, but also exploit as much forced labor from its native residents as possible. The Congo Free State was named as such not because it was characterized as a period of liberation, but rather as an ironic representation of the "extraordinary hardships and atrocities" the Congolese people underwent in the name of Leopold "civilizing" the kingdom (Lemarchand). In order to finance development plans such as the construction of a railroad as well as the military force necessary to crush resistance, Leopold employed "agents" who kidnapped families of Congolese men in order to coerce them into meeting "unrealistic work quotas to secure their families' releases (Lemarchand). Rebels and their families, including children, were massacred, tortured, and maimed. The Congo was free in the sense that Belgian soldiers were "allowed full liberty to plunder" and steal supplies and people without persecution (Casement). From the native perspective, the Belgian newcomers were feared and "disliked;" they were entitled colonizers that demanded free labor and resources, pillaged and kidnapped and stole without contrition, terrorizing the Congo, "burn[ing]…villages and slaughter[ing] the families of rebels" even mutilating the Congolese, young and old in ways such as "cutting off [their] hands," all with the purpose of forcing "the Congolese into submission" (Casement; Lemarchand).

However, from the colonizer perspective, heavy taxes imposed on the free state justified taxes on natives and forced labor. The logic behind European colonization is presented fittingly by the English politician Joseph Chamberlain, who served as the Secretary of State for the Colonies during the Congo Free State period. In his words, "the native should contribute something to the cost of administering the country," in return for European improvements, and that the "dignity of labour" bestowed upon the native people was in reality "a desirable thing" rather than slavery (Casement). Europeans and Belgian colonizers justified taxing, and by extension stealing and pillaging the Congolese through the idea that "the existence of the tax is an inducement to him to work" as the natives should, apparently, paradoxically, be thankful for and contribute to the betterment of the new European colony that invaded and stole their land and liberty (Casement). According to a British diplomatic report by English Consul Roger Casement, published at the time (a document that would become essential in the dissolution of the privately owned Congo Free State), that details the European perspective and records the exploitation and atrocities committed in the Congo region, by "1898 the general condition of the native" was reportedly, according to members of the British House of Commons, "further improved" with elevated housing, clothing, food, shelter, employment, skills, medical care, more productive agriculture, and education (Casement). Moreover, the document continues to dictate that "intertribal wars have been suppressed over a wide area" as European influence and government expands, the increased prevalence of "security"" and "a diminution of cannibalism," as well as "The yoke of the notorious Arab slave-traders" being broken and "traffic in human beings amongst the natives…diminished" to a "considerable degree" (Casement). However, despite these reported improvements, the Congo people experienced just as much cruelty, violence, and poverty as before, perhaps more, since despite greater exports and production of raw materials such as rubber and ivory, profits that found their way into colonizers' hands, while natives labored without compensation to line to pockets of their conquerors. Moreover, while infrastructure did measurably improve, they were built from the blood and sweat of the Congolese people, and missionaries and European schools gave Congolese children a chance for a better, more educated future, while at the same time, stifling the native Congolese culture, forcing Congo assimilation to European faith and practices. Moreover, colonization of the Congo brought an influx of natural resources that generated great profit, from exporting highly lucrative rubber and ivory, King Leopold and his Belgian colonists and soldiers were able to accumulate large amounts of wealth - at the expense of Congolese natives. This demonstrates a bias in the European/Belgian colonizer perspective, as they gained profit from their colonization, they naturally justified the methods in which they gained their wealth (theft, pillaging, and forced labor) by claiming they were the benefactors of the Congo. Moreover, much of the information that the public would have received would be from authority figures who profited from the devastation occurring in the colonies, authority figures who would want to perpetuate the violence because it filled their coffers and made them wealthier than ever.

Eventually, the brutality and violence that occurred in the Congo Free State garnered international attention, where missionaries from foreign countries traveled to the region and recorded first-hand the atrocities they witnessed. In 1908, the British Parliament voted to annex the Congo Free State and transfer its ownership from Leopold's personal land to the state of Belgium (Lemarchand). Leopold's reign over The Congo Free State came to an end in 1908, leaving behind a legacy of social conflict and tension as well as lingering anti-western sentiment (Lemarchand). Such anti-western ideology that came as a result of Leopold's violent regime would give Congo nationalists a chance to harness and employ western dissent to their cause in winning independence for what would become the Democratic Republic of the Congo. <see The Congo gains independence>

Image Credit: (McKenna)

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