| King
Leopold II of Belgium
commissioned the explorer Henry Stanley to secure agreements
from the tribes who inhabited the Kongo Basin in Africa. Stanley
did so through a combination of promises, threats and trickery.
One of his methods when meeting a new chief, was to attach a
buzzer to his hand which was linked to a battery. When the chief
shook hands with Stanley he got a mild electric shock. This
device convinced the chiefs that Stanley had superhuman powers.
The agreements allowed the Belgians into the Congo to take its
rich natural resources. At
the Berlin Conference of 1884, the European powers met to
carve up Africa. Leopold called Africa "that magnificent
African cake." From this beginning, the Kongo Basin became
the Congo Free State, 900,000 square miles, in essence the
private estate of Leopold.
King
Leopold's Ghost
by Adam Hochschild
 buy
more
Info
the
story of how Belgian King Leopold II made the Congo
his own private reserve and inflicted appalling conditions
on the Africans - an excellent, compelling book
|
This
is part of That Magnificent African
Cake:
The Congo Free State
exhibit
Mark
Twain and Imperialism
|
