Belgian+Congo

 **1874, King Leopold Establishes a New Colony:** King Leopold II, a Belgian leader set up his own colony in 1874 which he directly controlled in the Central Africa Congo region. Accompanying him was an American journalist named Henry Morton Stanley, whose company was sponsoring the whole project. King Leopold instructed Henry to travel through out the surrounding region and create treaties with the local people, which would in turn grant Leopold sovereignty over the entire region
 * The Belgian Congo**

**1884, The Belgian/Congo Conference:** The Belgian conference in Berlin was held for the major Europeans nations to and determine their colonial regions in Africa, and the amount of influence that each of them had. Leopold’s colony, the Congo Free State at the time was one of these colonies. Under Leopold’s control, the numerous colonies were exploited to the max in such ways as: Tremendous taxing and horrid working conditions. Throughout the years, numerous Africans, from four to eight million died, while those Belgian colonists lived safe, luxurious lives. 

**1889, Taking Over the Production of Rubber:** At the time, there was a very high demand in Europe for rubber. King Leopold II had claimed control of the production of rubber and other resources in t h e entire Congo region, which caused even more problems for the natives of the Congo. This allowed the Belgians to pay the native farmers even less money and to use military force on the villages to make higher amounts of resources such as rubber. Families were held as hostages, starving to death if the men failed to produce enough rubber. Children’s hands were cut off if rubber was delivered late. This production of rubber made Leopold very wealthy. 

**1908, The Government Steps In:** It was about this time that the Belgian government started to realize the cruelty towards the colony that Leopold was running so the government decided to take control and dismiss Leopold from the leading position. This decision was influenced almost entirely by the humanitarians who wanted the exploitation of the Congo to stop. With the Belgian government in direct control, the Congo was now known as the Belgian Congo. In an effort to improve treatment of the natives, the Belgian government added hospitals, roads and schools. Even though efforts were large, treatment of the natives increased slightly. Since systematic racism was in the history of the Congo, Belgians still thought themselves to be better than the natives, and simply thought that the natives were there to work and help create economic success for European nations.

**1959, The ABAKO Rebellion and Independence to the Congo:** Formed in the 1950’s, the ABAKO (Alliance des Bakongo) was a rebel group who promoted the Congo’s independence. On January 4, 1959, Belgian officers took a fatal step by disbanding a large crowd of ABAKO supporters, who were gathered to attend a political meeting. This caused extensive rioting throughout the city, resulting in the widespread plunder of European property. When order was finally restored, at the price of an exceedingly brutal domination, 49 Congolese were officially reported killed and 101 wounded. A week later, the Belgian government formally recognized independence as the ultimate goal of its policies. The Congo was then granted their independence. However the colony was not prepared to be independent, for it was still largely in debt and it had no government set up. Many years of chaos result ed.

|| -Eventually gained independence. -Saw how they didn't want their government to be. -Made up a more unified government. || -Exposed to new cultures and ideas. -Began to speak French and were then able to have access to more materials if they wanted to learn. -Were introduced to having a written language. || -Had been left with the farms the Belgians had set up and could continue to work on them. -When Leopold left, the church stepped in and built schools, roads and hospitals. (4) || -Had trading partners set up already || || -Still independent today. -Still unified government. || -Still a Francophone country. -Can still use more of the world's resources as far as educational tools goes. || -Were able to use the original farms as an example and create more of the same -Now were left with more efficient tools to continue to obtain natural resources. -Have many other resources as well they may still use. (6) || -Had the knowledge to continue farming and were left with what the Belgians had set up ||
 * Belgian Congo Positive Impacts**
 * <  ||< Population ||< Political ||< Culture and Language ||< Land and Resources ||< Economic ||
 * Short Term ||
 * Long Term ||


 * Belgian Congo Negative Impacts**

be slaves. (5) -Wives and children were sometimes held hostage if the men didn't deliver their rubber quotas. (5) -Those who refused had homes and villages burned down. (5) -Hands were cut off for the same reasons. (5) || -Sometimes the natives tried to rebel and fled the populated areas in to the forests. (5) || -Had to become more Westernized. -Kimbanguism (a popular sect) was banned by the Belgians. (6) || -Through 3 decrees, Leopold reduced the land rights of the Congolese. (5) || -Limited merchants to bartering with natives (5) -Private rubber companies were highly taxed. (5) || difficult for those with no hands. -Estimated that about 10 million died. (5) || -Even when Leopold left and Congo gained independence, they had no formal government set up and it was in turmoil. (4) -Had a lot of debt. (4) -Had many dictatorships come into power. (6) -People still in fear of the military. (7) || -No longer the same country they originally were. -Converted to Christianity (70% Christian now). (6) || -Reduced amounts of resources from original exploitation. || -Still a third-world country (GDP per capita $189). (6) -Never recovered economically. ||
 * || Population || Political || Culture and Language || Land and Resources || Economic ||
 * Short Term || -Made all of the natives
 * Long Term || -Day to day life was made

(1) Amputated Conglonese. (n.d.). //Revolution//. Retrieved April 4, 2012, from rwor.org/i/172/Amputated_Congolese_youth.jpg (2) Herero and Namaqua Genocide. (n.d.). //Wikipedia//. Retrieved April 4, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herero_Wars (3) Congo, Democratic Rebulic of The. (n.d.). //CIA//. Retrieved April 4, 2012, from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cg.html (4) Imperialism: The Belgian Congo « Welcome to the Congo. (n.d.). //Welcome to the Congo//. Retrieved April 3, 2012, from http://congo.edublogs.org/imperialism-congo-region/ (5) Belgian Congo. (n.d.). //Yale University//. Retrieved April 5, 2012, from http://www.yale.edu/gsp/colonial/belgian_congo/index.html (6) Congo, Democratic Republic of the. (n.d.). //U.S. Department of State//. Retrieved April 9, 2012, from http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2823.htm (7) BBC News - Democratic Republic of Congo country profile - Overview. (n.d.). //BBC - Homepage//. Retrieved April 9, 2012, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13283212
 * Sources**