The Self Proclaimed Humanitarian
A Belgian child eats a chocolate hand; its taste is sweet but its history, less so. The brown chocolate does not just represent the wonderful innovations and extent of Belgian chocolates; it represents the colonialism, imperialism, and vileness of the Belgian crown.
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At the request of King Leopold II, Otto Von Bismarck, the first chancellor of the German Empire, held a conference with delegates from fourteen countries in order to partition Africa into colonies and agree on laws of colonialism. As the larger empires argued over who would have the Congo, King Leopold butted in that he should have the Congo. His addition was accepted as larger empires fought over rivers, sea, and bountiful quarries. Afterwards, he had ~2,400,000 square kilometres (926,644.28 sq mi) under his organization, the Congo society. According to the Congo Society, they were a humanitarian organization that had a goal of lightening the “dark continent”. In a letter to the Berlin Conference to try to persuade the other empires to hand him the Congo basin, Leopold II claimed that he was the most humanitarian king and that his whole life was spent trying to improve Africa, end slavery, and “open the continent to science, industry, and civilization”.
He followed this promise over the span of 23 years, decreasing the population by about 15% to 50% (8,000,000-20,000,000 people).
The Congo Society fought in many ways to control the Congo Basin. From maiming, cannibalizing, killing, and torturing, nothing was out of their way.
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The society controlled the Congo Free State with the use of Force Publique, the military of the Congo Free State and later the Belgian Congo. The Force Publique was mostly volunteers, veterans of European countries, and mercenaries. Often soldiers were conscripted from the northern part of the Free State and Zanzibar for their fighting capabilities. In the 1890s, their primary goal was to rid Central Africa of the Arab slave traders as ordered by many European nations during the campaigns to colonise Africa. However, many of the Force Publique’s doings were mostly inside the Free State.
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​Leopold II used the Force Publique in order to force the Congolese to meet the rubber quotas. If the quotas were not met, the enforcers would whip the men, women, or children with a whip made of hippopotamus hide. The whole of the colony was subject to forced labor, and if the forces did not think that the quotas were met, one could be subject to anything between outright killing, torturing, flogging, raping, and maiming. Rebellions would usually end with the Congolese side losing all of their right hands and with children, women, and men mutilated through different methods. Eating a wonderful sweet and opening a window to the past. Symbols of the Congo Free State remain in Belgium, and the chocolate hands from the times before remain, people forgetting what it meant.
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