Congo Free State

Exploration and Colonization

Henry Morton Stanley (Figure 4.2) was a journalist and later an explorer originally employed and initially funded by the New York Herald. Stanley was born out of wedlock as John Rowlands in Denbigh, Wales, in 1841. At age fifteen, Rowland accepted an invitation to board a ship headed for New Orleans. Once there, he went about finding work and changed his name to Henry Morton Stanley.[1] After serving for both sides in the U.S. Civil War, Stanley found work as a journalist for the New York Herald. His boss, James Gordon Bennett Jr., tapped Stanley to lead an expedition in central Africa to find Dr. David Livingstone (Figure 4.4), a physician and missionary from whom he had not been heard for two years. Stanley, funded by the Herald, set out to find Livingstone in 1869, and on 28 October 1871 at Ujiji, he accomplished his mission with the alleged famous words, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume.”[2]

During the expedition to find Livingstone, Stanley theorized that the Lualaba River was the headwater of the Congo River, not the Nile as many had thought.[3] This hypothesis spurred Stanley’s next expedition to central Africa, launched from Zanzibar (located in current-day Tanzania) in September 1874. On 17 October 1876, Stanley found the headwaters of the Congo River at the site where the Luama and Lualaba Rivers converged. After nine hundred and ninety-nine days, the expedition emerged at Boma, near the west Coast of the African continent.[4] Stanley crossed the African continent with the help of hundreds. He was seen by those who worked for him as a brutal taskmaster who claimed the glory off the sweat and blood of others. His expeditions were made up mainly of Europeans armed with rifles and African porters who bore the brunt of Stanley’s rage through the whip or, in some instances, the gun.[5] His African expeditions were regularly marked by casualties in the hundreds, whether it was those who were driven by him or native people who stood in Stanley’s way.[6] Stanley had hoped to court British recognition and funding for more expeditions after crossing Africa, but to his dismay, was ignored by the British government.[7] Stanley would soon discover that despite his failures with the British, a European monarch had paid close attention to his exploits.

Competition among European states had already colonized much of Asia before the scramble for Africa. By the time Henry Morton Stanley crossed the Congo on his second expedition, Britain had subdued India, and France had a strong presence in Indochina.[8] Some scholars see Stanley’s crossing of Africa as the opening of Europe’s colonization of the continent. His expedition opened up the Congo River to European trade and exploitation, and the treaties Stanley would later acquire would allow Leopold II to control much of the Congo Basin and its resources.[9] These extortive treaties allowed for a military-like penetration into central Africa, and chiefs unknowingly signed away their land, property, and, most importantly, labor.[10] The acquisition of African resources and land made explorers like Stanley some of the first international celebrities, as Europeans were anxious to discover and exploit the potential raw resources of a largely unknown continent. Psychologically, Europeans convinced themselves that their motives were humanitarian in nature and that they were bringing ‘civilization’ to the ‘savage’ Africans.[11] This introduced paternalism to the Congo, which can be argued to still exist in some form today.

The monarch with a heavy interest in Stanley’s expeditions was King Leopold II (Figure 4.5) of the young nation of Belgium. Leopold II was born five years after Belgium proclaimed independence from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1830. He would be the second king of the tiny nation sandwiched between the European powers of France and Germany. Leopold was the product of a loveless childhood facilitated by the loveless marriage of his parents, Leopold I and Louise of Orleans.[12] As a young man, Leopold II took little interest in his studies besides a particular interest in geography. He was betrothed to Archduchess of Austria Marie Henriette (Figure 4.6) in what would be as disastrous a marriage as his parents. Exacerbating matters was the death of the couple’s only son in 1869 after a bout with pneumonia.[13] The marriage produced three additional daughters that the misogynistic Leopold II ended up alienating. Leopold II went so far as to attempt to change Belgian property laws and not to leave his daughters any of his fortune.[14] Leopold II sought refuge from his problems in his concubines, most of whom were aged ten to fifteen, and in his business ventures.

Leopold's Acquisition of the Congo

 As soon as Leopold II rose to the throne in 1865, he set out to find a source of raw materials, including an unsuccessful attempt to buy the Philippines. Belgium was a small nation sandwiched between global powers. Part of Leopold II’s motivation for colonization was to raise the status of Belgium. When he met with Henry Morton Stanley on 10 June 1878, Leopold II knew his only chance at a colony was in Africa.[15] Another truth the king realized was that he ruled over a young, small, and fragmented nation with no colonial motivations among the people. This truth meant that Leopold II would need to use a great deal of flattery and sleight-of-hand to obtain his ultimate prize. Leopold II began using philanthropic smokescreens at the Geographical Conference he hosted in September 1876. He used the conference as propaganda promoting his altruistic motives of exploring and ‘civilizing’ the native populations in a holy mission for humanity.[16] This propaganda included the unveiling of Leopold II’s flag, which he wished to use for his colony, a yellow star on a blue background symbolizing bringing light to the darkness the Africans supposedly lived in. Attendees at the conference included industrialists, princes, politicians, explorers, and essential members of society meant to lend legitimacy to Leopold II’s potential acquisition.[17] The most important developments of the Geographical Conference were funding for Stanley’s third expedition to set up trade bases along the Congo River and the formation of the philanthropic organization the International African Association, which Leopold II was elected to head as president.[18]

Stanley would spend the next five years, from 1879 to 1884, in the Congo, building trade posts and securing one-sided treaties with Congolese chiefs. During this journey, his brutality earned him the nickname Bula Mutadi, or breaker of rocks, for how hard he pushed his laborers.[19] Stanley followed Leopold II’s instructions well, “The treaties must be as brief as possible, and they must grant us everything.”[20] In some cases, Stanley obtained over 400 treaties trading swaths of land for pieces of cloth. The chiefs had no idea they were signing away their land, resources, and, most importantly, labor.

While Stanley was doing Leopold II’s bidding on the ground, Leopold II was using every means at his disposal to garner international recognition of his claims to the Congo Basin. Henry Shelton Sanford (Figure 4.10) was once the American ambassador to Belgium. In 1884, Sanford acted as Leopold II’s emissary to lobby Congress and President Chester A. Arthur to officially recognize Leopold II’s Congo acquisition. Sanford was able to appeal to both members of Congress looking to send recently freed slaves and other African Americans to colonies in Africa and African American activists who were looking for a place to work and thrive without fear of white reprisal.[21] On 22 April 1884, the United States officially became the first to recognize Leopold’s claim to the Congo.[22] By the time this recognition was bestowed, Leopold’s shady practices had already begun. The International African Association Sanford promised American politicians would spearhead anti-slavery efforts. Still, it was defunct and replaced by the similarly named International African Association of the Congo, which Leopold II used as an economic exploitation organization.[23] Nobody seemed to notice the change, which was Leopold II’s intention.

While American recognition was a win for Leopold II, he still needed European recognition to legitimize his claims. The scramble for Africa had brought opportunities for several European nations. As a result, Otto von Bismark (Figure 4.11) of the newly formed Germany initiated and hosted the Berlin Conference beginning in November 1884 and ending in February 1885. Here, politicians, most of whom would never step foot on the African continent, made plans to carve up and exploit its natural resources.[24] The conference had delegates from fourteen countries: Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden-Norway, Turkey, and the United States. No African representatives were present. Leopold played the role of an innocent neutral whose claims were purely in the interests of philanthropy and free trade.[25]  Stanley also attended the conference with the treaties to further bolster Leopold II’s claims. He was essentially deified for his explorations and exaggerated tales of adventure.[26]

The Berlin Conference closed by issuing the General Act. The General Act decreed tariff-free imports from Africa, prohibited monopolies on the continent, allowed for freedom of navigation, and allowed nations to claim neutrality, which Leopold II jumped at.[27] Leopold II came into the conference in a strong position, with his various smokescreens and Stanley working to his advantage. The conference results gave Leopold II everything he desired, including the borders of his new colony.[28] There were reasons why Leopold II could position himself to gain such a large portion of the continent. Mostly, the European powers with established colonies were under the impression that the king of a small country with little clout in Europe would fail in his efforts in Africa. Also, most European powers thought the wealth of Africa was concentrated on the coasts, not the interior. Leopold II’s interior control could be a buffer state that could reduce tensions amongst more considerable powers.[29] None of this, including the four decrees of the General Act, would come to fruition. On 29 May 1885, by royal decree, Leopold II officially proclaimed his newly gained African territory the Congo Free State (CFS), including decreeing all lands within the territory vacant.

Philanthropic Smokescreens

To extract profits from a land that he would never set foot in, Leopold II would need to compel the native Congolese people to extract the ivory the king planned to make a fortune on. He never intended his new colony to be open to free trade and navigation, and his urge to ‘civilize’ Africans was a smokescreen for his actual plans to use them as a source of free labor. Leopold II was able to dominate twenty million Congolese mainly due to superior weaponry, advanced medical knowledge, and steamboat use.[30] Europeans were armed with the latest breach-loading rifles and advances like the Maxim Gun (Figure 4.13). In contrast, most Congolese inhabitants were armed with muskets that resembled the rifles used in the American Revolution. The discovery of quinine to combat malaria, along with other medical advances of the Industrial Revolution, caused the death rate of Europeans on the African continent to drop sharply. The steamboat allowed for the quick navigation and conquering of tribes along the Congo River and its tributaries.

Another philanthropic sleight-of-hand Leopold II used to bolster his standing with the European community was his image as an anti-slavery crusader. He gained this reputation even though he appointed notorious Arab slaver and ivory trader Tippu Tip governor of the eastern CFS. Tippu Tip’s real name was Hamed bin Muhammed el-Murjebi (Figure 4.14). He earned the moniker Tippu Tip from his musket's sound when fired. Tip had amassed considerable power, controlling territory from Zanzibar into the eastern CFS. Tip had assisted Stanley in expeditions, and Leopold II and Tip worked in a partnership until ivory ran scarce in the area. Leopold II was able to boast about buying the freedom of several slaves under the control of Tippu Tip, but what the public did not know was that these newly freed men were required to serve a minimum of seven years in Leopold II’s new militia.[31] Leopold II organized the Antislavery Conference in 1889, which accomplished little in the way of curbing slavery but did lead to the Belgian parliament giving Leopold II an interest-free loan to expand the transportation infrastructure in CFS. [32]To keep military control of the CFS, Leopold II organized groups of African mercenaries under the control of European, primarily Belgian, superior officers into the Force Publique in 1888.[33] The Force Publique operated under the constant threat of mutiny, which Leopold II and his agents countered with violence and strategic separation of any groups within the CFS that could potentially organize opposition. Despite this, the Congolese often attempted to rise against this new order. Mutinies were frequent, with some of the most violent uprisings, including the Luluaberg uprising and the revolt of porters in what is today Nord Kivu.[34]

Leopold II began the destruction of the Congolese population through forced resource extraction by granting companies “trusts,” which were significant trading concessions that resulted in monopolies.[35] The King also made favorable laws to those companies that forced the Congolese population to provide labor or quotas in ivory. To procure ivory, an infrastructure of slaughtering elephants for their tusks and processing them had to be put in place. The lack of productive forces to support this infrastructure caused Leopold, his agents, and companies in the CFS to use primitive accumulation, the use of torture, murder, and terror to coerce the Congolese into doing whatever the state deemed necessary.[36] In the 1890s, the invention of vulcanized rubber exponentially exacerbated the suffering of the Congolese. The invention initiated a rubber boom driven by the bicycle's popularity and the automobile's emergence. Rubber collection was dangerous as it required people to go deep into the rainforest and climb high up into rubber trees to tap the veins and collect the sap. The Congolese were forced to provide quotas of rubber for the King. To coerce the men of villages to collect, children and wives were often kidnapped and held hostage. Many men died from falling from trees. When the buckets provided to them were full, some men were forced to spread the raw rubber sap on their skins, which would coagulate and require a painful extraction. The Red Rubber Terror, what many refer to this era as, was highly profitable for Leopold II and was also the reason for the most heinous crimes against humanity that Leopold II’s agents would commit in CFS. Punishments for failing to meet quotas included murder, mutilation of limbs, torture, and whipping with the dreaded chicotte  (Figure 4.15). Entire villages were depopulated through atrocities, and people fled into the deep rainforests to hide from the Europeans.[37] The chicotte, widely used in the CFS, was a whip made from sun-dried hippo hide and cut into corkscrew strips.[38] The use of the chicotte left permanent scars, and most of the blows were Africans administering punishment to other Africans (Figure 4.16). Around twenty-five blows could leave the victim unconscious, and one hundred blows could be fatal.