THE DARK HEART OF KING LEOPOLD II OF BELGIUM

Kevin P. Dincher

www.kevindincher.com

Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at CSU East Bay

LEOPOLD IIAfrica

Kevin P. Dincher 2

Kevin P. Dincher 3

Leopold II (1835 – 1909)• King of the Belgians: 1865 – 1909

• Family Connections

• Mother: Louise d’Orleans, Princess of France

• Wife: Marie Henriette Hapsburg, Archduchess of Austria

• Sister: Carlota of Mexico, Empress of Mexico

• 1st cousin: Queen Victoria

• 7th cousin 6 times removed: Kevin Dincher

4

Leopold, 1844

Belgium• October 4, 1830: Belgian Revolution

• Southern provinces declared independence from the Netherlands• Catholic, officially French-speaking and

neutral

• Constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy

• 1831: Leopold I • Elected “King of the Belgians”• House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Kevin P. Dincher 5

Leopold II

1855: Became member of senate• Immediately began urging

establishing Belgian colonies• Overseas colonies were the

key to a country's greatness

1865: Became king• 1866: first of three

unsuccessful attempts to acquire the Philippines from Spain

Kevin P. Dincher 6

Leopold II

1876: Convened the Brussels Geographic Conference

•Proposed an international benevolent committee

• “Propagation civilization among the peoples of Central Africa” (Congo)

• Multi-national• Scientific• Humanitarian

Kevin P. Dincher 7

Leopold II and Marie Henriette

Leopold II

1876-1878: International African Association (AIA)• Association Internationale Africaine

• Private holding company disguised as an international scientific and philanthropic association

• Leopold served as chairman twice

• Primary Achievement• Convincing Belgian people and European countries that his interests in

Africa were altruistic and humanitarian

Kevin P. Dincher 8

Leopold II

1878: Study Committee of the Upper Congo• Comité d'Études du Haut-Congo

• Exploration• Scientifc• Humanitarian• Commercial

Kevin P. Dincher 9

Leopold II

• 1879: International Association of the Congo (IAC)• Association Internationale du Congo• International Congo Society

• Humanitarian/philanthropic• Scientific• Commercial/economic

• Official Stockholders• British/Dutch businessmen• Belgian Banker

Kevin P. Dincher 10

Leopold II

• 1879: International Association of the Congo (IAC)• Henry Morton Stanley

• Five-year contract • Establish bases in the Congo • Secure trade route for ivory market

• Rubber and minerals

Kevin P. Dincher 11

Dr. Livingston, I presume?

Kevin P. Dincher 12

Henry Stanley …

…a fearless newspaper reporter ready to do whatever it takes to get a story, regardless of any danger to his life!

Leopold II

Kevin P. Dincher 13

Leopold II

Kevin P. Dincher 14

Leopold II

Kevin P. Dincher 15

Belgium*

Britain

France

Germany

Italy

Portugal

Spain

Independent

Leopold II

Kevin P. Dincher 16

Leopold II

"I do not want to miss a good chance of getting us a slice of this magnificent African cake."

King Leopold II

1885• Resolution passed in Belgian

Parliament

• Transferred the IAC charter to “Congo Free State”• État indépendant du Congo

• Leopold: Roi-Souverain• Person property - private colony

• Established Force Publique (FP)

Kevin P. Dincher 17

Leopold II

"I do not want to miss a good chance of getting us a slice of this magnificent African cake."

King Leopold II

Kevin P. Dincher 18

1885: Congo Free State• Leopold pledge to uphold Berlin

Conference• Suppress East African slave trade• Promote humanitarian policies• Guarantee free trade within the

colony• Impose no import duties for 20 yrs.• Encourage philanthropic and

scientific enterprises

Leopold II• Exploitation of resources

• Ivory, Rubber, Minerals

• One of the greatest international scandals of the early 20th century• Forced/slave labor• Starvation• Disease• Torture/mutilation

• Directly and indirectly eliminated 20% of the population• 10 to 13 million people

Kevin P. Dincher 19

A 1906 Punch cartoon depicting Leopold II as a rubber vine entangling a Congolese man

Leopold II

Kevin P. Dincher 20

"I have just returned from a journey inland to the village of Insongo Mboyo. The abject misery and utter abandon is positively indescribable. I was so moved, Your Excellency, by the people's stories that I took the liberty of promising them that in future you will only kill them for crimes they commit.“

John Harris (Missionary)

Kevin P. Dincher 21

Hochschild: Great Forgetting

Royal Museum for Central Africa • Large collection of colonial artifacts

Blankenberge, Belgium• Monument shows a colonialist bringing "civilization" to the black

child at his feet

Oostend, Belgium• Monument to Leopold II with grateful Oostend fishermen and

Congolese. • The gratitude of the Congolese to Leopold II for having liberated

them from slavery under the Arabs.

Kevin P. Dincher 22

Kevin P. Dincher 23

I have undertaken the work in Congo in the interest of civilization and for the good of Belgium.“

Monument, Arlon, Belgium

Kevin P. Dincher 24

Kevin P. Dincher 25

1. Everything’s related!2. When we learn about other people, times and places, we learn about ourselves.

The Dark Heart of King Leopold IIAdam Hochschild

King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa

• Lecturer, Graduate School of Journalism at UC Berkeley

• Other Works:

• To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918

• Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves

• The Mirror at Midnight: A South African Journey

• The Unquiet Ghost: Russians Remember Stalin

Kevin P. Dincher 26

The Dark Heart of King Leopold II• Other Resources

• Handout, page 2

• Course Slides Online• www.kevindincher.com

• Click on COURSES• Click on THE DARK HEART OF KING LEOPOLD II OF BELGIUM• Click on COURSE MATERIALS AND RESOUCES (at bottom of page)

Kevin P. Dincher 27

AFRICA

Kevin P. Dincher 28

Kevin P. Dincher 29

Africa: Caravan Routes

Kevin P. Dincher 30

Africa• Reconquista: 711 – 1492

• 1139-1179: Portugal as independent• 1249: capture of the Algarve

• Henry (Enrique) the Navigator (1394-1460)• Son of King and Queen of Portugal

• 1415: Battle of Ceuta (Morocco)• “Key to the Mediterranean”• Caravan routes

• Major northern trade center on the

Kevin P. Dincher 31

Africa

Battle of Ceuta•45,000 Portuguese

• Practical Failure

• “Success”• Energized Europeans• Ripple effect

• Expansion beyond continent

• “Christendom”

• Portugal took the lead• 1415-1505: expanded along the Pacific Coast of North Africa

Kevin P. Dincher 32

Africa

Kevin P. Dincher 33

Henry the Navigator• Trade routes• Prester John Legend

1420 Madeira Island

1427 Azores

1434 Beyond Cape Bojador

1441 First Slaves from Mauritania

1444 Senegal River (Beyond Sahara/Muslims)•Gold/Slaves*

1444-1446 40 ships trading at Lagos, Portugal*

1456 Cape Verde Islands

1490 Cape of Good Hope

1498 Vasco da Gama: Portugal to India

*1552: slaves made up 10% of population of Lisbon

Africa

First Wave of European Colonization•1415 – 1830•Primarily involved the colonization of the Americas•Also some colonies in India and Maritime SE Asia

Africa•Trading posts•Atlantic slave trade

Kevin P. Dincher 34

ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE

Kevin P. Dincher 35

Slavery

1. “…the right by some individuals to possess, buy, sell, discipline, transport, liberate, or otherwise dispose of the bodies and behavior of other individuals.”

Seymour Drescher

Abolition: A History of Slavery and Antislavery

2. “ … integral element is that children of a slave mother automatically become slaves

Kevin P. Dincher 36

Slavery

1760 BCE•Code of Hammurabi

• Earliest record of slavery as an established institution

1800• ¾ of all people alive in some form of slavery or serfdom.

• David P. Forsythe, Encyclopedia of Human Rights

1981•Mauritania: Last country to outlaw slavery

• Did not become a crime to own slaves until 2007

• Today: 10% to 20%) of the population lives in slavery. • 340,000 to 680,000

Kevin P. Dincher 37

Slavery: Classical Era

Ancient Greece• 30% of the population of some cities • Athens: majority owned at least one slave• Aristotle

Ancient Rome• Roman Republic

• vital to the economy

• Roman Empire• 25% of the empire's population• 30 to 40% of the population of Italy

Kevin P. Dincher 38

Slavery: Middle Ages

Vikings• British Isles and Eastern Europe• Sold on the Byzantine or Islamic slave markets• Ended in the 11th century - Serfdom

Spain/Portugal• Muslim raids on Christian territories

•Byzantine-Ottoman Wars• Both Christians and Muslims• Knights of Malta

Kevin P. Dincher 39

Charles Bridge, Prague

Kevin P. Dincher 40

Slavery: Muslim Powers

Islamic Law: forbidden to enslave “People of the Book”• Muslims, Christians, Jews Sabian, Magians• Exceptions could be made if they were captured in battle• Expected to be freed if converted to Islam

Slave Trading: Iberian Peninsula• Muslim and Jewish merchants

• Brought slaves into al-Andalus from eastern Europe (pagan Slavs)• Re-exported them to other regions of the Islamic world• Christianization of Slavs ended practice

Africa

Kevin P. Dincher 41

Kevin P. Dincher 42

650 – 1900

•4 million via Red Sea

•4 million through the Swahili ports of the Indian Ocean

•9 million along the trans-Saharan caravan route

African Slave Routes

Slavery Before the “Age of Discovery”Not about Race

Part of Human Nature• Aristotle

Consequence of Sin• Augustine

•No “Slave Economies”

Kevin P. Dincher 43

Atlantic Slave Trade

12 million African slaves to the Americas between 1600 and 1800

Kevin P. Dincher 44

70% to Brazil and Caribbean Islands

5% (600,000) to US•Half during colonial era

Atlantic Slave Trade

Kevin P. Dincher 45

Kevin P. Dincher 46

Slave Ship

Brazil• Slavery = Mainstay of colonial

economy • Mining and sugar cane

• About 38% of all African slaves sent to Americas• 1761: slavery abolished in Portugal but

continued in colonies

• 1888: Last South American country to ban slavery

Kevin P. Dincher 47

Brazil• Enslavement of

Native Populations• Jesuit Reductions• The Mission

Kevin P. Dincher 48

Caribbean

Kevin P. Dincher 49

Caribbean• Slavery = Mainstay of colonial economy

• Sugar cane

• About 38% of all African slaves sent to Americas• 1778: French alone importing 13,000 annually• Death rates for Caribbean slaves were greater than birth rates• Free blacks owned one-third of the plantation property and one-

quarter of the slaves in Haiti

• 1794: French Republic abolished slavery• 1802: Napoleon• 1804: Haiti a free republic

Kevin P. Dincher 50

United States• 1619: Jamestown

• 1st African indentured servants

• 1642: Colonies begin to codify slavery

• 1776: Declaration of Independence• Gradual abolition in North• Increase in slavery in the South

• 1787: US Constitution• Article I, Section 9: allowed the continued "importation" of slaves• Article IV, Section 2: Fugitive Slave Clause

Kevin P. Dincher 51