The Congo Free State and the New Imperialism
First Edition ©2017
This book introduces students to the history of the Congolese peoples and the Congo Free State, ruled by King Leopold II of Belgium between 1885 and 1908. It illuminates central issues in the study of the era of the “new imperialism” and challenges students to analyze a variety of different kinds of...
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This book introduces students to the history of the Congolese peoples and the Congo Free State, ruled by King Leopold II of Belgium between 1885 and 1908. It illuminates central issues in the study of the era of the “new imperialism” and challenges students to analyze a variety of different kinds of sources in building their own historical arguments about the period. The introduction provides an overview of the Congolese peoples, the environment in which they lived, and the process through which the Congo Free State was established and developed. The documents invite students to explore the history of the Congo Free State through speeches, international treaties, oral histories, investigative depositions on atrocities, visual texts, official and private correspondence, parliamentary debates, and published exposés. Document headnotes, a chronology, and analytical questions help students to place the Congo Free State in the context of not only the new imperialism but also its larger global context.
This book is a timely, valuable introduction to the history of the Congolese peoples and the Congo Free State. The accurate and intelligent selection of documents offers readers an array of diverse perspectives and a variety of sources, and it brilliantly complements the nuanced, multi-layered, persuasive narrative.
–Davide Rodogno, The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, GenevaKevin Grant’s collection allows readers to reconstruct the centrality of Africa to imperial histories and to appreciate the role of the Congo in shaping global capital, race, slavery, trade, and violence in the process.
–Antoinette Burton, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana
Table of Contents
ForewordPreface
A Note About the Translations
List of Maps and IllustrationsPART ONE
Introduction: Connecting Congo and the World
Congo: Place and Peoples
The New Imperialism and the Founding of the Congo Free State
Deadly Taxation
The Congo Reform Campaign
The Belgian Congo
ConclusionPART TWO
The Documents
1. David Livingstone, Lecture at the University of Cambridge, December 4, 1857
2. King Leopold II, Speech at the First Feeting of the Belgian Committee of the International Association for the Exploration and Civilization of Central Africa, November 6, 1876
3. Treaty of Manyanga, August 12, 1882
4. Harry Johnston, From The River Congo, 1884
5. General Act of the Conference of Berlin, Articles V, VI, IX, and XIII, 1885
6. Walter Deane, Account of the Destruction of the Congo Free State’s Station at Stanley Falls in an Attack by Zanzibari Slave Traders, 886
7. Tippu Tip, From Autobiography
8. Cardinal Charles Lavigerie, Speech at a Meeting of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, July 31, 1888
9. Chewema, Statement to a British Consular Official, March 19, 1903
10. John and Johan, Statement to a British Consular Official, March 19, 1903
11. Antoine Boongo, Oral History regarding the Arrival of European Officers and Missionaries at Wangata in the Equateur District, ca. 1883–1896
12. Balofo Is’a Mboyo and Ekombe Is’ek’Ombola, Oral History regarding the Arrival of Whites at Ikau in the Equateur District, ca. 1889–1896
13. Bruno Hafala, Oral History regarding Events on the Maringa River in the Equateur District, ca. 1899–1901
14. Nicolas Afolembe, Oral History regarding Conditions in the Equateur District, ca. 1885–1908
15. The Reverend John Murphy, Testimony, November 18, 1895
16. The Reverend E.V. Sjöblom, Testimony, May 14, 1897
17. Governor-General Théophile Wahis, Letter to the Editor, May 31, 1897
18. Circular to All District Commissioners, Heads of Zones and of Posts [of the Congo Free State], with Regard to Barbarous Customs Prevailing among Native Tribes, February 27, 1897
19. Federation for the Defense of Belgian Interests Abroad, Taxation of the Natives, February 15, 1905
20. John Hobson, From Imperialism: A Study, 1902
21. Edmund Morel, from Affairs of West Africa, 1902
22. Roger Casement, Consular Report on the Congo Free State to the British Foreign Secretary, February 1904
23. Atrocity Photograph of Epondo, ca. 1903
24. Punch, In the Rubber Coils, November 28, 1906
25. The Congo: A Report pf the Commission of Enquiry Appointed by the Congo Free State Government, October 31, 1905
26. Belgian Parliament, Debates on the Congo Free State, February-March 1906
27. The Reverend John Harris, Letter to W.T. Lamont, His Britannic Majesty’s Consul at Boma, January 16, 1912APPENDIXES
A Chronology of the Congo Free State (1860-1914)
Questions for Consideration
Selected Bibliography
IndexMaps and Illustrations
MAPS
1. Territory of the Congo Free State, ca. 1906
2. The European Partition of Africa, 1902
ILLUSTRATIONS
Atrocity Photograph of Epondo (Document 23)
Punch, In Rubber Coils, November 28, 1906 (Document 24)
Authors
Kevin Grant
KEVIN GRANT is Professor of History at Hamilton College. He is the author of A Civilised Savagery: Britain and the New Slaveries in Africa, 1884-1926 (New York: Routledge, 2005).
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