The atrocities committed in the Congo Free State under the rule of King Leopold II during the age of imperialism of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century eventually became one of the greatest international scandals in recorded history. Of all participants in the scramble for Africa, engaged by most European colonial powers in the nineteenth century, Leopold II, King of the Belgians, left arguably the biggest and most damaging legacy of all.

During the latter half of the eighteenth century, Leopold carved out for himself a private colony within the Central African rainforest which, he claimed, he was doing to civilise the natives, protect them from cruel Arab slave traders and open up Central Africa to western capitalism and Christian missionaries. What actually took place was the transformation of the Congo region into a state where the use of forced labour was ripe whilst Leopold made huge profits as a result, symbolising the worst aspects of European imperialism. However, these atrocities did not go unnoticed. Several leading public figures at the time from around the world would investigate and campaign against Leopold’s actions in the Congo basin, bringing together people of different nationalities to work towards a common goal.

It has been over one hundred years since the Belgians and, in particular, King Leopold II, first colonised the Congo, and much has been written about Belgian imperialism since. However, the nature of the debate has changed over the years, as well as a change in the contributors to the debate. The most notable change is in the authorship of its history; from previously being solely the pursuit of white European historians, to now including the emergence of African historians producing work on the subject, giving it a whole new perspective to that of the white European literature produced which has dominated the field since the Congo Free State was formed.[1] Most of the early work produced by historians was written before the 1950s, at a time when their own countries were still colonial powers. It was not until the 1970s that African scholars began to publish on the subject, challenging both the conclusions reached by the white European historians as well as their historical method.

Belgian imperialism and the resulting atrocities committed in the Congo Free State have been the subject of much debate and controversy, and have been revisited again during the twenty-first century. The ‘red rubber’ controversy and the issue of colonial memory are two of the key issues that historians are currently dealing with and work is being produced on these as well as other interrelated subjects. Most of the work produced, however, is restricted to academic circles due to their specialised subjects and the different languages that they are published in. The recent resurgence in interest is largely due to the release of Adam Hochschild’s book King Leopold’s Ghost[2], a controversial work which became an international bestseller.

In his book, Hochschild describes King Leopold II’s exploitation of the Congo and its people and how it led to the death of approximately ten million people – nearly half of the estimated population of the Congo at the time – killing at a level of what Hochschild called ‘genocidal proportions’[3]. Using such terms as ‘holocaust’ and essentially ‘guessing’ the death toll inevitably raised questions and caused controversy, especially in Belgium. Hochschild’s book has come under criticism from historians, such as Angus Mitchell, for not examining key primary sources in his work, for example the letters exchanged between E.D. Morel and Roger Casement, as well as his reliance on the ‘Black Diaries’ as a reliable source for monitoring Casement’s movements through the Congo in 1903.[4] Other historians, such as Guy Vanthemsche, have objected to Hochschild’s use of associating the atrocities and violence that occurred in the Congo Free State with twentieth-century interpretations of mass genocide, as well as questioning the basis of his claims of the figures involved regarding total deaths; although they do agree that actual atrocities occurred during Leopold II and the Belgian state’s control of the region[5], which is an important step forward regarding Belgian attitudes towards their colonial past. However, what Hochschild did achieve with the publication of his book was the re-ignition of the debate over Belgian atrocities in the Congo Free State.

The history written about the Belgian Congo and the atrocities that occurred there has largely been dominated by two different schools of thought – imperialist and revisionist. The former, also considered to be apologists, were characterised by their favour and praise for King Leopold II and their defence of the Belgian colony from the ‘moral’ crusaders against the Belgian operation in the Congo Free State. Revisionist historians, such as Robert Cornevin and Jean Stengers, were critical of the imperialist project in the Congo by the Belgians.[6]

The early history of the Belgian Congo began with the recording, and publishing, of personal testimonies of the explorers, missionaries and colonial administrators collected at the time. One of the most influential, and controversial, pieces of literature produced in the wake of the Belgian project in the Congo Free State was Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. In this book, Conrad created a fictional account of an ivory transporter working in the Congo who witnesses some atrocities there; forced labour for example. However, the story was based on Conrad’s experiences of working on a steamboat in the Congo and, it has been argued, delivered a story which tells of an experience which has strayed ‘very little’ from the ‘original facts of the case’[7].

Two of the most important sources from this time on the Belgian Congo were actually British – Roger Casement and E.D. Morel. It was Morel who initiated the most systematic English-language investigation into the Congo Free State and how Leopold was operating there; Roger Casement’s report to the British government in 1904 led to the increase in awareness and subsequent application of public pressure on Leopold.[8]. Works such as Mark Twain’s King Leopold’s Soliloquy[9], which detailed the atrocities being committed there in the form of a political satire, seen through the eyes of Leopold himself, as well as the reports filed by missionaries at the time, all manifested itself into a scathing body of work against Leopold’s project in the Congo. Later, in a concerted effort, Morel and Casement, along with Arthur Conan Doyle, a famous author and member of the Congo Reform Association, published The Crime of the Congo in 1909, which was a long pamphlet which denounced the horrors of the Belgian colony in the Congo[10]. This added to the body of literature that already existed on the subject of Belgian atrocities in the Congo at the time. All of these accounts provided the early historians with their main source of information on the Congo; these as well as texts from other different explorers, the history of which was all written by white European historians.

The role of religion and the atrocities in the Congo has also been studied at length by historians. The work of the missionaries, both Catholic and Protestant, was crucial in providing not only eye-witness accounts of the brutality of the Belgian regime in the Congo, but also of their role in raising awareness of the problem. As a result, it has been widely covered by several historians. Catherine Ann Cline has written about the relationship between the Catholic and Protestant Churches as one fraught with tension. Having previously adopted a position of ‘religious neutrality’, upon recognition of his claim by the world powers at the Berlin Conference in 1884-85, Leopold felt it no longer necessary to court the Protestant favour and, as a result, retreated to supporting the Catholic mission in the Congo.[11] Cline also highlights how the Catholic and Protestant missionaries were diametrically opposed in their views towards the Belgian treatment of the Congolese; whilst the Protestant missionaries working in the Congo Free State were the earliest critics of the Belgian regime, the Catholic position was one of rejecting the reformers claims that the abuses which occurred were ‘both systematic and unique’, and that they were an intrinsic part of the regime there and were no worse than what occurred in other European colonies.[12]

Dean Pavlakis has also examined the role of religion in the history of the humanitarian efforts of the Congo reformers. He has identified that, within this study of the work of the missionaries, historians have developed three branches of thought on the subject. In Pavlakis’ opinion, some historians, such as Hochschild, identify and understand the important role played by the missionaries, acting as ‘individual heroic…agents, albeit minor players in a Morel-centred narrative’[13]. The second branch sees the missionaries as vital to the Congo Reform Association; a view propagated by historians such as Ruth Slade, in which she states that the shape of the whole campaign against Belgian atrocities in the Congo would have been very different without the missionaries[14]. The third branch includes work done by historians, such as Kevin Grant, which views the missionaries as being very important in ‘creating popular outrage and support for reform’ and who argue against the ‘dominant Morel-centred historiography’ that the missionaries were crucial in turning around a failing reform campaign at the time.[15]

The effect of the Belgian atrocities and how they were received in the United States of America has also been considered by historians of the subject. In Jeanette Eileen Jones’ book In Search of Brightest Africa, the argument is put forward that many Americans were behind Leopold’s project in the Congo from the outset[16]. Jones states that, in American eyes, the prospect of an American (Henry Morton Stanley) opening up the Congo to American trade and commerce brought Africa into American diplomacy and would be a beneficial relationship to both. However, public opinion on Belgian control of the Congo Free State changed during the 1890s when reports began to circulate regarding Stanley’s mistreatment of natives in his expedition.[17] These attacks came from British newspapers and had resonance in the United States, and helped to turn the tide of public opinion against Leopold’s regime. This led to a lot of American anti-imperialists joining the Congo Reform Association branch based in the United States. It was not until this turning point, Jones argues, that Americans really began to understand what was happening in the Congo; before that, most American anti-imperialists had very little concern towards the realities of colonial rule in Africa.[18] Of course, work had been produced by Americans at the time of the atrocities regarding Leopold’s control of the Congo Free State and his mistreatment of the natives; the work written by missionaries was the first to arouse American public interest on the Congo question. Twain’s Soliloquy has been studied at length and interpreted for its cultural significance as well as its historical importance in relation to the Congo, mainly for understanding the support the Congo Reform Association received during its existence.

Of course, no historiography of the Belgian atrocities in the Congo would be complete without examining the work of, and about, Edmund Dene Morel. Morel was the leading figure in initiating opposition to Leopold’s exploits in the Congo. He had worked for a major shipping company based in Liverpool, and who was also a part-time journalist, and had noticed that many ships were returning from the Congo full of rubber yet were returning full of weapons, as opposed to goods to be traded. Morel then decided to take action and, as Martin Ewans has described, through the publication of several articles he set out to expose what was happening in the Congo, first by writing anonymously in Speaker, then later through work under his own name.[19] Much of the written history about Morel focuses on his work as a campaigner and with the Congo Reform Association, and his efforts in ‘crusading’ against the British Foreign Office into taking action against Leopold[20]. These texts are vital in understanding the motivating factors of the major figures involved in the movement for reform, and, in particular, Morel. As he was the catalyst for gathering an international consensus amongst the educated classes regarding ending Leopold’s control over the Congo region, Morel is an interesting figure and will no doubt be continually researched and discussed when examining activism against Belgian atrocities in the Congo Free State.

The historiography of Belgian atrocities in the Congo is still developing. Following the publication of Hochschild’s novel, other books were published which portrayed the Belgian colonial experiment in the Congo in a negative light. The subjects tackled by historians are numerous – ranging from the economic aspect of Leopold’s regime in the Congo, to studies on the making of Belgian imperialism as a whole and the role of propaganda; from revisionist work on the key figures involved in the campaign for reform, to work examining the role of religion in highlighting the atrocities in the Congo Free State.[21] The social, cultural, political and economic factors have all been examined and are continuing to be researched in order to further develop the understanding of the complex nature of Belgian imperialism in the Congo. Challenging pre-conceived ideas regarding Belgian imperialism in Africa is most certainly a worthwhile pursuit and, even now, work is being published which challenges these ideas whilst simultaneously adding a new perspective on this dark chapter in Belgian history.

Notes

[1] For an overview of Congolese history written by Congolese historians, see: G. Nzongola-Ntalaja, The Congo from Leopold to Kabila: A People’s History, (London: Zed Books, 2002); C.D. Gondola, The History of Congo, (Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing, 2002); Isidore N’Daywel, Histoire générale du Congo, (Paris, Brussels: De Boeck & Larcier, 1998).

[2] Adam Hochschild, King Leopold’s Ghost, (London: Pan MacMillan, 1998).

[3] Hochschild, King Leopold’s Ghost, p.225.

[4] Angus Mitchell, ‘Reviews’, review of King Leopold’s Ghost, by Adam Hochschild, History Today, August 1999.

[5] Guy Vanthemsche, ‘The Historiography of Belgian Colonialism in the Congo’, in Csaba Lévai, (ed.), Europe and the World in European Historiography, (Pisa: Edizioni Plus, 2006), pp.92-119.

[6] Lars Jensen, Rajeev S. Patke & Prem Poddar, A Historical Companion to Postcolonial Literatures – Continental Europe and its Empires, (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2008), p.26.

[7] Hochschild, King Leopold’s Ghost, 1998.

[8] Seamus O’ Siochain & Michael O’ Sullivan, The Eyes of another Race: Roger Casement’s Congo Report and 1903 Diary, (Dublin: University College Dublin Press, 2003).

[9] Mark Twain, King Leopold’s Soliloquy, (Boston: The P.R. Warren Co., 1905).

[10] Arthur Conan Doyle, Crime of the Congo, (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1909).

[11] Catherine Ann Cline, ‘The Church and the Movement for Congo Reform’,Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture, Vol.32, Issue 1 (March 1963), p.46.

[12] Ibid, p.49.

[13] Dean Pavlakis, ‘The Development of British Overseas Humanitarianism and the Congo Reform Campaign’, Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History, Vol.11, No.1 (Spring 2010).

[14] Ibid, p.4.

[15] Ibid; see also Kevin Grant, A Civilised Savagery: Britain and the New Slaveries in Africa, 1884-1926, (New York; London: Routledge, 2005).

[16] Jeanette Eileen Jones, In Search of Brightest Africa: Reimagining the Dark Continent in American Culture, 1884-1936, (Athens; London: The University of Georgia Press, 2010)

[17] Ibid, pp.50-51

[18] Ibid

[19] Martin Ewans, European Atrocity, African Catastrophe: Leopold II, the Congo Free State and its Aftermath, (New York: Routledge, 2002), pp.185-193.

[20] Catherine Ann Cline, ‘E. D. Morel and the Crusade against the Foreign Office’, The Journal of Modern History, Vol.39, No.2 (June, 1967), pp.126-137.

[21] See (in no particular order): Neal Ascherson, The King Incorporated: Leopold the Second and the Congo, (London: Granta Books, 1999); Séamas Ó Síocháin, Roger Casement: Imperialist, Rebel, Revolutionary, (Dublin: Lilliput Press, 2008);, Catherine Wynne, The Colonial Conan Doyle: British Imperialism, Irish Nationalism, and the Gothic, (London: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002); Matthew G. Stannard, Selling the Congo: A History of European Pro-Empire Propaganda and the making of Belgian Imperialism, (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2011); Guy Vanthemsche, Belgium and the Congo, 1885-1980, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012)