The Birth of the Congo as a Free State :: African History Essays

The Birth of the congou as a Free StateIn the rangening long time of his sovereignty, King Leopold the Second of Belgium began to show an interest in the natural resources of telephone exchange Africa, especially the wild rubber that was growing within the heart of the jungle. In the year 1876, he called a conference of humanitarians and travelers together who met at capital of Belgium for the sole purpose of debating various plans of how the Dark Continent could be candid up (Doyle). From this conference, the International African experience was formed, which, in spite of its name, was around entirely a Belgian body, with the Belgian King serving as the President. Its objective was the exploration of the country and the establishment of civilization centers and rest-houses for travelers (Doyle). At the comparable time, Leopold also pursued the spread of Christianity and freedom to the savages of Africa, so he engage the famous journalist and adventurer Henry Morton Stanl ey to travel the length of the river to begin signing treaties with the native tribes (Kinshasa). For almost six years from 1879 to 1884, this great explorer labored on behalf of King Leopold, investigating the basin of the Upper congou tea River and simultaneously hoping to establish his own imperial society in rudimentary Africa. Upon Stanleys return from his great journey in 1878, he was met by a representative from the King of Belgium who enrolled him as an actual agent for his Association (Doyle). The immediate task given to Stanley was to open up the Congo for cope at once. Furthermore, he was to make terms with the natives that would enable the stations to be built and the depots established. Thus, in 1879 Stanley finally began his throw (Doyle). Stanley labored hard among the inwrought Chiefs, undisturbed by any of the destructive effects that his own work created, and returned to his employer with at least 450 alleged treaties which transferred land to the Associa tion. There is no volume of the exact payment made in order to obtain these treaties, moreover there is evidence of a similar transaction carried out by a Belgian officer in 1883 at Palabala (Doyle). In that limited case, the payment made to the Chief consisted of one coat of red stuff with gold facings, one red cap, one white tunic, one set up of white baft, one piece of red points, one box of liqueurs, quaternary demijohns of rum, two boxes of gin, 128 bottles of gin, twenty red handkerchiefs, forty singlets and forty old cotton fiber caps.