Beglium+and+Africa

Due December 1st[[image:http://www.historywiz.com/images/africa/snake.gif width="144" height="218" align="right" caption="Leopold the "Snake" http://www.historywiz.com/galleries/leopoldthesnake.htm"]]
= ﻿Belgium and Africa- Imperialism =
 * Mary Kozan **
 * Krista Reynolds **
 * Ellie Handler **
 * Amanda Rossi **
 * Haejin Park **

=
- The county of Belgium began its policy when Leopold II (the king of Belgium) began exploring the interior of Africa. By doing this, the Congo was given to him as a reward. However, Leopold II began to take advantage of the Congo by ronning it of its resources. Leopold II statred by taking all of the riches like copper from the Congo. Then, he was forced to hand the Congo over into the control government of Belgium rather than himself for the way he was abusing it. ==

-Imperialism of Rwanda
At first, Rwanda was a part of German East Africa. However, after 1916, or around the time of World War One, Belgium won control of Rwanda.

-Imperialism of the Congo
In 1845, King Leopold II officially annexed the Congo Free State as a Belgian colony. However, in 1884, the Berlin Conference met to divide up Africa, and the Congo Free State was handed over to the Belgian government on account of Leopold’s brutality toward the Africans.

3. Why is the territory being targeted for takeover?
- King Leopold II decided to hire Stanley and sent him to the Congo River to get the African leaders to trade with him and get a treaty. With this idea King Leopold II thought of money and conquest. - Rich Belgians and Leopold started taking advantages of the supplies that the Congo had to offer. They mainly took copper, rubber, and ivory. - While the supplies was being taken horror was slowly invading the villagers of the Congo. There were many stories of how the villagers were being treated. Some of the people would work for long hours or day after day and be paid almost nothing and beaten of mutilated. With this going on, it effected the population drastically, and made it go down a lot. - Finally actions were taken and Leopold was forced into giving up his colony to the Belgian government and got the new name the Belgian Congo in 1908. With the colony under the Belgian government most of the horrors from Leopold ended. Yet, it was still mostly Belgians possession which gave Africans very little or no spot in the government or economy of the colony.

4. What type of rule is being exercised?
The Belgians used direct rule to effectively achieve the wealth that they so desired. It was brutal and harsh, resulting in the deaths of many Africans under their rule. At the root of this, when the land was known as the Congo Free State, was King Leopold II. He instituted this brutal, direct ruling of Congo. ======

5. What are the obstacles to control?
The country of Belgium was not the ruler of Congo; the government as a whole and the Belgian people had no interest in Imperialism. However, the king, Leopold II, wanted to profit from Imperialism. So, he claimed Congo as his own private property, named the Congo Free State. Leopold used harsh control to rid any obstacles in his pat h; in order to make sure workers harvested enough rubber and ivory to satisfy his "needs", he took their families hostage, with the threat of death always hanging over their heads. If an entire village refused to collect the rubber or ivory for him, the village would simply be burned to the ground. Because of this, there were small rebellions. But the villagers did not have nearly enough military force to overtake Leopold. His brutal method of ruling was kept a secret from all European nations, even the Belgian government. When the powerhouses finally found out, his leadership of the Congo Free State was revoked and it was handed over to Belgium. Leopold just got rid of any obstacle he encountered, and that attitude eventually became his own obstacle. It caused him to loose control of Congo.

** 6 ** . What were the end results of imperialism with regards to the ones being taken over and the country taking over?
-Belgium’s economy benefited from their new colonies. Rubber was in great demand because of the increasing need for rubber tires, and the Congo Free State had a bountiful supply of it. Additionally, Africans were forced to extract the rubber sap from trees, providing cheap labor. Furthermore, items such as ivory and copper profited the Belgians. Belgium began to have an economic interdependency with the Africans. The Africans sold their raw materials to the Belgians, and, in turn, the Belgians traded the manufactured goods they had made from the materials back to the Africans.

Imperialism was altogether horrendous affair for Africa. Not only were the citizens slaughtered and beaten relentlessly, but many were taken for slaves. Additionally, many natural resources were taken away to be sold in European countries. Western ideas were forced onto the Africans when they were imperialised by Belgium. Encouraged by missionary teachers, the Africans came to believe in ideas such as white superiority. Furthermore, traditions centuries old were discarded as professors taught Africans how to dress and talk like the Belgians. However, Belgian imperialism was not all bad. It introduced ideas such as banking and transportation methods. Additionally, Africans began to trade things for money, rather than for other goods or services.

What happened to the Congo today as a result of Imperialism, is it still under Belgian control?

Works Cited:
-Belgium's Imperialistic Rape of Africa. 1 January 1999-2010. 16 November 2010 []. -Brooks, Marcus. Effects of Belguim Imperialism in Africa. 18 November 2010 []. -Elisabeth Ellis, Anthony Esler. World History: Connections to Today. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2001.historyking.com. History of Imperialism In Rwanda. 1 January 2010. 16 November 2010 []. __-HistoryWiz: Leopold the Snake.__ 17 November 2010 [].