Belgium and the Congo, 1885-1980

Belgium and the Congo, 1885-1980

Author: Guy Vanthemsche

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2012-04-30

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 0521194210

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This book explains how and why Belgium, a small but influential European country, was changed through its colonial activities in the Congo, from the first expeditions in 1880 to the Mobutu regime in the 1980s. Belgian politics, diplomacy, economic activity and culture were influenced by the imperial experience. Belgium and the Congo, 1885-1980 yields a better understanding of the Congo's past and present.


British Humanitarianism and the Congo Reform Movement, 1896-1913

British Humanitarianism and the Congo Reform Movement, 1896-1913

Author: Dean Pavlakis

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-03-09

Total Pages: 342

ISBN-13: 1317171934

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The Congo Free State was under the personal rule of King Leopold II of the Belgians from 1885 to 1908. The accolades that attended its founding were soon contested by accusations of brutality, oppression, and murderous misrule, but the controversy, by itself, proved insufficient to prompt changes. Starting in 1896, concerned men and women used public opinion to influence government policy in Britain and the United States to create space for reforming forces in Belgium itself to pry the Congo from Leopold’s grasp and implement reforms. Examining key factors in the successes and failures of a pivotal movement that aided the colonized people of the Congo and broadened the idea of human rights, British Humanitarianism and the Congo Reform Movement provides a valuable update to scholarship on the history of humanitarianism in Africa. The Congo Reform movement built on the institutional experience of overseas humanitarianism, the energy of evangelical political involvement, and innovations in racial, imperial, and nationalist discourse to create political energy. Often portrayed as the efforts of a few key people, especially E.D. Morel, this book demonstrates that the movement increasingly manifested itself as an institutionalized and transnational campaign with support from key government officials that ultimately made a material difference to the lives of the people of the Congo.


Violence and Colonial Order

Violence and Colonial Order

Author: Martin Thomas

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2012-09-20

Total Pages: 541

ISBN-13: 0521768411

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A striking new interpretation of colonial policing and political violence in three empires between the two world wars.


African History: A Very Short Introduction

African History: A Very Short Introduction

Author: John Parker

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2007-03-22

Total Pages: 185

ISBN-13: 0192802488

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Intended for those interested in the African continent and the diversity of human history, this work looks at Africa's past and reflects on the changing ways it has been imagined and represented. It illustrates key themes in modern thinking about Africa's history with a range of historical examples.


King Leopold's Ghost

King Leopold's Ghost

Author: Adam Hochschild

Publisher: Picador

Published: 2019-05-14

Total Pages: 474

ISBN-13: 1760785202

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With an introduction by award-winning novelist Barbara Kingsolver In the late nineteenth century, when the great powers in Europe were tearing Africa apart and seizing ownership of land for themselves, King Leopold of Belgium took hold of the vast and mostly unexplored territory surrounding the Congo River. In his devastatingly barbarous colonization of this area, Leopold stole its rubber and ivory, pummelled its people and set up a ruthless regime that would reduce the population by half. . While he did all this, he carefully constructed an image of himself as a deeply feeling humanitarian. Winner of the Duff Cooper Prize in 1999, King Leopold’s Ghost is the true and haunting account of this man’s brutal regime and its lasting effect on a ruined nation. It is also the inspiring and deeply moving account of a handful of missionaries and other idealists who travelled to Africa and unwittingly found themselves in the middle of a gruesome holocaust. Instead of turning away, these brave few chose to stand up against Leopold. Adam Hochschild brings life to this largely untold story and, crucially, casts blame on those responsible for this atrocity.


Encounters between Jesuits and Protestants in Africa

Encounters between Jesuits and Protestants in Africa

Author: Robert Aleksander Maryks

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2018-01-03

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 9004347151

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Protestants entering Africa in the nineteenth century sought to learn from earlier Jesuit presence in Ethiopia and southern Africa. The nineteenth century was itself a century of missionary scramble for Africa during which the Jesuits encountered their Protestant counterparts as both sought to evangelize the African native. Encounters between Jesuits and Protestants in Africa, edited by Robert Alexander Maryks and Festo Mkenda, S.J., presents critical reflections on the nature of those encounters in southern Africa and in Ethiopia, Madagascar, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Fernando Po. Though largely marked by mutual suspicion and outright competition, the encounters also reveal personal appreciations and support across denominational boundaries and thus manifest salient lessons for ecumenical encounters even in our own time. This volume is the result of the second Boston College International Symposium on Jesuit Studies held at the Jesuit Historical Institute in Africa (Nairobi, Kenya) in 2016. Thanks to generous support of the Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies at Boston College, it is available in Open Access.


The Rulers of Belgian Africa, 1884-1914

The Rulers of Belgian Africa, 1884-1914

Author: Lewis H. Gann

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2015-03-08

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 1400869099

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In this comprehensive picture of Belgian colonialism in the Congo, Lewis Gann and Peter Duignan trace the formation of the colonial state that became Zaire, considering it in the light of colonial experience in other African territories. Whereas most studies have focused on the conquest and subjugation of the African population, this study probes the colonial apparatus itself, investigating the attitudes and behavior of the civil servants and soldiers who built the empire. Originally published in 1979. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.


Sweden-Norway at the Berlin Conference 1884-85. History, National Identity-Making and Sweden's Relations with Africa

Sweden-Norway at the Berlin Conference 1884-85. History, National Identity-Making and Sweden's Relations with Africa

Author: David Nilsson

Publisher: Nordic Africa Institute

Published: 2013-09

Total Pages: 56

ISBN-13: 9789171067388

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"The image of Sweden is one of a small, democratic and peace-loving country without the moral burden of a colonial past. However, in this Current African Issues publication, the notion that Sweden lacks a colonial past in Africa is brought into question. At the Berlin Conference 1884-85, the rules for colonisation of Africa were agreed upon among a handful of white men. With the blessing of King Oscar II, the united kingdoms of Sweden-Norway participated in the Berlin conference, ratified the resulting convention and signed a trade agreement with King Leopold's International Congo Association. Thereafter, hundreds of Swedish militaries, seamen and missionaries took an active part in the brutal colonial project in the Congo. What was Sweden-Norway really doing at the Berlin Conference and in the ensuing Scramble for Africa ? Is it now time to re-assess Swedish identity in relation to Africa, an identity so far centered on colonial innocence ? Dr DAVID NILSSON is a researcher at the Division of History of Science, Technology and Environment, Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden. His research focuses on global long term perspectives on sustainable development in Africa." -- Abstract.