Adam Hoschild, author of King Leopold’s Ghost, writes the story of the result of how one man’s search for land, in an effort to rule an empire led to innumerable atrocities upon native Africans. His name was Leopold II and he was king of Belgium. Leopold’s avarice led to his exploiting both a place and a place, with little regard as to the differences between the former and the. Both people and the natural resources of the Congo were interchangeable insomuch as how they would increase his wealth. Leopold’s greed, intermixed with a charming and calculating persona, served him well for over four decades.
Adam Hoschild, points out that when Leopold II became king of Belgium, dissatisfied with owning a small country, he turned his eyes toward acquiring land in a way that could not be conceived as threatening to the major European powers. To Leopold the Congo was a place of abundant opportunities that would serve to furnish his coffers. Newspapers were paid off to write articles portraying him in a positive light, as a noble who aimed only to help progress. Leopold covered his true intentions hiring individuals to portray his desire to own the Congo as philanthropic.
Europeans were able to seize power because of their medical knowledge, the invention of the steamboat, the repeating rifle and the chicotte. Africans were portrayed as an inferior, uncivilized people who were little better than animals. The explorers, who went to the Congo, for Leopold, were restless, uncivilized men who sought to escape either their past or themselves. One such individual was a man by the name of Stanley. Stanley was a bad strategist. The men he hired either deserted, got lost in the jungle, were drowned or killed. Stanley worked for Leopold in the Congo helping Leopold get as much land as possible as soon as possible. One way he did this was by having chiefs sign ‘treaties’. Many chiefs were unaware of what they were signing. The ‘treatises’ gave the king a complete trading...