Strange Currency
By Kristofer Beanland
In the novel Heart of Darkness [1] Kurtz utters the now immortal words ‘The horror! The horror!’ They are his final words before he dies; this scene is repeated in the film Apocalypse Now. Two great writers, eighty years apart, present an image that epitomises the truth that lies behind colonialism.
The title of Joseph Conrad’s short novel plunges the reader into the controversy. From the second half of the nineteenth century European powers began exploring the inland of Africa, the ‘heart’ of a country, until then only exploited around the coastal areas. Leopold II grabbed territory for Belgium and called it the Congo Free State, though in reality it was anything but free and in fact was Leopold’s colony used for his personal gain. The King’s duplicity is evidenced by a statement he made in 1898; it reads ‘The mission which the agents of the state have to accomplish on the Congo is a noble one.’ Further referencing the ‘primitive barbarism’ of the inhabitants he concludes by asserting the population must be made accustomed to general laws…’of which the most needful and the most salutary is assuredly that of work.’ Beginning with a virtuous sentiment the proclamation quickly degenerates into overt racism and is rounded off with a sinister affirmation in light of what we now know about his rule.
Map of Africa from “Chambers’s Geographical Readers of the Continents” 1902
Rubber workers in the Congo. Image courtesy of © Anti-Slavery International
Murder, rape and mutilation were carried out regularly by the Force Publique, Leopold’s colonial military force. Bullets were costly; the Force Publique soldiers would provide severed hands as evidence of killings, there being a concern they would waste ammunition in hunting.
The Congo Free State initially specialised in the export of ivory but this was never as profitable as Leopold or the investors hoped it would be. The development in production of the car was a game changer for the King, rubber was now in demand and his colony had a huge supply of wild rubber and all efforts were directed at its extraction. Congolese men were used as cheap labour and appalling brutality exercised freely as a means to ensure production of this resource. Villages were given quotas to fulfil, to ensure the quotas were met the Force Publique were employed as enforcers.
Map of Africa showing the countries as defined by ‘spheres of influence’ according to “Chambers’s Geographical Readers of the Continents” 1902
The reasons behind imperialism were common to many European countries at this time, an economic downturn and advances in technology made finding resources outside of their own territory necessary. Though no European power could point the finger, the particular atrocities being committed in the Congo were not to go unnoticed. Edmund Morel, a journalist, became a reformer when he noticed ships docked in Belgium full of cargo, ivory and rubber, returned to the Congo with soldiers, firearms and ammunition. Adam Hochschild [2] explains in his book King Leopold’s Ghost, these crimes led to the first great human rights movement of the twentieth century, ‘in which everyone from Mark Twain to the Archbishop of Canterbury participated’. Another first came with the term ‘crimes against humanity’, an accusation aimed at Leopold by George Washington Williams in his open letter to King Leopold. Williams, an African American, served in the American Civil War, he was a politician, a lawyer, and an historian. William Henry Sheppard, also African American and a Presbyterian missionary, reported on the atrocities. Another notable figure, Sir Roger Casement, brought the weight of the British Government to bear in the fight against such inhuman oppression. However Hochschild has suggested that this, ironically, took attention away from British Colonialism.
The ‘horror’ named by Kurtz became a scandal in Europe due to these men and others becoming involved in the fight for the emancipation of the Congo. Many of the photographs taken in the Congo during Leopold’s rule featured men, women, and children with their hands severed. Images of these amputees will forever be a haunting legacy of the cruelty inflicted on a people by a tyrant. Though Leopold was forced to give up control of his colony to the Belgian Government in 1908 the misrule and barbarity did not immediately cease. In 2020 King Philippe of Belgium expressed remorse for the countries actions in the Congo, though it did not extend to an apology [3].
The severing of limbs was not reserved for providing evidence of killings. Men, women and children suffered this fate simply to prove the system of terror was being enacted. Hands were collected in baskets, presented to white officers when there was a shortfall in quotas, and to collect bonuses. They replaced the collection of rubber, in effect becoming currency.
About the author
Kristofer Beanland - left the printing trade in 2010 and enrolled at the University of Hull Scarborough Campus, gaining a B.A. in English Literature and Culture. He maintained a passion for literature and history, and his interest with Leopold II was sparked when reading Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.
References
Conrad, Joseph, (1988) Heart of Darkness, New York: W.W. Norton Inc.,
Hochschild, Adam, (2012) King Leopold’s Ghost: A story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa, Pan Books
‘Belgian King expresses “deepest regrets” for DR Congo colonial abuses, Accessed 04/04/2022
Image of the rubber workers courtesy of Anti-Slavery International Alice Seeley Harris photographed the atrocities occurring in the Belgian Congo while visiting with her husband John Harris. Both were active abolitionists, and the images played a significant role in the campaign against slavery in the Belgian Congo.