King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa, written by Adam Hochschil, gives insight on events in history that, despite the great impacts they had all over the world, are not very well known. At the beginning of the 19th century, Europe became interested in the African continent and the materials it had to offer, such as rubber, metal, and slaves. Fame and fortune came to those who explored and colonized these newly discovered territories, so it did not take long for greed to set in. This resulted in horrifying events of death and destruction. Natives of Africa were killed, land was commandeered, and tragedy ensued all across central Africa. This is the story of the Congo.
This book begins by introducing a Welsh-born man by the name of John Rowlands. After spending his childhood in a workhouse and sailing to America on a merchant ship at the age of 15, he ends up working in New Orleans under the name of Henry Morton Stanley. Stanley later became a successful newspaperman as he wrote about the Indian Wars. He soon was noticed by the publisher of the New York Harold newspaper, James Gordon Bennett Jr. After writing for them for some time, Stanley was sent on an African expedition to search for David Livingstone, a famous explorer who went missing in 1866 during one of his travels to Africa. Stanley was successful in his endeavor and his accounts of his travels became extremely popular all over Europe. These dispatches caught the eye of one particularly powerful man, King Leopold II of Brussels. Hochschild goes on to delve into the childhood of the king, explaining how he learned the ways of the government at an early age despite being awkward and distanced from his parents. As he grew older and eventually married, Leopold became very invested in making Belgium powerful and in his mind, that meant colonizing Africa. It was around this time that the king thrusted himself into a life of philanthropy and humanitarianism in order to create a front for his reasons behind colonization. The king brought powerful people together by holding conferences and creating seemingly altruistic associations, all of which happened to revolve around the Congo and provided him with everything required to claim it.
The Congo, which was an unclaimed area in Africa near a river, was the same place that Henry Morton Stanley was sent to further explore. After following the Congo River from its beginning, the two-year expedition ended up stretching from coast to coast making Stanley the first person to make that journey. In 1878 King Leopold invited Stanley to meet him and offered a contract to lead an expeditionary force to the Congo, allowing Leopold to gain access to the land’s riches while still hiding under the guise of benevolence. Stanley accepted this offer and went back to the Congo to do the bidding of the king, arranging ‘treaties’ with native chiefs and building infrastructure. Finally, enough had been done in the Congo under the name of King Leopold that he could start working towards getting nations to recognize his new colony. He continued his humanitarian work which led to the United States recognizing the Congo, and many other countries quickly followed. It was in 1885 after the Berlin Conference that the Congo was finally recognized as a free state and Leopold had his colony. King Leopold continued with his acts of goodwill and began denouncing slavery in order to convince others to provide ‘protection’ such as railways and levies to the Congo. At this point, Stanley was being held on the backburner, still a consultant to King Leopold but not being given any direction. Stanley was sent to Sudan when an uprising broke out against the British in 1886, but the efforts resulted in bloodshed and ultimately failed.
Now that the Congo is secure under the rule of King Leopold, Hochschild introduces George Washington Williams, and African American journalist. After interviewing and writing a book for King Leopold, Williams learns of the horrors in the Congo, witnessing firsthand the murder and torture that were happening under Stanley’s rule.