Analysis Of Adam Hochschild's King Leopold Of Belgium

Analysis Of Adam Hochschild's King Leopold Of Belgium

European powers began to take over territories throughout the continent of Africa during the 19th century. Historian Adam Hochschild's depiction of King Leopold of Belgium was written in 1998 and titled, King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa. Hochschild talked extensively about the greed for money and slavery resulting in the genocide of the Congo and the protests of humanitarians that followed the King's exploitation of Africans. In his thesis, the author stated that "[t]his is the story of that movement, of the savage crime that was its target, of the long period of exploration and conquest that preceded it, and of the way the world has forgotten one of the great mass killings of recent history." ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...The Portuguese travelers were amazed by its size and recorded their thoughts in a diary stating, "this noble river had determined to try its strengths in pitched battle with the ocean itself." In more serious parts of his argument, Hochschild used the European sources to prove his thesis. For example, on page 166, the author quoted a Catholic priest who recorded the calamities that King Leopold's men did in his name in Africa. The priest related the story of how a state official named Léon Fiévez terrorized African villagers by killing a few men (severing the head or cutting the hands of Africans) to make an "example" out of them. Fiévez's terror was so impressive that even a Force Publique officer quoted him saying "My goal is ultimately humanitarian. I killed a hundred people...but that allowed five hundred others to live." Hochschild heavily relied on European sources to prove his point for both simple and serious matters. The priest described how "All the blacks saw this man as the Devil of the Equator." However, this is according to the priest's own perspective. This is how he perceived Africans to feel about Fiévez. In other words, it is the priest's perception. There is no way of knowing for sure how Africans truly felt because their voice is silence. Nevertheless, Hochschild made a safe assumption as the terror the sources described can only provoke intimidation and the fact that Belgium became

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