Belgian colonial empire

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## Group information

### Leader(s)

Leopold II of Belgium
Albert I of Belgium

### Affiliation

Sir Morton Stanley
Jungle Navigation Company

### Headquarters

Brussels, Belgium

The **Belgian colonial empire** is a historic empire often referenced in the Jungle Cruise due to its infamously horrific occupation of the Congo from 1908 to 1960.

## Description

The Belgian colonial empire was the empire of the kingdom of Belgium which colonized and subjugated the Congo Basin of Central Africa, during which time it was known as, "The Belgian Congo".

## History

### Background

#### Real World background

##### Indigenous Congo

The Congo is home to a vast multitude of Indigenous peoples. In 1867, British colonist Sir Morton Stanley journeyed through the Congo in search of lost physician David Livingstone. An imperial colonial explorer, Stanley named many features after himself (despite them already having been named and frequented by the aforementioned multitudes of Africana peoples). In the November of 1871, Stanley tracked down Sir Morton Stanley and met him with the words, "Doctor Livingstone, I presume?".

Sir Morton Stanley returned to Europe in 1878, he profiteered off of stories of his exploration. In this time, he spread propaganda to a multitude of circles that it was the duty of the British Empire to conquer the Congo to, "pour the civilisation of Europe into the barbarism of Africa". This propaganda caught on with the tyrant Leopold II of Belgium who sent Morton back to the Congo to barter and manipulate Indigenous peoples into selling their land to Belgium. The result of this was Leopold becoming the constitutional king of the, "**Congo Free State**" in a reign defined by various atrocities and mass death throughout the Indigenous population.

##### Belgian Congo.

From 1885 to 1908, the Belgian government exploited the land and its people for the natural rubber exporting industry. Companies in this industry were allowed to effectively enslave the Indigenous population via forced labour in obtaining rubber. Leopold II also assembled a personal army known as the *Force Publique* which enforced these labour-laws and would destroy entire villages if even one inhabitant disobeyed servitude; this army was also known to chop off the hands of those they murdered to keep tally. Orphaned children would be kidnapped and forced into Catholic schools to be abused, fed propaganda and be raised into soldiers for the Force Publique.

In addition to this, diseases brought by the Europeans and increased importing/exporting also ravaged the Africana population. Leopold's extortion of the land also resulted in mass famine amongst Indigenous communities. An exact number of dead is not known but in campaigns against the Congo Free State, activist Edmund D. Morel referred to the loss as that of, "20 million souls". In 1890, a campaign against Leopold II began though it the rule was only ended in 1908. The Congo Free State was subsequently transformed into the **Belgian Congo** which pressured the government to end many (but not all) of the colonial horrors set on the state by the Belgian Empire which continued to rule the state.

King Leopold II took several measures to cover up several of his atrocities, including burning down a library of evidence. The Congo still however was highly oppressed by European powers, hosting many companies and missionaries who took advantage of the land. From this time into the 1940s and 1950s, the Congo became subject to many racist ideas of, "Evolving" the Indigenous population and forcing comparatively inhumane capitalist industries onto the land. In 1959, the Congolese people began an uprising against European and Christian rule which gained them their independence.

## Jungle Cruise connections

### Attractions

#### Jungle Cruise

Advertisements for Aero-Casablanca mention it departing for the Belgian Congo. A map in the queue for the Jungle Navigation Company's, "Route of the Jungle Queen" described the Congo as the Belgian Congo.

### Film

#### The African Queen

Charlie Allnut used to be a machinist/engineer for mines used by the Belgian empire in the Congo.

## Trivia

* Sir Morton Stanley has been referenced in Adventureland and the Jungle Cruise.