thehistoryofthecongo

International pressure forced the Belgian government to succeed King Leopold II, and The Belgian Congo was born.

The Belgian people were not unanimously behind colonialism, although the colony was supported by the socialist government on the grounds of developmental support.

But the companies who were developing were also exploiting, although now under international scrutiny their actions

The peoples of the Congo entered the 20th Century in the midst of these tensions.

In this episode we see how one individual, Edmund Morel, pieces together the true facts of Leopold's Congo State to determine it's true nature.

Enraged by the injustice, and willing take on the King himself, we see the development of a humanitarian campaign which was spread Britain and the United States.

With support from politicians, churches, celebrities and President Roosevelt himself the pressure King Leopold and the Belgian government grew.

Could Leopold's propaganda survive?

Here we find the people of the Congo living for the first time under one ruler in todays DRC borders.

This man was King Leopold II of Belgium, and he called his territory The Congo Free State.

The land people and people were ruthlessly exploited for ivory and rubber with scant regards to their own interests. Under this regime brutality and control new depths of humanity were reached ...

This is often referred to as the age of Red Rubber.

In this Episode we find Msiri's migration and capture of the Katangan region. Here he grew rich on power and wealth through the Copper mines and smelting plants that could be found here.

But his power was under threat. Ambitious powers looked on jealously. Msiri was clever and cunning but ultimately he didn't have the firepower to stand against the tides of history.

Here we find the last conflicts that settled the borders of the DRC as they stand today. It marks the end of the Scramble for Africa as the peoples DRC find themselves under common rule for the first time.

Two years after the fall of the Kisangani station to the Arabs Tippu Tips son Sef held control over much of the Eastern part of todays DRC.

He lived comfortably but was sandwiched between the Leopolds Congo Free State and Germany's East Africa colony.

Ostensibly to quash the slave trade, but to expand his territory and wealth, Leopold retained his orders for his forces to drive East.

War ensued and we shall we see the demise of the Swahili-Arab Empire in the Eastern Congo.

In this Episode we see Leopolds Congo Free state buffered against the Arab powers in the East. Cultural difference fostered tensions and their allies were dragged into conflict.

We see Leopold use the defeat of the British in Khartoum as an opportunity to extend the boundaries of his land North East to the River Nile, with Tippu Tip now an employee.

Disasi Makulo, a member of the Turumbe peoples, recounts the experience of meeting the Arabs and the Belgians in his own voice.

This episode sets us up for the Belgian-Arab war to come.

In this Episode we see the various facades of King Leopold II's philanthropy as he jostles to claim the central African lands he has just become aware of.

He maintains a three prong strategy: escalating aggressiveness in the Congo, appeasement of the European powers and an image of benevolence to the United States.

Tensions lead to the 1885 Berlin Conference and Leopold positions himself as the benign and neutral power in the Congo...

In this episode we revisit the past before looking at the lands of the Kingdom of the Kongo at the end of the 19th Century.

Outside of the Congo Stanley's journey, and details of the River Congo basin, spread through the world. Some saw this as an opportunity to do good, as they saw it, but others saw a commercial opportunities...

The chiefs of the Western Congo reacted skeptically as missionaries and traders arrived up river. Whist these arrived in greater numbers a distant European King began to plot..

In the early 1870's the peoples of the Eastern Congo lived in a land dominated by the Arab-Swahili traders. In search of Ivory these traders had traveled hundreds of miles inland from the Indian Ocean. These traders settled in and established settlements where they loved in great comfort. This was in great contrast to the subdued peoples who had inhabited these lands for hundreds of years. But the curiosity of the American and European public was focused on this region. In 1873 The Daily Telegraph of London and the New York Herald sponsored the Victorian explorer, Henry Morton Stanley, to travel to East Africa to find the legendary source of the River Nile. This voyage of explorations sent shock waves through time to the present day ...

Stanleys life before arriving in the Congo in 1873 gives us insights in the wider world at this time.

It gives us a window to the plight of the poor in the 19th century Britain, through the American Civil war and the expansion of the American West and the impact of some of the peoples living there.

We also visit Abyssinia and West Africa, where the British Empire were in conflict with the African Empires of these lands.

It's an optional interval - but fascinating nonetheless.