David Livingstone |
David Livingstone was a Scottish minister who explored the Congo River and searched for the source of the Nile River with a group of Africans from about 1860-70. He went about with no contact to the outside world for several years, which caused many people to fear that he had died. Henry Morton Stanley was later sent to Africa to locate his whereabouts and make sure that he was safe. (Source: Beck, Roger B. "Chapter 27, Section 1." World
History: Patterns of Interaction. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell, 2005.
685-86. Print.)
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Henry Morton Stanley"Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" |
Henry Morton Stanley was a reporter hired by an American Newspaper to travel to Africa in order to locate the whereabouts of David Livingstone in 1871. Stanley encountered Livingstone on Lake Tanganyika, exploring the lake. Later, in 1878-79, Stanley returned to Africa to claim Congo lands for King Leopold II, who was planning to colonize Congo lands.(Source: Beck, Roger B. "Chapter 27, Section 1." World History: Patterns of Interaction. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell, 2005. 685-86. Print.)
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King Leopold II
Roger Casement
A. E. Scrivener
Patrice Lumumba
Joseph Kasavubu
Nikita KhrushchevColonel Joseph Mobutu
Kengo Wa Dondo
Laurent-Desire Kabila
Jean-Pierre BembaJoseph Kabila |
King Leopold II was the first to take control of the Congo territory, as it was given permission from the Congress of Berlin. King Leopold II lied to the congress, saying that his soul purpose was to help educate the poor natives in the Congo and through false propaganda, King Leopold was able to deceive everybody. Leopold took advantage of the Congolese and the many natural resources the nation contained. King Leopold is later forced to give up the territory to the government when the cruelty of King Leopold to the indigenous people was exploited.(Sources: Beck, Roger B. "Chapter 27, Section 1." World History: Patterns of Interaction. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell, 2005. 685-86. Print.; "Democratic Republic of Congo Profile." BBC News. BBC, 26 Feb. 2013. Web. 9 Mar. 2013.; News, CBC. "The Democratic Republic of Congo: A Brief History." CBCnews. CBC/Radio Canada, 21 Nov. 2008. Web. 13 Mar. 2013.)
Roger Casement was a British representative who was sent to look into the Congo purchase. In the Congo, Roger witnessed the horrible treatment of the Congolese and wrote about what he had seen in a detailed report to the British government. This report was later published as The Casement Report for the public to learn about the cruelty in the Congo.(Sources: Casement, Roger. "The Casement Report." Xtimeline.com.
N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2013.;"Imperialism In The Congo - 3) Primary Sources." Imperialism
In The Congo - 3) Primary Sources. WikiSpaces, n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2013.)
Just like Roger Casement, A. E. Scrivener visited the Congo to get an inside look at what was going on in King Leopold's new land. Scrivener also saw the horrible treatment of the Congolese people and wrote about it too in his writing Leopold's Congo. While on his missionary, he asked natives why they were so poorly treated, and the natives themselves explained their neglect by the government officials.(Source:Scrivener,
A. E. Leopold's Congo. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. page. Print.)
After the Congo gained independence from the Belgian Government in 1960, Patrice Lumumba became the first prime minister of the newly formed Democratic Republic of Congo. In later years after the Congo gained independence, two of its richest provinces fell, and in an effort to find help, he made a deal with a Soviet Union leader to get weapons to protect the Congo. This offended the U.S. who found help from within the Congo to arrest Prime Minister Lumumba, who later was killed while under police captivity. (Source:"Patrice
Lumumba (Congolese Politician)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia
Britannica, 2013. Web. 17 Mar. 2013.)
After independence was earned by the Congo in 1960, Joseph Kasavubu became the first elected president of the newly formed country. When the Congo's two richest provinces fell and Prime Minister Lumumba sought the help of the Soviet Union, President Kasavubu and those who disagreed with Lumumba's alliance, made an alliance with the United States. With the help of the U.S.'s CIA agents and a Congolese army led by Joseph Mobutu, President Kasavubu was able to have the prime minister arrested and removed from power. (Source: "Joseph
Kasavubu (president of Congo)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia
Britannica, 2013. Web. 17 Mar. 2013.)
Nikita Khrushchev was a Soviet Union leader during the time of the Cold War who made an alliance with the Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. Nikita offered Prime Minister Lumumba his people weapons in return for help against the Americans. In the end, the U.S. removed Prime Minister Lumumba from power, destroying the alliance. (Source: "History
of the Democratic Republic of Congo | Footprints Foundation." Footprints Foundation. N.p., 2012. Web. 17 Mar. 2013.)
After he helped President Kasavubu remove the existing prime minister from power, Colonel Joseph Mobutu was appointed the new chief and lieutenant of the national army. With the help of the national army, Mobutu took control of the Congo through a coup d'état, making himself an unopposed president for many years. In order to promote his presidency, Mobutu launched a cultural campaign, which required the people of the Congo to take an African name and to change the name of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the Republic of Zaire. In later years, Mobutu was faced with problems of maintaining his control of the Congo, as he knew that there were people against him, so Mobutu changed his one-party system of governing into a multi-party system, again allowing there to be a prime minister. However this didn't last and in the First Congo War, President Mobutu was removed from power by Laurent-Desire Kabila. (Sources:"Democratic Republic of Congo Profile." BBC News. BBC, 26 Feb. 2013. Web. 9 Mar. 2013.; "History of the Democratic Republic of Congo | Footprints Foundation." Footprints Foundation. N.p., 2012. Web. 17 Mar. 2013.;News, CBC. "The Democratic Republic of Congo: A Brief History." CBCnews. CBC/Radio Canada, 21 Nov. 2008. Web. 13 Mar. 2013.)
Kengo Wa Dondo became the new prime minister when President Mobutu changed the one-party government system to a multi-party government system.(Source: "Democratic Republic of Congo Profile." BBC News. BBC, 26 Feb. 2013. Web. 9 Mar. 2013.)
Laurent-Desire Kabila was the next president of the Congo after leading a rebel army to overthrow Mobutu. President Kabila changed the Republic of Zaire to the Democratic Republic of the Congo; however he wasn't cut out to be a great leader, as it later showed. During his presidency, the Second Congo War broke out, as the Rwandan and Ugandan rebels revolted against the Congo. President Kabila and his new alliance with Angola, Zimbabwe, and other foreign nations attempted to declare a ceasefire with the rebels, however they did not agree and ended up assassinating President Kabila. (Sources: "Democratic Republic of Congo Profile." BBC News. BBC, 26 Feb. 2013. Web. 9 Mar. 2013.; News, CBC. "The Democratic Republic of Congo: A Brief History." CBCnews. CBC/Radio Canada, 21 Nov. 2008. Web. 13 Mar. 2013.)
Jean-Pierre Bemba was the leader of the Rwandan and Ugandan rebels who revolted in the Second Congo War against the Congo. Bemba won the war when President Kabila was assassinated by his bodyguard. (Sources:"Democratic Republic of Congo Profile." BBC News. BBC, 26 Feb. 2013. Web. 9 Mar. 2013.; News, CBC. "The Democratic Republic of Congo: A Brief History." CBCnews. CBC/Radio Canada, 21 Nov. 2008. Web. 13 Mar. 2013.)
Joseph Kabila is Laurent Kabila's son, who was appointed president after Laurent Kabila's presidency after the Second Congo War. President Kabila is still today's president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (Sources:"Democratic Republic of Congo Profile." BBC News. BBC, 26 Feb. 2013. Web. 9 Mar. 2013.; News, CBC. "The Democratic Republic of Congo: A Brief History." CBCnews. CBC/Radio Canada, 21 Nov. 2008. Web. 13 Mar. 2013.)
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