Abstract

Being a very old institution in Democratic Republic of Congo, slavery had always been a way of increasing the domestic groups' size. As one of largest and most ethnically diverse countries of Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo holds the essential components for economic success. Nearly of the size of Western Europe, DRC has plentiful mineral wealth; some of its natural resources include diamonds, copper and gold. These natural resources invoked colonial powers to seize control of DRC. The colonial era in the DRC, began in the late 1800's, initiated the trend of natural resource exploitation by a small minority of elite to the grave harm of the vast majority of the Congolese people, a pattern that has prevailed throughout the past century. In order to maintain their control, Congolese were enslaved in to force labor by colonialist. Execution and torture were used to force native Africans to work in the mines. These slaves were brutally treated and, were controlled using violence or threatened to be treated wildly. There was a deep-seated lessening of free will, deliberate oppression to make the victims think they could not quit, and often there was no such pay beyond subsistence. This paper seeks to cast light on the historical pattern of slavery practices in Democratic Republic of Congo in between 1800 to 1890.

Introduction3

Discussion and Analysis4

Slavery in Africa4

Female Slavery in Africa5

A Brief History of Democratic Republic of the Congo5

Slavery in Congo: In the Light of King Leopold's Ghost6

Slavery as an Institution in Democratic Republic of Congo9

Conclusion10

Works Cited12

Slavery in the Democratic Republic of Congo between 1800's and 1890

Introduction

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has been plagued by a history of slavery. The state's natural resources had invoked the invaders to inflict slavery on the people of Congo so that they could take over these resources. Long before the Europeans' arrival, Central Africa was a slave site raiding for the Indian Ocean and Red Sea slave trade. After the Congo River Basin was explored by Charles Stanley, Europeans, including Belgians, French, and Dutch, arrived at the interior lands. In Africa, colonization and trade networks were regulated by Europe at the Berlin Conference of 1884-85. The DRC (known then as Congo Free State) was acquired by Belgium's King Leopold II. The Belgian colonial occupation, and particularly the King Leopold II's personal fiefdom, brought a mainly atrocious slavery brand enforced through murder, limb amputation and torture by the mercenary Force Publique. On a massive scale, slavery was enforced in that time period and as a result of brutal practices carried out during slavery, an estimated ten million people passed away. “Crimes against humanity” was the term initially used to illustrate this genocide and slavery. The extraction of riches of Congo, centered then on ivory and rubber, was the driving force behind this assault (Hochschild, p. 226- 29). The aim of this paper is to present a comprehensive and thorough research on slavery in the Democratic Republic of Congo in nineteenth century, particularly between 1800's and 1890.

Discussion and Analysis

Slavery in ...