This book by Adam Hochschild explores the period from 1885 to 1908 when King Leopold II of Belgium exploited the Congo Free State, committing large-scale atrocities. The narrative includes the lives of key figures such as Henry Morton Stanley, George Washington Williams, William Sheppard, and Edmund Morel, who played crucial roles in exposing and challenging Leopold’s regime. The book also delves into the broader context of European colonialism and its lasting impacts, as well as the early media campaigns against humanitarian crises. Hochschild’s work provides a nuanced view of colonial dynamics and the struggles of African voices during this era.
Heart of Darkness, written by Joseph Conrad, is a novella that examines the horrors of Western colonialism. The story is narrated by Marlow, who recounts his journey as a riverboat captain for a Belgian trading company in the Congo. Marlow's journey takes him deep into the African jungle, where he encounters the enigmatic and brutal ivory trader Kurtz. The novella delves into themes of power dynamics, morality, and the psychological impact of colonialism on both the colonizers and the colonized. It is a landmark of modern fiction, known for its narrative and symbolic power, as well as its acute psychological penetration[2][3][5].
“A secret society of murderers with a king for a ringleader”.
In 1885 King Leopold of Belgium; an awkward, ruthless, selfish man, was recognised as the sovereign of the Congo. Long determined to carve out his very own private colonial domain, he had alighted upon the Congo - Africa’s vast and unplundered interior. With the help of the explorer Henry Morton Stanley, who had found a way to circumnavigate the Congo’s formerly insurmountable rapids, he concocted a cunning scheme to legally make it his own, while casting himself as a civilising saviour. Yet, despite his ostensibly philanthropic motivations, Leopold’s goal was always profit. More specifically, ivory, and later rubber, and before long a thriving hub of industry had been established in the Congo, bustling with soldiers, traders and missionaries. Meanwhile and most significantly, tens of thousands of Congolese people were being beaten, coerced and essentially enslaved into harvesting and carrying the riches of their land for their European oppressors. Their treatment was barbaric, the conditions in which they were made to live grotesque, and their suffering unimaginable. It was there, in King Leopold's Congo, that for years some of the worst violations of human life in all of human history were perpetrated. A terrible, secret heart of darkness, Until, at last, a young shipping clerk in Antwerp stumbled across something that would change the course of history forever...
Join Dominic and Tom as they discuss Western history’s most brutal and barbaric colonial conquest: King Leopold’s exploitation of the Congo Free State and her people.
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Twitter:
@TheRestHistory
@holland_tom
@dcsandbrook
Producer: Theo Young-Smith
Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett + Aaliyah Akude
Editor: Jack Meek
Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
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The Rest Is History 
