My response essentially consists of shock that the atrocities of Leopold's Congo matched those of the Holocaust, as stated on page 4. What I also found appalling was how the Belgians and local political leaders of Congo worked together to systematically root out and exploit subjects for slave labor. Whats more is that often these leaders were tricked into accepting useless commodities such as 'cloth, tools, and other knickknacks' in exchange for human collateral from Tribal Leaders. Then there was this idea that it would suffice for Europeans to conquer other cultures, but when uncivilized races started conquering each other, it was considered shocking (page 28).
How important was it that the Congolese had no written language?
What made Humans ideal for trading?
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