Congo Free State Part 3: Into the Heart of Darkness

King Leopold II consolidates his control over the Congo. In his efforts to make the colony profitable, he oversees the establishment of a coercive regime of exploitation and moves to ruthlessly eliminate all resistance.

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Bibliography

Ascherson, Neal. The King Incorporated: Leopold the Second and the Congo. Granta Books, 1963. 

O’Siochain, Seamas and O’Sullivan, Michael. The Eyes of Another Race: Roger Casement’s Congo Report and 1903 Diary. University College Dublin Press, 2003.

Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. Penguin Books, 2007. 

Hochschild, Adam. King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa. Mariner Books, 2020. 

Pakenham, Thomas. The Scramble for Africa: White Man’s Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876 to 1912. Perennial, 2003.

Rutz, Michael. King Leopold’s Congo and the ‘Scramble for Africa:’ a Short History with Documents. Hackett Publishing Co. Inc, 2018

Cover Image: Satirical cartoon appearing in a November 1906 edition of the British magazine "Punch" depicting Leopold II as a snake attacking a Congolese man.

Opening Theme: Symphony No. 9 in E minor, "From the New World", Op. 95, B. 178 by Antonín Dvořák

Closing Theme: Central African tribal chant, date of recording unknown.