University of California UCOP | Colonialism in the congo [MUSIC PLAYING] OK. What I would like to talk to you today is about labor under colonialism. It's one of the key features of colonial society. It's one of the key ways by which colonial authorities made money out of their colonial societies. Let me just refer back to a point that I'd made the other day, when I talked about the sort of scramble for Africa that took place in the later part of the 19th century. And I made the point that when Europeans decided to go into Africa and actually conquer African countries and establish control over them, initially through private enterprise companies-- British East Africa Company, British South Africa Company, et cetera, et cetera-- they were looking for a way to make a profit out of Africa. They were attracted by goods. And I just want to, sort of, give you a list of some of the goods that became particularly important in the mid to later part of the 19th century. I'd pointed out the other day the significance of the discovery of diamonds in the late 1860s, and then of gold in South Africa in the 1870s, as being extremely attractive to people going in and wishing to speculate, and trying to make their own fortune in some sort of fashion. But there were some other, sort of, more prosaic goods that were extremely important. And these relate, also, just like the development of the steam engine, to the development of industrialization in Europe and in the United States, and also to the development that was consequent on industrialization and the growth of cities and the rise of a new middle class in both Europe and in North America of new needs and new wants, purchased by these middle class people. Now, some of the goods that were particularly important in the, sort of, middle of the 19th and later part of the 19th century were vegetable items from Africa that were used as lubricants. Because we're looking at a period of industrialization when petroleum was not the main item that was used. We had not got the development of the motor industry yet, but all sorts of lubricants were needed for the new machineries which were being developed. They were needed for the gas lamps in the cities that were growing. And these lubricants came more from Africa than from any other part of the world. Such lubricants came from the oil of the groundnut, or what we would know as the peanut, this plant here. A huge trade in groundnuts had taken place in Africa in the middle of the 19th and later part of the 19th century. I mean, it had taken place before in the early part of the century and in the 18th century, but there's a huge expansion in the 19th century. Another item that's used-- again, it's an item that's part of indigenous trade in Africa-- but is palm nuts. Nuts that grow on palm trees. And again, these are used for oil. They're pressed, the oil is extracted, and these become the primary lubricants before the utilization of petroleum at the end of the 19th and then into the 20th century to the present day. But there are other items that are used also. And this, you know, arised from the development of a middle class. A middle class that has hobbies, and wishes to, sort of, follow them. Here we have, in fact, a picture of the price list for ivory to be used for piano keys. There's a huge expansion in piano playing in both North America and in Europe in the middle to later part of the 19th century, and just middle class people get to play the piano. It's no longer just the exclusive monopoly of the wealthy and the aristocrats. We have the playing of billiards-- pool tables, and so forth. And here's another image from the latter half of the 19th century-- a man sitting on just a huge pile of billiard balls, all made from ivory. You can think about how many elephants would have been culled to produce that much ivory, because of course you have to kill them to get the ivory. Here's another picture from the middle to later part of the 19th century-- piles of ivory being exported out of East Africa into North America and into Europe. Another picture of ivory for export. This image is actually from a town called Ivoryton, which is in Connecticut, one of the, sort of, key import areas for North America in the latter part of the 19th century, where all of this ivory is being brought in, again, to be made into piano keys and into billiard balls, and other things, for the entertainment of the middle classes. Well, when you see all of this stuff, it's one of the prime, let's say, publicists of the wealth of Africa in the latter part of the 19th century-- one of the people who sort of wrote most eloquently for a potential public interested in the market in Africa, and what could be made for it-- was Henry Morton Stanley. Some of you might be familiar with Stanley because he's the person who went searching for Dr. Livingston in the middle of the 19th century, found him, and became famous for the statement "Dr. Livingston, I presume?" Henry Morton Stanley had grown up in the United Kingdom. He'd come to America as a young man. He actually grew up as a young man in New Orleans. And he had a really excellent eye for the possibility of profit in Africa. And I just wanted to read you just a little bit here from a book that he wrote in 1885, talking about what could be made as a profit for people who go to Africa. And it's like the statement that I'd mentioned earlier about the importance of labor. This actually ends with that statement, to the potential way that you could develop Africa. And you could develop Africa in a way that it would be more profitable than making a living in the United States in the middle of the 19th century, particularly in the Mississippi Valley. Here's Henry Morton Stanley, The Congo is as Rich as North America, 1885. "Let us take North America, for instance, and the richest portion of it-- the Mississippi basin, to compare with the Congo basin previous to its development by that mixture of races called modern Americans. The Congo basin is much more promising at the same stage of underdevelopment." That means before Europeans came, in his perspective. "The forests on the banks of the Congo are filled with precious redwood, lignum vitae, mahogany, and fragrant gum trees. At their base may be found inexhaustible quantities of fossil gum, with which the carriages and furnitures of civilized countries are varnished. Their bowls exude myrrh, and frankincense. Their foliage is draped with orchilla weed, useful for dye. "The redwood, when cut down, chipped, and rasped, produces a deep crimson powder, giving a valuable coloring. The creepers, which hang in festoons from tree to tree, are generally those from which India rubber is produced, the best of which is worth two shillings per pound. The nuts of the oil palm give forth a butter, a staple article of commerce, while the fibers of others will make the best cordage. Among the wild shrubs are frequently found the coffee plant. "In its plains, jungles, and swamp luxurate the elephants, whose teeth furnish ivory, worth from eight shillings to 11 shillings per pound. Its waters team with numberless herds of hippopotamus, whose tusks are also valuable. Furs of the lion, leopard, monkey, otter. Hides of antelope, buffalo, goat, cattle, et cetera, may also be obtained." And here I return to the quote that I'd mentioned in the previous lecture. "But what is of far more value, the Congo possesses over 40 million of moderately industrious and workable people, which the red Indians never were. And if we speak of prospective advantages and benefits to be derived from this gift of nature, they are not much in theory or in number or value to those of the well-developed Mississippi Valley." So here we have the prime, in a sense, PR person of 19th century last quarter, talking about what could be found in Africa. The vast quantities of valuable items that could be used, and used for an industrializing Europe. For varnishes, for oils, for lubricants. All sorts of items could be taken. And he found a prospective mentor in King Leopold of the Belgians. Leopold, as an individual, was interested in investing-- making a fortune for himself in some sort of fashion. And became enamored of Henry Stanley, as, likewise, Stanley became enamored of the King. And they worked in league, Stanley as the agent of Leopold in Africa, identifying areas where the King could go and intervene, and carve out a territory for himself. And in particular, the area that, of course, looked the most valuable to Leopold was the Congo. It was not within the British sphere of influence, or desired by the British at the time. Nor the French. The Germans were not really players in Africa at that time. I mean, Germany had not been combined into a single power. So the Congo was some place of great attraction to Leopold, who decided to, in fact, go into the Congo and create his own personal empire in that area.