King Leopold's Congo. Did you know?

The Belgium Congo was Leopold's personal fiefdom.

            Belgium is considered the heart of Europe because of its proximity to Paris, London, Luxembourg and Amsterdam. Location is everything and Belgium has become a great place for a weekend layover. Airlines frequently offer specials and agencies advertise the 400 types of beer, the medieval city center and the abundance of jazz venues. They fail, however, to mention one of the most compelling reasons for African Americans to visit the city. Belgium’s Royal Museum for Central Africa (Museum voor Midden-Afrika) is considered the foremost museum in the world dedicated to Africa in general and the Congo specifically. The story of its creation is as intriguing as its mammoth collection.
            King Leopold II of Belgium was determined to gain status and wealth, and to this end he turned his attention to the then largely untapped resources of the Congo. In 1879 he financed Stanley’s explorations up the Congo and in 1882 Stanley made a journey into the interior. He emerged with over 450 treaties that he claimed to have made with local chiefs, granting right of way, free labor and a monopoly on the rubber and ivory trades.
            The outcome of the 1884 Berlin Conference was the partitioning of Africa, with Leopold becoming sole owner over one million square miles in the Congo. Shortly thereafter he declared the land and all of its existing resources the property of the state. Few realized that Leopold was the state and sole beneficiary of any profits.  All money from the rubber and ivory trades went directly to him or to businesses in which he was a major stockholder.
            The Force Publique, an army with European officers and native recruits was hastily assembled in the Congo Free State to expel Arab slave traders, suppress tribal uprisings and establish Leopold’s autonomy.
            The atrocities committed under this system defy the imagination. Villages were expected to meet rubber and ivory quotas. Failure to meet them resulted in the imprisonment of all of the females in the offending village. Insurrection was met with even more extreme measures. Troops were issued bullets in order to kill resisters. Each cartridge was to represent one kill, as proven by the presentation of the victim’s right hand. Hands of the living were amputated in cases where members of the (capitas) native force failed to obtain the requisite number of hands.
             The atrocities in the Congo came to light as a result of the efforts of several tenacious individuals. In 1908 Belgium’s parliament voted to create what became known as the Belgium Congo, removing the area from the personal rule of their king. It is estimated that during the period of Leopold’s autonomy the native population of twenty million was reduced by more than half.
             Being fully aware of the background information I felt that a trip to the Royal Museum was mandatory.  I wanted to see how the artifacts were presented and what explanation was given regarding their provenance.
            The museum was built in 1897 in Tervuren, a suburb of Brussels, specifically to house Leopold’s exhibition of items from the Congo. A wide thoroughfare, the Avenue de Tervuren, was constructed from central Brussels, through a forest, to the gates of the museum.
            The current museum complex consists of an administration building, nine sections and a beautiful arboretum. The scientific and cultural sections’ goal is to examine Africa as a whole with an emphasis on Angola, The Republic of the Congo and Zaire, the areas that comprise Central Africa.
            Prior to entering the museum visitors should be certain to check out two really great statues. In the parking lot, across the street from the complex, three warriors ride a life-sized elephant that appears to be trumpeting their arrival and the garden area to the left of the main entrance is the site of a monument honoring King Leopold.
            The Royal Museum is renowned for not only the sheer volume of artifacts, over a quarter million, but also for the age of its collection. Many of the most ancient pieces in the museum remain undated, their origins obscure.
             There are twenty-one galleries and tours are self-guided. The guidebooks are not in English but the explanatory information in each room is. Galleries are thematic with artifacts displayed in showcases by region. The effect of a complete tour is to paint a vivid picture of a thriving and culturally rich people.
             Areas one through seven feature the ethnography, history, music, clothing, rites and rituals of the countless tribes in Central Africa. The highlights of this section are a kneeling Buli female figure, one of the earliest works in African art traced to a particular artist, large and small fetish figures, decorative items, stools and royal regalia.
            Agricultural, botanical, zoological and archeological exhibits are found in sections fifteen through twenty-one. It appears that specimens of every bird, insect, animal and reptile were brought out of the Congo to be placed on display here. Expansive dioramas place the creatures in their natural habitat.
            A special exhibition on the second floor was created to explain Belgium’s role in the collection of these artifacts. Missionaries and soldiers were encouraged to obtain every available item, its value to be determined later, document its history and send it back to Belgium for cataloging and display.
            Visitors enter this segment of the tour by stepping onto the deck of a ship filled with crates bound for Europe. Once in the main room television cameras with jerky film clips and sepia-toned photographs present images of the world that was Central Africa in the nineteenth century. Tribal chiefs stand beside smiling missionaries and native troops stand erect, weapons by their sides.  This visual history makes the cases of purchased and purloined items a testament to African culture and tenacity, and European greed.
            The tour ends in a room filled with the uniforms of the native troops and a larger than life statue of King Leopold II. Somehow this is fitting. The museum was made possible with the profits Leopold amassed in the Congo by subjugating the indigenous people. Their subjugation was accomplished and made profitable by the use of the African troops.
             The museum’s cafeteria that resembles a café in the bush. The meals in “Simba” are inexpensive, the food is delicious and it is served on handcarved wooden platters. Every two weeks the menu changes and the cuisine of a different country on the African continent is highlighted. It is located at the midpoint of the tour and is an ideal place to rest and to process what you have seen.
            The gift shop sells books, though none are in English, jewelry, statues, masks and other small articles. They are reasonably priced and can be conveniently packed for your return journey home.
            Throughout the museum there are magnificent sculptures that provide snapshots of African culture. As I exited my attention was drawn to the one non-African statue. A gilded and benevolent Leopold stands in a niche to the right of the main entrance, holding a small African child in his arms as another child stares adoringly up into his eyes. The gilding, the stance the people, all tell a story written by the prevailing culture. Visit the museum and use the information to help write our own story.
            The Royal African Museum is open daily.
Further Reading: King Leopold’s Ghost   by Adam Hochschild

Originally published 2011