What if things weren't quite as terrible in the Congo Free State as they were IOTL? To clarify, I'm not asking about it being some kind of humanitarian paradise, just a colony that doesn't really stand out as particularly horrible compared to other European colonies in Africa.
WI: Less brutal Congo Free State
- Thread starter Mort the Reaper
- Start date
Interesting i would assume without the brutality of the congo it means the colonies remain a more popular option however, ut wouldn’t of scared the other powers into cleaning up their act in their own colonirs
True maybe he could do even sell it. It would be a good way for geemany to get another colony
A less-brutal Congo Free State, one that obtained ivory and rubber through trade for European manufactured goods and extracted revenues for Leopold through royal monopolies or import/export duties, still could have been profitable. It would almost certainly have produced far less revenue, but it would also have been much easier to enforce. If you're forcing the native population to produce rubber and ivory for you at gunpoint, you need to buy those guns and hire people to wield them for you. OTL, the Congo Free State spent about 46% of its revenue (see Figure 2) on military and police, far more than other European colonies in Africa.
A minimalist Congo Free State that left the natives alone except for taxing trade with them would probably have been cheaper still than a standard European colony in Africa. The CFS corresponds pretty closely to the Congo River's drainage basin and access to the interior relied on the river, so trade with the interior could probably have been controlled by a small garrison in Boma (the capital of CFS, located near the mouth of the Congo) and some revenue cutters.
The profit to Leopold and Belgium would likely have been less than OTL's brutal regime, true, but there still would have been potential for substantial profit.
A minimalist Congo Free State that left the natives alone except for taxing trade with them would probably have been cheaper still than a standard European colony in Africa. The CFS corresponds pretty closely to the Congo River's drainage basin and access to the interior relied on the river, so trade with the interior could probably have been controlled by a small garrison in Boma (the capital of CFS, located near the mouth of the Congo) and some revenue cutters.
The profit to Leopold and Belgium would likely have been less than OTL's brutal regime, true, but there still would have been potential for substantial profit.
Well future generations might be more aware that the Belgians weren't really all that worse than the French were in the French Congo*. The Congo Free State wasn't really that much of an outlier among European colonies.
*I would hope that rather than think I'm minimizing the brutality of the Congo Free State it's clear that I'm more pointing out that colonies were very brutal as an enterprise.
*I would hope that rather than think I'm minimizing the brutality of the Congo Free State it's clear that I'm more pointing out that colonies were very brutal as an enterprise.