pursued, and both countries had officially abolished slavery in their colonies prior
to 1850. This is not to suggest that the treatment of indigenous peoples living in
these empires was nondiscriminatory and humane, but compared to policies and
practices elsewhere, the imperialism ofboth appear almost enlightened. One of
the most horrific examples of brutalization transpired under Leopold II, King of
Belgium, in the so-called Congo Free State from 1885 to 1908. The entire colony
of Congo Free State was Leopold’s personal estate, and much of the local popula-
tion was enslaved to produce rubber. Those who failed to meet the production quo-
tas of Leopold’s administrators were frequently shot or had their hands cut off, and
some sources estimate that half of the population was eliminated as a result of the
cruel administration of the colony.
The economic imbalance between the imperial center and the remainder of the
empire was only one aspect of the relationship. A much greater influence was the
imposition and adoption of languages, religion and other traits of the European
powers, via the process ofcultural diffusion. Seizing territory and riches was the
focal point of imperialistic policy in many instances, but accompanying this was
a paternalistic notion of a “civilizing mission,” the assumption of the “white man’s
burden” designed to bring “primitive” natives into the sphere of European social
and cultural standards. In all instances of European imperialism a concentrated
effort was made to convert the newly incorporated populations to Christianity. This
was not unique among empires; Islam spread from the Arabian Peninsula after
AD 700 in a similar fashion, but the European effort was more sustained and took186 Imperialism
The Berlin Conference
In 1884, Otto von Bismarck, the leader of Germany, organized an international meeting of
European colonial powers, with the aim of dividing Africa into realms of control and exploita-
tion. Germany was in the process of developing an overseas empire, and von Bismarck’s
objective was to secure as large a share of the resources and land of Africa as possible for
his country. Great Britain and France had already taken control of large swaths of the conti-
nent, and Germany, along with Belgium, Portugal, and other European powers, was deter-
mined to acquire control of a significant portion of the territory that remained unclaimed.
The United States was invited to the conference, but the American administration did not
send a representative. The agreement that resulted from the conference assigned virtually
the entire continent, with only the exceptions of Liberia and Ethiopia, to some European
power, as well as regulating trade and traffic on some African rivers, and establishing other
standards between the colonizing powers. One of the most pernicious sections of the agree-
ment allowed the Belgian king, Leopold III, to acquire much of the Congo Basin as his personal
holding. The brutalization of native Africans under Leopold’s rule would serve as an infamous
example of the excesses ofimperialism.