Memory Project: Heart of Darkness

I bought this book for 75 cents in 1969.

Conrad’s novella was published in 1899. It was based on his journey up the Congo River and his witnessing of the brutal exploitation of the local population by the European intruders.

At the Berlin Conference of 1884-5 King Leopold of Belgium had been “given” a huge chunk of Africa many times the size of his own country. Congolese chiefs were duped into signing treaties and concessions that resulted in the virtual enslavement of their people.

In Southern Africa the British were permitted to extend their sphere of colonial influence northwards. In 1888Cecil Rhodes sent emissaries across the Limpopo to meet the Chief of the Ndabele. Lobengula was tricked into signing treaties and granting mining concessions. As white settlers moved in the native population became aware of the danger they were in and began to resist. The conflict that resulted in the Matabele Wars of the 1890’s ended in their defeat by the better armed Europeans who were greatly assisted by Hiram Maxim’s recent invention, a gun that automatically reloaded and could fire 450 rounds a minute. The vanquished blacks were forced into Native Reserves and the ‘Suppression of Savage Customs’ began in earnest.

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