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Congo / Cartoon / Punch / 1906
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Congo / Cartoon / Punch / 1906
King Leopold II, King of the Belgians, crushes the Belgian Congo. In the rubber coils
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Media ID 619915
© Mary Evans Picture Library 2015 - https://copyrighthub.org/s0/hub1/creation/maryevans/MaryEvansPictureID/10071576
Belgian Belgians Colonialism Congo Crushes Leopold Punch Rubber Snake Victim
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EDITORS COMMENTS
This powerful and provocative political cartoon, published in Punch magazine in 1906, offers a scathing critique of King Leopold II of Belgium's brutal rule over the Congo Free State in Central Africa. The image depicts King Leopold II, dressed in the regal attire of a European monarch, standing triumphantly atop a giant rubber snake, which represents the Congo. The snake's coils are wrapped around a helpless, nude African man, symbolizing the Congolese people, who are being crushed beneath the weight of exploitation and colonial oppression. The cartoon is a poignant reminder of the brutal realities of the Belgian Congo during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. King Leopold II had seized control of the Congo in 1885, and during his rule, the region was subjected to forced labor, widespread violence, and the brutal harvesting of rubber, which was in high demand in Europe at the time. The resulting human suffering and loss of life were immense, with estimates suggesting that millions of Congolese people died as a result of the forced labor and violence. The use of a snake as a symbol of the Congo is significant, as it represents both the danger and the allure of the unknown. The rubber industry had fueled the European fascination with the Congo, and the snake's coils can be seen as a metaphor for the grip that the Congo had on the European imagination, as well as the stranglehold that King Leopold II had on the region and its people. This cartoon is a powerful reminder of the complex and often troubling history of colonialism and its impact on the lives of millions of people in Africa and beyond. It serves as a reminder of the need to acknowledge and learn from the past, and to strive for a more just and equitable world.
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