English Project

1. By: Elizabeth Russell, Andrew Williams, and Amanda Johnson

2.  This approach focuses on the details of the
time period rather than the literature itself.
 It primarily focuses on the background.
 It answers three main questions.
 1. When was the piece written?
 2. What were the circumstances that produced it?
 3. How does it fit the author’s career?

3.  Joseph Conrad wrote
Heart of Darkness
between 1898 and
1899.

4. IN EUROPE-- MAP
 During this time period, King
Leopold II of Belgium was in
reign. He was the king of the
Belgians from 1865-1909.
 Leopold founded the
Association Internationale du
Congo to explore the area.
 He had an obsession with the
idea of expanding his reign
because he was in control of
such a small country.

5. DECLINE DUE TO MISTREATMENT--
IN EUROPE--
 Eventually, Great Britain with
help from the U.S. (president
of the United States at the
time was Benjamin Harrison)
pressured Belgium to annex
the Congo due to the
atrocities and poor treatment
of its inhabitants. Once the
Congo was relinquished, it
was put under control of
Joseph Kasavubu and Patric
Lumumba which eventually
led to a power struggle
between the two which lasted
for many years.

6.  Henry Morton Stanley was
IN EUROPE-- known for his travels around
the Congo river basin. Once
he returned to Belgium, King
Leopold saw him as a tool to
expand his colonial rule.
 Stanley then returned to the
Congo on a conquest for King
Leopold. He convinced many
of the illiterate and under
educated Africans to sign
over their land to the king in
order to harvest the rubber in
the area.

7. IN EUROPE-
 The Congo was the only
major colony owned by one
man
 Leopold’s army made up of
the black Congonese under
the rule of white generals
took over the vast territory
rapidly
 Leopold’s rule of the Congo
was extremely harsh.
 His whole regime was
handled with brute force.

8. IN EUROPE--
 The company that hire’s
Marlow is a depiction of
Leopold’s operation of the
Congo.
 Once Marlow reaches the
Congo, he depicts the
“faithless pilgrims” who
represent Leopold’s agents
 Leopold’s greed led him to
systematically ravage the
inhabitants of the Congo
for nearly twenty years.

10. IN AFRICA--
 The colonization of Africa by
Europe was the largest and
fastest conquest of human
beings in history.
 By 1890, almost all of Africa
had been settled and
controlled by European
nations, such as Belgium.
 The Congo is found right in
the middle of the African
continent. It is the location
for one of the bloodiest
conquest in human history by
the Belgian ruler Leopold II.

11. IN AFRICA--
 Africans were forced by white
imperialist to harvest rubber
and ivory to send back to
Europe. The rubber industry
grew immensely and the
market for rubber tires
boomed.
 Due to Leopold’s harsh
rule, the death toll of natives
is estimated somewhere
between two and fifteen
million people.

12. HOW CONRAD'S LIFE RELATES:
 This story is based on
Joseph Conrad’s trip to the
Congo in 1890.
 Marlow is a representation
of Conrad himself. They
both had the boyhood
dream of going to discover
Africa only to find that it
was full of terror and
brutality.

13.  While in the
Congo, Conrad met
many people who
would have been able
to play the part of
Kurtz, but one man
named Leon Rom got
the part based on his
actual home being
surrounded by native’s
heads.

14.  British- Cape Colony
Zimbabwe
Botswana
Kenya
Egypt– took
over the Suez Canal
Sudan- cotton
investments for textiles

15.  French– Algeria  Italians– Eritrea
Tunis Part of Somalia
Morocco Tripoli
Madagascar
Somaliland
Sudan
West Africa

16.  Germans– Togo and Ghana
Cameroon  Portuguese– Angola
Nigeria Mozambique
Southwest Africa
East Africa  Interested in trans-Atlantic
slave trading.

17.  Spanish– very few
possessions
Tip of Morocco
Rio de Oro
Rio Muni
Many countries were interested in
imperialism because they felt the
need to expand their control to other
lands, such as Africa. There was also a
“scramble for colonies in Africa due
to rubber, ivory, and gold.

18. Source for European
Industrial Raw
Nationalism Missionary
Materials Activity
Revolution
Markets for European Motives for Military
Finished & Naval
Goods Colonization
Bases
European Places to
Racism Dump
Unwanted/
Excess Popul.
Humanitarian Soc. & Eco.
Social
Reasons Opportunities
Darwinism
“White
Man’s
Burden”

19.  http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/336654/Leopold-II
 http://www.enotes.com/king-leopold-ii-congo-reference/king-
leopold-ii-congo
 https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:8c_nqI2IPZ4J:orhs.
eduhsd.k12.ca.us/staff/uploads/76_Imperialism%2520in%2520the
%2520Congoreal.doc+Leopold's+imperialist&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl
&srcid=ADGEESisW6d0OirOh_RbMKKUgvf6qAH4bEE9CQH1B4g
zU0cCvzGDFvxPQY5SZxhI_kRCf2QhN9uL1UNx49jc5l9dJMYPVLy
phTQltI8lEO-
wJo4dsrJ_WIrzOfT0QwRj4TsWoZTpMhNu&sig=AHIEtbQQxD42l
Nck1qM8rW0-0_YeIntqCw
 http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/sep1999/king-s06.shtml
 http://www.marxists.org/archive/james-
clr/works/1941/06/imperialism-africa.htm