Leopold's Reign over the Kongo
Thus, the global markets as well as the economics of colonialism were significantly impacted because of Leopold’s reign over the Kongo. The global market of the Kongo is mostly one-sided. All the exports being sent from the Kongo to Europe are filled with ivory and rubber, while the ships being sent in to the Kongo are mostly filled with firearms or military protection. There is essentially “no trade going on here” (Hochschild, 2). This alone just shows the imbalance of power between Europe and Africa; the Kongo is merely a source of extracting materials and labor. Initially, Leopold was attracted to the Kongo because of the demand of ivory from African elephants instead of Indian elephants. It was “a cachet that grew greater with the public idolization of African explorers,” being a versatile material that could be made into several products (Hochschild, 64). Leopold even enforced roads and tolls on the trading networks for ivory, giving him complete control over the product. It quickly became a huge demand as ivory itself is mostly used as a symbol of wealth and power. However, the greatest product that affected the Kongo’s global market was the discovery and exploitation of rubber vines.