History Of Africa

"All Acts or Agreements which would tend to drive the natives from the territories they occupy, or to deprive them directly or indirectly of their liberty or means of livelihood, are prohibited."

"The lands occupied by the native, population under the authority of their Chiefs, shall continue to be governed by the local customs and usages."

"In cases where the lands which form the subject of application are occupied in part by natives, the Governor-General, or his Delegate, shall intervene in order, if possible, to effect an arrangement with them, securing to the applicant the lands so occupied either by cession or by lease, but the State is not to be put to any expense in the matter."

"No one has the right to occupy vacant lands without a title; vacant lands are to be considered as belonging to the State."

"The case has been brought before the House of Commons, The grievances include forced labour on the roads, and restrictions which practically amount to slavery; natives have been flogged without trial by Magistrate's orders and are constantly subject to imprisonment for frivolous causes. Petitions lodged with the local Colonial Secretary have been disregarded. Mr. Chamberlain, in reply to the questions asked in Parliament, threw doubt upon the information received, but stated that the recently appointed Governor is; conducting an inquiry into the whole situation in the Fiji Islands, in the course of which the matter will be fully investigated."

"The non-natives who, in the same regions, shall desire to occupy lands, of which the area shall exceed the maximum referred to in the preceding Article, may occupy them provisionally on such conditions as the Governor-General shall determine. He shall further decide whether the preferential right alluded to in the preceding Article shall be given to them in regard to this larger extent of land."

"Everything relating to the exploitation of the private domain must be clearly separated from other government services."

"The agents proposed for the exploitation of the private domain devote all their care to the development of the harvest of rubber and other forest products."

"No one has the right to dispossess natives of the lands which they occupy."

"When native villages are inclosed in lands which have either been disposed of m leased, the natives may, so long as the land has not been officially measured, take into cultivation, without the consent of either the owner or the lessor, the vacant lands surrounding their villages."

"Four months ago I was arrested for not having got meat, and was kept one and a-half months in prison on that account. H. who killed V, and shot me here in the thigh, is a free man, as all men know; but I, who am wounded, have to hunt meat."

"When I asked if it was a woman's work to collect india-rubber, he said, " No; that, of course, it was man's work" Then why do you catch the women and not the men? I asked. Don't you see, was the answer, if I caught and kept the men, who would work the rubber? But it I catch their wives, the husbands are anxious to have them home again, and so the rubber is brought in quickly and quite up to the mark."

"It is rare indeed for Bolobo, with its 30,000 or 40,000 people, divided into some dozen elans, to be at peace for any length of time together. The loss of life from these petty wars, the number of those killed for witcheraft, and of those who are buried alive with the dead, involve, even within our narrow limits here at Bolobo, an almost daily drain upon the vitality of the country, and an incalculable amount of sorrow and suffering. The Government was not indifferent to these murderous ways In 1890 the District Commissioner called the people together, and warned them against the burying of slaves alive in the graves of free people, and the reckless killing of slaves which then obtained. The natives did not like the rising power of the State. Our own settlement among them was not unattended with difficulty. There was a feeling against white men generally, and especially so against the State. The people became insolent and haughty... Just at this time... As a force of soldiers steamed past the Moye towns, the steamers were fired upon. The soldiers landed, and burned and looted the towns. The natives ran away into the grass, and great numbers crossed to the French side of the river. They awoke to the fact that Bula Matadi, the State, was not the helpless thing they had so long thought. This happened early in 1891."

"The people (slaves) are for the most part originally prisoners of war. Since the Decree of Emancipation they have simply returned to their own distant homes, knowing their owners have no power to recapture them. This is one reason why some think the population is decreasing, and another is the vast exodus up and down river. So long as the Slave Trade flourished, the Bobangi nourished, but with its abolition they are tending to disappear, for then towns were replenished by slaves."

"The Consul was here at the time, and the people were much excited, and evidently thought themselves on top, The people have got this idea (that the rubber work was finished) into their heads of themselves, consequent, I suppose, upon the Consul's visit."

"The more important Chiefs who helped the Administration have been paid a certain percentage of the taxes collected in their districts, and I think that if this policy is adhered to each year, the results will continue to be satisfactory and will encourage the Chiefs to work in harmony with the Administration."

"The main difficulty has been the shifting of the population. It appears that the population, when the station was founded in 1865, was between 5,000 and 6,000 in the riverine Colonies. About two years later, the Chief, Mpuki, did not agree with his neighbours or they with him. When the tension became acute, Mpuki crossed over with his people to the opposite (French) side of the river. This exodus took away a large number of people. In 1890 or 1891, a Chief from one of the lower towns was compelled by the majority of his people to leave the State side, and several went with him. About 1893, the rest of the people at the lower towns either went across to the same place as the deposed Chief, or took up their residence inland. Towards the end of 1894, a soldier who had been sent to cut firewood for the State steamers on an island off the towns, left his work to make an evil request in one of the towns. He shot the man who refused him. The rascal of a soldier was properly dealt with by the State officer in charge ; but this outrage combined, with other smaller difficulties, to produce a panic, and nearly all the people left for the French side, or hid awayjinland. So the fine township has broken up"

"When speaking to M. le Commandant Stevens at Coquilhatville on the 10th instant, when the mutilated boy Upondo stood before us as evidence of the deplorable state of affairs I reprobated, I said: 'I do not accuse an individual, I accuse a system.'"

"The members of the Land Commission shall examine with special care the question whether the lands applied for ought not to be reserved either for the public use or with a view to allow oi the extension of cultivation by the natives."

"I pray believe me when I express now, not only for myself, but for my fellow countrymen in this part of Africa, pur very sincere appreciation of your efforts on behalf of the general community efforts to promote goodwill among all and to bring together the various elements of our local life."

"If The State has restricted the liquor trade it is scarcely possible to overestimate the service which is being rendered by the Congo Government to its; subjects in this matter Intertribal wars have been suppressed over a wide area, and, the imposition of European authority being steadily pursued, the boundaries of peace are constantly extending. The State must be congratulated upon the security it has created for all who live within the shslter of its flag and abide by its laws and regulations. Credit is also due to the Congo Government in respect of the diminution of cannibalism. The yoke of the notorious Arab Slave Traders has been broken, and traffic in human beings amongst the natives themselves has been diminished to a considerable degree."

"How can we possibly plant and weed our gardens, seek and prepare and boil the cassava, make it into portable shape, and then carry it nearly a day's journey to the post? Moreover, if the kwanga we make are a little small or not well-cooked, or if we complain that the rods given us in settlement are too short, as they sometimes are, then we are beaten by the wood-cutters, and sometimes we are detained several days to cut firewood as a punishment."

"Before having had the opportunity to meet several officers and to visit the stations of the State of Congo, I am convinced that the conduct of these gentlemen was very badly interpreted by the press. I have cited as proof my personal experience, which is in opposition to a version recently published by the English press, which accuses them of great cruelty."

"We are all of us taxed, and taxed heavily. Is that a system of forced labour? To say that because we put a tax on the native therefore he is reduced to a condition of servitude and of forced labour is, to my mind, absolutely ridiculous. It is perfectly fair to my mind that the native should contribute something towards the cost of administering the country."

"The method of obtaining men for military service is often but little different from that formerly employed to obtain slaves, the men composing the armed force of the State were in many cases recruited from the most warlike and savage tribes, ompulsion is often exercised by irresponsible native soldiers uncontrolled by an European officer, no attempt at any administration of the natives is made, the officers of the Government do not apparently concern themselves with such work."

"Our military program is very extensive and its achievement requires sustained attention and great effort, but without its execution, our situation will remain precarious. If necessary, but I do not think it is necessary, the Government will show itself willing to increase to a certain extent the contingent of poor in 1903."

"The Ba-Unga (Awemba district), inhabitants of the swamps in the Chambezi delta, gave some trouble on being snmmoned to pay taxes. Although in many cases whole villages retired into the swamps on being called upon for the hut tax, the general result was satisfactory for the first year (Luapula district). Milala's people have succeeded in evading taxes. A few natives bordering on the Portuguese territory, who, owing to the great distance they reside from the Native Commissioners 5 stations, are not under the direct supervision of the Native Commissioners, have so far evaded paying hut tax, and refused to submit themselves to the authority of the Government. The rebel Chief, Mapondera, has upon three occasions successfully eluded punitive expeditions sent against him. Captain Gilson, of the British South Africa Police, was successful in coming upon him and a large following of natives, and inflicting heavy losses upon them His kraal and all his crops were destroyed. He is now reported to be in Portuguese territory... Siji M'Kota, another powerful Chief, living in the northern parts of the M'toko district, bordering on Portuguese territory, has also been successful in evading the payment of hut tax, and generally pursuing the adoption of an attitude which is not acceptable to the Government. I am pleased to report that a patrol is at present on its way to these parts to deal with this Chief, and to endeavour to obtain his submission. It wT be noted that the above remarks relate solely to those natives who reside along the borders of ou territories, and whose defiant attitude is materially assisted by reason of this proximity to the Portuguese border, across which they are well able to proceed whenever they consider that any meeting or contact with the Native Commissioner will interfere in any way with their indolent and lazy li? They possess no movable property which might be attached with a view to the recovery of hut tax unpaid for many years, and travel backwards and forwards with considerable freedom, always placin themselves totally beyond the reach of the Native Commissioner."

"The grievances of the natives have been made known in this country by, who brought over a Petition addressed to the King, praying for relief from the excessive taxation and oppressive legislation of which they complain."

"The individuals represented as composing a convoy of slaves were, the great majority of them (125), levies proceeding from the district of Lualaba-Kasai, Lake Leopold II, and the Bangalas to the camp in the Lower Congo. Annexed you wilt find lists of these persons. As regards the men in chains, they were certain individuals on whom sentence had been passed by the territorial Tribunal at Basoko, and who were on their way to undergo their sentence at the central prison at Boma. They are Nos. 3642 to 3649 on the prison register at Boma."

"I am responsible each week for 600 rations of fish which must he delivered at Bikoro. If it fails I am held responsible and will be punished. I have been flogged more than once for a failure in the fish supply, and will not run any risks. If these men go I shall be short-handed, therefore they must stay to help in getting the weekly tax."

"The native is better housed, clothed, fed; he replaced his huts with more resistant and better dwellings. suitable for hygienic requirements; thanks to the transport facilities, he gets supplies of the products necessary for its new needs; workshops are open to him, where he learns manual trades - such as, those of blacksmith, carpenter, mechanic, macon; he spreads his plantations, and, following the example of the whites, is inspired by the modes of vational culture; medical care is provided to him; he sends his children to state school colonies and missionary schools."

"That the Congo State had done good work in excluding alcoholic liquors from the greater part of their domain, that they had established a certain number of hospitals, had diminished smallpox by means of vaccination, and had suppressed the Arab Slave Trade."

"The methods employed to obtain labour from them by local officials and the exactions levied on them."

"M. P. called on us to get out of the rain, and in conversation with M. Q. in presence of myself and R said: 'The only way to get rubber is to fight for it. The natives are paid 35 centimes per kilog", it is claimed, but that includes a large profit on the cloth; the amount of rubber is controlled by the number of guns, and not the number of bales oF cloth. The S. A. B. on the Bussira, with 150 guns, get only 10 tons (rubber) a-month; we, the State, at Momhoyo, with 130 guns, get 13 tons per month. So you count by guns? I asked him. Partout, M. P. said, Each time the corporal goes out to get rubber cartridges are given to him. He must bring back all not used; and for every one used, he must bring baek a right hand. M. P. told me that sometimes they shot a cartridge at an animal in hunting; they then cut off a hand from a living man. As to the extent to which this is carried on, he informed me that in six months they, the State, on the Momhoyo River, had used 6,000 cartridges, which means that 6,000 people are killed or mutilated. It means more than 6,000, for the people have told me repeatedly that the soldiers kill children with the butt of their guns."

"There was no doubt that the administration of the Congo Government had been marked by a very high degree of a certain kind of administrative development. There were railways, there were steamers upon the river, hospitals had been established, and all the machinery of elaborate judicial and police systems had been set up."

"It was not a native custom prior to the coming of the white man; it was not the outcome of the primitive instincts of savages in then: fights between village and village; it was the deliberate act of soldiers of a European Administration, and these men themselves never made any concealment that in committing these acts they were but obeying the positive orders of their superiors."

"It is a question (of native labour) which has engaged my most careful attention in connection with West Africa and other Colonies. To listen to the right honourable gentleman, you would almost think that it would be a good thing for the native to be idle. I think it is a good thing for him to be industrious ; and by every means in our power, we must teach him to work. No people ever have lived in the world's history. who would not work. In the interests of tbe natives all over Africa, we have to teach them to work."

"Between July 1891 and February 1896, no fewer than 62 convictions admittedly representing a small proportion of offences actually committed were recorded against them for flogging, plundering, and generally maltreating the natives."

"If that really is the last word of civilization, if we are to proceed on the assumption that the nearer the native or any human being comes to a pig the more desirable is his condition, of course I have nothing to say I must continue to believe that, at all events, the progress of the native in civilization will not be secured until he has been convinced of the necessity and the dignity of labour. Therefore, I think that anything we reasonably can do to induce the native to labour is a desirable thing, the existence of the tax is an inducement to him to work."

"This much i can speak of with certainty and emphasis: that from the British frontier hear Fort George to the limit of my journeys into the Mbuba country of the Congo Free State, up and down the Semliki, the natives appear to be prosperous and happy... The extent to which they were building their villages and cultivating their plantations within the precincts of Fort Mbeni showed that they had no fear of the Belgians."

"The first Japanese move was against French Indo-China. In early 1939 the islands of Hainan and the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea were seized. In June the following year - by which time France had succumbed to the German blitzkrieg - the Japanese demanded that the French authorities admit a forty-man military mission whose role would be to prevent the shipment of war supplies to Chongqing. The French Governor-General acquiesced, but bid for a mutual defence pact in the hope of preserving the colony's integrity. Matsuoka dismissed this, demanding instead rights of transit for Japanese forces through Indo-China and the construction and use of airfields, as well as the stationing of Japanese troops to guard them. Realizing that they stood no chance if it came to a fight, the Vichy authorities agreed to this, leaving it to the Governor-General to handle the practicalities. However, the Japanese government grew impatient and on September 20 delivered an ultimatum to Hanoi, stating that Japanese troops would cross the border in two days' time with or without the consent of the French authorities. Once again the French capitulated. By September 23 northern Indo-China was in Japanese hands. Six months later the Japanese intervened to end clashes that had broken out between French forces and neighbouring Thailand. The effect of the resulting compromise was to bring Thailand too into the Japanese orbit. At the end of July 1941 Japanese troops completed the takeover by occupying southern Indo-China."

"Similar points can be made about France, with the focus here being France’s enforced withdrawal from Indochina (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos) in 1954 after defeat at the hands of a Communist nationalist movement supported by the Communist great powers. The Cold War there took on the character of the War of the French Succession. France, and to some extent Britain, tried to steer American policy toward intervention in Indochina from about 1948, at least in part for financial reasons. Within France, the Communists were kept from power, while their power in the trade unions was seen as a strategic, political and economic threat. The focus on the fate of Western empires approach is less valid for Eastern Europe and Latin America, both prior to World War Two and subsequently; although in sub-Saharan Africa in the 1960s and 1970s the fate of the Belgian and, still more, Portuguese empires played a major role in the Cold War."

"If the same successes had been obtained by the Mexican imperialist army without the help of our soldiers, the future of the new government could be considered as better assured, but as long as it will be to Marshal Bazaine and our brave army that will come back to us. The main honor of these victories, they will indicate rather the need that Mexico has of us than that which it feels to retain its current sovereign."

"Algerian calls for independence from French rule date back to World War I."

"After Suez, decolonization sped up, both because of further British and French weakness and because it had become increasingly clear that the future for the two countries lay in Europe and in the transatlantic alliance, not in Africa or Asia. France had been forced out of Indochina in 1954 and was fighting a colonial war in Algeria that was going badly and attracted unwelcome American criticism. Elsewhere the French withdrew reluctantly. The governments of the Fourth Republic were caught among competing priorities: Being anti-Communist (while also wanting to appear radical); resenting US domination (while also fearing US abandonment); and embracing European integration (while also fearing a drop in French independent power and prestige). The French governments wanted US support, and therefore reported on the threat of Communism in independence movements from Senegal to Madagascar to Tahiti. But they also feared that the United States was out to replace France in its former colonies. French intellectuals denounced US imperialism, while some of them found it hard to abandon France’s own colonialism, which—by strange twists of terminology—was supposed to be more moral, involved, committed, and “authentic” than any other. France knew Africa; the Americans did not, was an often underlined perception in French newspapers. But the subtext—that “knowledge” entitled continued exploitation—was as little said out loud in Paris as in London."

"For my ancestors, the arrival of the French was an enormous progress. The door to culture, freedom and emancipation opened, they were no longer second-class citizens."

"For three or four Chinese coppers, I could ride in a rickshaw from my home, in England, to Italy, Germany, Japan, or Belgium. I walked to France for violin lessons; I had to cross the river to get to Russia, and often did, because the Russians had a beautiful wooded park with a lake in it."

"These people were of all races, colors, and creeds. French were in the north and in the Carolinas. Dutch had built the town on Manhattan island, and their patroons' estates in the Hudson valley; now they were building their own cabins in the Mohawk Indian country that is now New York State. Germans had settled in the Jerseys and in the far west, beyond Philadelphia. Germans and Scotch-Irish were climbing the Carolina mountains; Swedes were in Delaware, English and French and Dutch and Irish were settled in Massachusetts, the New Hampshire Grants, Connecticut, and Virginia. Mingled with all these were Italians, Portuguese, Finns, Arabs, Armenians, Russians, Greeks, and Africans from a dozen very different African peoples and cultures. Black, brown, yellow and white, all these peoples were some of them free and some of them slaves. Also they were intermarried with the American Indians."

"Gentlemen, we must speak louder and truer! We must say openly that indeed the higher races have a right over the lower races.... I repeat, that the superior races have a right because they have a duty. They have the duty to civilize the inferior races."

"Many of the first voyages landed French Protestant colonists in the midst of Spanish territorial claims in the Caribbean and Florida, which the Spanish dealt with by massacring men, women, and children. When the french government moved its focus farther north, to what it today Canada, it escaped Spanish retaliation but found no easy path to wealth and dwindling numbers of willing colonists. In part this was because of past debacles and in part because of new conditions in France. The Catholic-controlled government initiated a new program of banishing Protestant ministers, thus cutting of the spiritual heads of Protestant congregations, and sending the remaining devout either into exile, back into the Roman church, or opting out of organized religion altogether. With good economic conditions at home; there was also a lack of interest in leaving France. As a result, French colonies became small in size, Catholic in their religion, and based on good relations with Native American tribes. This development allowed the french to tap into the abundant fish and fur resources of North America, creating a transatlantic trade that brought them wealth in Europe without putting too much pressure on the Native Americans for land."