Chapters 15, 16, and 17 Summary and Analysis

Chapter 15, titled "A Reckoning," attempts to tally the death toll associated with colonialism in the Congo during the administration of Leopold and the subsequent years—from 1880 to 1920. Deaths from several sources are discussed, including: murder, both individual murders and massacres; starvation, exhaustion and exposure; disease, primarily smallpox and sleeping sickness, and a plummeting birth rate, attributed to social causes such as slavery, sexual slavery, imprisonment and psychological terror. Several published studies and unpublished expert opinions are cited, and the author suggests that most such studies conclude that during the period indicated, the population of the Congo was reduced by about fifty percent. The first comprehensive census of the Congo, performed in 1924, put the national population at about 10 million. This yields a final estimated death toll of about 10 million people. Yet, this was not genocide per se—instead...