Other editions of book The Crime of the Congo

The Congo Reform Association exposed gross and rampant abuses of labor and by public servants in King Leopold II of Belgium's Congo Free State, leading to the annexation of Congo by Belgium in 1908. In March, 1904, Dr. Henry Grattan Guinness (1861–1915), Edmund Dene Morel, and Roger Casement founded the Congo Reform Association. The movement was formed to aid the exploited and impoverished workforce of the Congo by drawing attention to their plight. The association gained the support of several famous writers such as Joseph Conrad, Anatole France, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Mark Twain who contributed with their literary production to the cause. Mark Twain wrote a political satire named "King Leopold's Soliloquy", and Arthur Conan Doyle wrote this book - The Crime of the Congo. Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the Adventures of Professor Challenger. He was a prolific writer whose other works include science fiction stories, plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction and historical novels.

*This Book is annotated (it contains a detailed biography of the author). *An active Table of Contents has been added by the publisher for a better customer experience. *This book has been checked and corrected for spelling errors. The Crime of the Congo is a 1909 book by British writer and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, about human rights abuses in the Congo Free State, a private state established and controlled by the King of the Belgians, Leopold II.

"Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's new book, 'The Crime of the Congo,' is the most powerful indictment yet launched against the Belgian rulers of this bloodstained colony. After reviewing the early history of the Congo Free State Sir Arthur quotes the testimony of many unimpeachable witnesses regarding the brutalities of the 'rubber system' and the coldblooded mutilation and massacre of natives during the past fifteen years."--Daily ExpressThe book was intended as an exposé of the situation in the so-called Congo Free State (labelled a "rubber regime" by Conan Doyle), an area occupied and designated as the personal property of Leopold II of Belgium and where the serious human rights abuses were occurring. Indigenous people in the region were being brutally exploited and tortured, particularly in the lucrative rubber trade. In the introduction to The Crime of the Congo Conan Doyle wrote: "I am convinced that the reason why public opinion has not been more sensitive upon the question of the Congo Free State is that the terrible story has not been brought thoroughly home to the people", a situation he intended to rectify. Conan Doyle was "strongly of the opinion" that the crimes committed on the Congo were "the greatest to be ever known",and he lauded the work of the Congo Reform Association. Conan Doyle was dismissive of the annexation of the state by Belgium, a situation intended to end the personal rule of the King. Conan Doyle noted that slavery and ivory poaching continued to occur after annexation and that "The Congo State was founded by the Belgian King, and exploited by Belgian capital, Belgian soldiers and Belgian concessionnaires. It was defended and upheld by successive Belgian Governments, who did all they could to discourage the Reformers"In the Daily Express the book was praised as "the most powerful indictment yet launched against the Belgian rulers of this bloodstained colony". The Express also noted that "After reviewing the early history of the Congo Free State Sir Arthur quotes the testimony of many unimpeachable witnesses regarding the brutalities of the 'rubber system' and the coldblooded mutilation and massacre of natives during the past fifteen years"

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote many novels and works of nonfiction, including the immortal tales of Sherlock Holmes. His interests, also, were broad-ranging. Conan Doyle became outraged upon learning of the abuses of human life that were committed as a result of Belgian King Leopold II's efforts to conquer and strip the Congo of its natural resources. In little more than a week in 1909, he documented the human rights abuses in The Crime of the Congo. It is considered “the most powerful indictment yet launched against the Belgian rulers of this bloodstained colony. After reviewing the early history of the Congo Free State Sir Arthur quotes the testimony of many unimpeachable witnesses regarding the brutalities of the 'rubber system' and the coldblooded mutilation and massacre of natives during the past fifteen years.”

Although Arthur Conan Doyle is now best remembered as the creator of the timeless Sherlock Holmes series of detective stories, he was also something of a social activist in his day who used his acclaim to shed light on injustices. In The Crime of the Congo, Conan Doyle builds a devastating case against the Congo Free State, a kind of sociopolitical experiment undertaken by Belgium's King Leopold II, under whose rule indigenous Africans were subjected to horrible maltreatment. The Crime of the Congo tackles a difficult topic, but this is Arthur Conan Doyle at his rabble-rousing best.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is best known as the creator of fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, but he was also a physician, humanitarian, and successful non-fiction writer. In The Crime of the Congo, Doyle documents the atrocities committed in the Congo Free State, the personal possession of Leopold II of Belgium. Thousands of native Africans were forced to labor on rubber plantations for the benefit of their colonial overlords. The abuses of the Congo Free State, and worldwide denunciations when they came to light, were instrumental in the Belgian government assuming responsibility of the territory, and renaming it the Belgian Congo.

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Although Arthur Conan Doyle is now best remembered as the creator of the timeless Sherlock Holmes series of detective stories, he was also something of a social activist in his day who used his acclaim to shed light on injustices. In The Crime of the Congo, Conan Doyle builds a devastating case against the Congo Free State, a kind of sociopolitical experiment undertaken by Belgium's King Leopold II, under whose rule indigenous Africans were subjected to horrible maltreatment. The Crime of the Congo tackles a difficult topic, but this is Arthur Conan Doyle at his rabble-rousing best.

There are many of us in England who consider the crime which has been wrought in the Congo lands by King Leopold of Belgium and his followers to be the greatest which has ever been known in human annals. Personally I am strongly of that opinion. There have been great expropriations like that of the Normans in England or of the English in Ireland. There have been massacres of populations like that of the South Americans by the Spaniards or of subject nations by the Turks. But never before has there been such a mixture of wholesale expropriation and wholesale massacre all done under an odious guise of philanthropy and with the lowest commercial motives as a reason. It is this sordid cause and the unctious hypocrisy which makes this crime unparalleled in its horror.