Another tool of great use was the spreading of Christianity, which no one could argue with. Leopold approached the colonization of the Congo with all the proper labels, yet his motives were all but evil. He gave colonization a bad name. In this way, the author demonstrates to the reader, that colonization can very much be the carrier of alternate purposes. Hochschild exposes the hollowness of colonization with this story. He shows how easy it was for Leopold to hide his corrupt motives behind the gleaming presentation of Christianity, the disposing of local threats and other fruits of colonization. .
(Hochschild, pp.65,93).
In this passage, "between 1880 and 1920, the population of the Congo was cut "by at least a half"," Hochschild gives us the straight up fact that, "approximately ten million people," died because of Leopold's presence. Yet, in schooling as far up as high school this appalling fact is almost completely unheard. Schools teach of Hitler and Stalin and their wrong doings, but the story of Leopold is left untouched. Prejudgments about Africa and its people might include such ideals like they were slaves for their latter part of history, and they lived in a very undeveloped land, and often died in small numbers due to these things. This, however, is not the case. It is a travesty that the world can still be unaware of so many lives that were lost over a century ago. Ten million is a number, but when one breaks it down death by death, one uncovers the brutality, the complete and absolute horror that carried itself through such an extensive period of time. We get a vivid taste when we see the view of Leopold on his conquest to gain all, "(he) treated the Congo as if it were just a piece of uninhabited real estate to be disposed of by its owner (he) talked of Africa as if it were without Africans." Millions were able to die because of power. (Hochschild, pp.233,101).
Leopold found that, "Power is tempting, and in a sense no power is greater than the ability to take someone's life.
