Beyond the bend in the river: African labor in Eastern Zaire, 1865-1940

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Book

Title:	Beyond the bend in the river: African labor in Eastern Zaire, 1865-1940
Author:	Northrup, David
Year:	1988
Issue:	52
Pages:	264
Language:	English
Series:	Monographs in international studies, Africa series
City of publisher:	Athens, OH
Publisher:	Ohio University Center for International Studies
ISBN:	0896801519
Geographic term:	Congo (Democratic Republic of)
Subjects:	slavery forced labour employment economic history
Abstract:	Focusing on the Kivu and Upper Zaire provinces of the Republic of Zaire, the author examines the interrelationships of the full spectrum of imposed labouring systems in the heart of the continent: slavery, porterage, mining, cashcrop farming, and military service, from the 1860s when the region was gradually brought into the commercial empire of the Zanzibar trader Tippu Tip, through Belgian rule. Noting the persistence of coercion in the mobilization of African labour in the eastern Congo, the author devotes particular attention to the ways in which the evolution of colonial labour policies, the introduction of modern transport, and African reactions affected the labour climate. In addition to the effects of geographical isolation, and European racism and greed, he points to certain indigenous African cultural values which affected labour practices. The study is based largely on archival sources.