Heart of the dark, a book written by Joseph Conrad, is one of the best books related to imperialism and the expeditions that made the empires to expand into territory and influence through diplomacy or militarism. In a way this book recounted the journey of Joseph Conrad across the Congo River which is located in the Belgian Congo, a territory which belonged to the Belgian Empire and where ivory and all kinds of materials were trafficked and then market them. Joseph Conrad tells his own story through a character called Marlow who wanted to travel from his childhood to the Congo River. Also in the book I could read how the sailors viewed the jungle and the river with fear and ignorance. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essayAt the beginning of the book, we could see Marlow telling his own story to his partners who accompanied him on the boat. When he was a child he wanted to go to the Belgian Congo and when he grew up he moved all his contacts to become captain of a steamship. Later he arrived at the Congo River but he knew nothing about Africa despite this, he still wanted to continue his journey. One day, while in a settlement, he saw a group of slaves carrying materials to build a railroad. These railways were very important in Congo due to the immense profit of the Belgian and French colony, but to build railways, the native slaves were supposed to work every hour without interruption and they finished it after several months . If a slave was injured while working, the soldiers who led him had to kill him because to them he was useless and the only way for him to become useful was to try to find his tribe but he would not succeed. This is a clear example of brutality and violence against Africans and I think this treatment was unacceptable because the natives were also human beings and should have rights. “They died slowly... It was clear. They were not enemies, they were not criminals, they were nothing earthly, only black shadows of illness and exhaustion, lying confusedly in the greenish darkness. » (Conrad, J., 27) Marlow, the main character, said that when he found around the river many malnourished blacks abandoned by their owners because they were of no use to them. They died slowly because there was nothing to eat and some of them were not born in his tribe and later grew up with the Europeans because none of them knew how to use any kind of food. weapon for hunting. In Conrad's words, he felt a kind of empathy, compassion and pity for Africans because they did not know what freedom was, slaves spent their whole lives living with strangers and doing what they wanted. They ordered but they were not at fault for being mistreated. it was destiny and a greater cause. It should be noted that in 1899 there were laws that "protected" slaves by contract, these laws stipulated that each month owners had to deliver 4 kilograms of rubber to their slaves. The population must act in peace and accept the rubber, but if someone tried to act violently, the owners were allowed to use violence and their weapons as well. In 1865, Leopold II asserted that all uncivilized regions should be forced to work. Someone asked “Why?” and he presented two points: the first said that the people should value work and security by paying taxes to the conquerors; the second.