The elephants for King Leopold: a curious experiment in Colonial Africa
Introduction. The article is devoted to the subject of the colonial history of Africa, little-discussed in Russian historiography, – the attempt of the Belgians in the Congo to use elephants in the development of hard-to-reach areas, following the example of the British in India. For this purpose, a...
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North-Caucasus Federal University
2024-09-01
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| Series: | Гуманитарные и юридические исследования |
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| Online Access: | https://humanitieslaw.ncfu.ru/jour/article/view/1406 |
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| author | A. A. Abakumov |
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| description | Introduction. The article is devoted to the subject of the colonial history of Africa, little-discussed in Russian historiography, – the attempt of the Belgians in the Congo to use elephants in the development of hard-to-reach areas, following the example of the British in India. For this purpose, a special elephant domestication station was founded at the end of the 19th century.Materials and Methods. The source base for the study was L. Rankin's report on the expedition to the Congo in 1879-80, materials published in the Bulletin Agricole du Congo Belge in the 1910s (including report of the first head of the station, J.-H. Laplume), publications of Belgian officials and eyewitnesses who visited the station in the first half of the 20th century. Analysis. King Leopold II decided to use elephants to develop the colony, primarily where other working animals could not work due to rugged conditions. However, inasmuch the secret of domesticating African elephants was thought to be lost since Antiquity, the Belgians initially tried to import elephants and specialists from India; this experiment was carried out in 1879-80 and turned out to be unsuccessful. Scientists who supported the idea of replacing Indian elephants with African ones at the end of the 19th century referred to ancient Carthaginian and Ptolemaic practice as one of main arguments. Catching and taming of elephants started in 1900 on the special station that was located firstly in Api, then in Gangala na Bodio in north-eastern Congo. The first head of this station, J.-H. Laplume, couldn’t engage Indian experts and relied only on Africans, who were previously considered unsuitable for such work. Laplume, for various reasons, had to catch and tame only young animals, suffering losses and spending additional time on training them. However, by 1914 the experiment had proven its success. Congolese elephants were used as “living tractors” until the late 1940s, when it was officially declared unpractical. After this, the station with about a hundred elephants by the middle of the 20th century was transformed into a research facility. In this new capacity, it continued working in the independent Congo.Results. The Belgian original method of elephant training was recognized to be milder than the Indian one, although Indian instructors who visited Api in 1920 made some modifications. The role of the station in protecting elephants was also noted, while at the end of the 19th century the Belgians were interested primarily only in ivory. The station workers had demonstrated that they could cope with their new work rather well. Finally, a Belgian experiment revived interest to ancient history, proving that African elephants can indeed be tamed “centuries after Carthage”. |
| format | Article |
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| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2409-1030 |
| language | Russian |
| publishDate | 2024-09-01 |
| publisher | North-Caucasus Federal University |
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| spelling | doaj-art-6abea3d0cbb04b0980d8fe1fa7392d1e2024-12-16T07:19:44ZrusNorth-Caucasus Federal UniversityГуманитарные и юридические исследования2409-10302024-09-0111221221810.37493/2409-1030.2024.2.11305The elephants for King Leopold: a curious experiment in Colonial AfricaA. A. Abakumov0Yaroslavl State Pedagogical UniversityIntroduction. The article is devoted to the subject of the colonial history of Africa, little-discussed in Russian historiography, – the attempt of the Belgians in the Congo to use elephants in the development of hard-to-reach areas, following the example of the British in India. For this purpose, a special elephant domestication station was founded at the end of the 19th century.Materials and Methods. The source base for the study was L. Rankin's report on the expedition to the Congo in 1879-80, materials published in the Bulletin Agricole du Congo Belge in the 1910s (including report of the first head of the station, J.-H. Laplume), publications of Belgian officials and eyewitnesses who visited the station in the first half of the 20th century. Analysis. King Leopold II decided to use elephants to develop the colony, primarily where other working animals could not work due to rugged conditions. However, inasmuch the secret of domesticating African elephants was thought to be lost since Antiquity, the Belgians initially tried to import elephants and specialists from India; this experiment was carried out in 1879-80 and turned out to be unsuccessful. Scientists who supported the idea of replacing Indian elephants with African ones at the end of the 19th century referred to ancient Carthaginian and Ptolemaic practice as one of main arguments. Catching and taming of elephants started in 1900 on the special station that was located firstly in Api, then in Gangala na Bodio in north-eastern Congo. The first head of this station, J.-H. Laplume, couldn’t engage Indian experts and relied only on Africans, who were previously considered unsuitable for such work. Laplume, for various reasons, had to catch and tame only young animals, suffering losses and spending additional time on training them. However, by 1914 the experiment had proven its success. Congolese elephants were used as “living tractors” until the late 1940s, when it was officially declared unpractical. After this, the station with about a hundred elephants by the middle of the 20th century was transformed into a research facility. In this new capacity, it continued working in the independent Congo.Results. The Belgian original method of elephant training was recognized to be milder than the Indian one, although Indian instructors who visited Api in 1920 made some modifications. The role of the station in protecting elephants was also noted, while at the end of the 19th century the Belgians were interested primarily only in ivory. The station workers had demonstrated that they could cope with their new work rather well. Finally, a Belgian experiment revived interest to ancient history, proving that African elephants can indeed be tamed “centuries after Carthage”.https://humanitieslaw.ncfu.ru/jour/article/view/1406congoelephantsleopold iij.-h. laplumep. offermanapigangala-na-bodio |
| spellingShingle | A. A. Abakumov The elephants for King Leopold: a curious experiment in Colonial Africa Гуманитарные и юридические исследования congo elephants leopold ii j.-h. laplume p. offerman api gangala-na-bodio |
| title | The elephants for King Leopold: a curious experiment in Colonial Africa |
| title_full | The elephants for King Leopold: a curious experiment in Colonial Africa |
| title_fullStr | The elephants for King Leopold: a curious experiment in Colonial Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | The elephants for King Leopold: a curious experiment in Colonial Africa |
| title_short | The elephants for King Leopold: a curious experiment in Colonial Africa |
| title_sort | elephants for king leopold a curious experiment in colonial africa |
| topic | congo elephants leopold ii j.-h. laplume p. offerman api gangala-na-bodio |
| url | https://humanitieslaw.ncfu.ru/jour/article/view/1406 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT aaabakumov theelephantsforkingleopoldacuriousexperimentincolonialafrica AT aaabakumov elephantsforkingleopoldacuriousexperimentincolonialafrica |