# data[].attributes.body
The rubber trade was very inhumane, the Congolese people were treated as inferior, and there were no punishment for their treatment.
"This officer['s]...method … was to arrive in canoes at a village, the inhabitants of which invariably bolted on their arrival; the soldiers were then landed, and commenced looting, taking all the chickens, grain, etc., out of the houses.."

# data[].attributes.body
This passage speaks on how Africans had to attain a certain amount of rubber or they would get whipped, they had to climb high to get the rubber that was inside of  vines and risked  injuring themselves if they would’ve fell as it has already happened.

# data[].attributes.body
Belgians kept track of the Congolese with a metal disk attached to your head, forced hundreds of Congolese to go into forests to extract the rubber saps. These workers were often paid next to nothing, and often, those payments were just tools that helped them prepare for their next journey into the jungle to extract more rubber.

# data[].attributes.body
The officers used woman as hostages to scare their families into providing rubber. They were merciless, and the Chief of the the district were required to bring in the rubber and then, they would receive their wives.

# data[].attributes.body
The Belgians paid the slaves with cloth, beads, some salt, or a knife. They weren’t being paid to contribute towards there necessities or quality of life, but were paid in items to do more work.

# data[].attributes.body
This passage explains and goes into depth of how they collected the sap.

# data[].attributes.body
The passage explains the vicious actions that were led on due to the impact of rubber. Rubber caused forth war and other serious issues to occur such as death and innocent people were being held captive. The rubber trade was important when being understood because it revealed the harsh and cruel extent people went through to obtain it. - Tamia

# data[].attributes.body
The Europeans made sure they had leverage over the Congolese people, making sure they do the labor

# data[].attributes.body
A myth began to spread that the cans of corned beef seen in white men's houses, it was said, did not contain meat from the animals shown on the label; they contained chopped-up hands.

# data[].attributes.body
Leopold never considered hostage-taking as an official policy but it was still happening. The congolese didn't receive any justice. Charges were denied, since these people were seen as slaves.

# data[].attributes.body
They people would go at any cost and the natives would have to meet a weight require for how much rubber that got and if they didn't the would try to put dirt and rocks in the bowls but the soldiers would make them eat them.

# data[].attributes.body
Though the Rubber years may have been sucessfull for King Leopold, it did not happen without any bloodshed. Many tribes such as the Kasai would revlot and destroy many Belgium posts and a sign of resistance. But as always they were met with death. As proof of killing mens of resistance, Belgium officerrs would sever the hands of the people to gain credit. This practice was also used as a form of punishment or warning to other tribes. Many officers also had the hands of innconect people cut off to equal the value of one "wasted" bullet.

# data[].attributes.body
All the blacks saw this man as the Devil of the Equator.
The Devil is a monster, ruthless, evil.

# data[].attributes.body
"To gather the rubber, you had to slash the vine with a knife and hang a bucket or earthenware pot to collect the slow drip of thick, milky sap. You could make a small incision to tap the vine"

# data[].attributes.body
Rubber is coagulated sap; the French word for it, Cãoutchouc, comes from a South American Indian word meaning "the wood that weeps. They had to go deep into the rainforest to get the rubber and also climb high trees.

# data[].attributes.body
The force try to kill all the natives off but let 500 people live. Leopold believes that he is helping the natives.

# data[].attributes.body
If a village did not provide rubber, they were killed. They chopped off hands of 100 and thought it was ok because he spared 500.

# data[].attributes.body
"often the only way to do so was to spread the substance on his arms, thighs, and chest. " This was a painful experience because they would do this as a routine . Ripping layers of their skin constantly.

# data[].attributes.body
In order to get every bit of rubber men would just cut down the whole entire vine to ensure they got it all.

# data[].attributes.body
Told officers how to treat the servants and use of weapons.
Wrote a novel on tips on hostage-taking so that officers could learn them.
Called "Practical Questions" - Léon Rom.

# data[].attributes.body
The rubber years were terrible times for the people of the Congo as natives were killed or tortured they refused to give rubber to king Leopold.Entire villages were wiped out and everyone shot in sight if they refused to give rubber away to leopold and his men.

# data[].attributes.body
" The wood that wept in the Congo was a long spongy vine of the Landolphia genus. Up to a foot thick at the base, a vine would twine upward

around a tree to a hundred feet or more off the ground, where it could reach sunlight.

# data[].attributes.body
"Louis Chaltin, a Force Publique officer, confided to his journal in 1892. "The native doesn't like making rubber. He must be compelled to do it." There were Europeans who were against this and would write down the incidents , wanting to expose Leopold

# data[].attributes.body
This passage is just showing how rubber was wanted and it kind of looks like the killing was to show people how serious they were but also show that it was game for them.

# data[].attributes.body
Soldiers made young men kill or rape their own mothers and sisters if they did not bring back rubber.
The station chief at M'Bima used his revolver to shoot holes in Africans' ear lobes. There was many cruel punishments if rubber was not brought back.

# data[].attributes.body
Rubber gatherers had to stay in the forest for 24 days a time and stay in cages that didn’t guarantee their safety.

# data[].attributes.body
Collecting rubber was no easy task for the people of the Congo. This showed how brutal and ruthless the Belgium soldiers can be when it comes to putting people in line. And severing hands wasn't just a punishment, but was also a means of pleasure.

# data[].attributes.body
Our passage showed how the rubber gatherers where treated and the conditions they had to survive in.

# data[].attributes.body
Also to prove their bullets use they had to cut off a hand of a native and bring it to the keeper of the hands.

# data[].attributes.body
No payments of trinkets or brass wire were enough to make people stay in the flooded forest for days at a time to do work that was so arduous—and physically painful.

# data[].attributes.body
The native doesn't like making rubber.

# data[].attributes.body
Hostage taking wasn’t seen as a crime, but more as a benefit.  It was bound for people to be taken as prisoners because of simple needs like food, shelter, etc. Even if they hid, they were still easily found.