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Quiz about The Horror The Horror CongoZaire
Quiz about The Horror The Horror CongoZaire

'The Horror, The Horror:' Congo/Zaire Quiz


Questions about a suffering nation whose agonizing history over the last two centuries has led many thoughtful observers to question just how far homo sapiens has actually progressed, at least on the moral plane.

A multiple-choice quiz by coolupway. Estimated time: 6 mins.
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Author
coolupway
Time
6 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
94,475
Updated
Jul 23 22
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Tough
Avg Score
5 / 10
Plays
2192
Last 3 plays: misdiaslocos (6/10), alaspooryoric (2/10), raffucci (0/10).
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Question 1 of 10
1. An expatriate Pole named Korzeniowski, who had witnessed outrages in the Congo at first hand, wrote of the atrocities inflicted on the indigenous population of this huge African country by European imperialists. What was the name of his famous novella? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. Between 1885 and 1908, who owned the Congo? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. What chilling words did Mr. Korzeniowski's (fictive?) European imperialist write at the end of a seemingly benign report to the "International Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs"? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. Was there in fact a real-life model for the grotesquely evil Kurtz, and if so, who was he? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. After decolonization, the freely elected first Prime Minister of the newly independent Congo, Patrice Lumumba was assassinated in relatively short order in early 1961. To the extent that the question can be answered, who is now believed to have assassinated Lumumba? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. What former sergeant in the colonial army took control of the Congo in a coup in 1965, and went on to lead this mineral-rich nation into utter economic ruin during his three decades in power? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. What was the response of the notoriously corrupt president of starving, prostrated Zaire when he was asked at a press conferfence if he was the second wealthiest political leader in the world? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. On a rare positive note, who has contributed over three million dollars toward construction of the first hospital built in the Congo in nearly 40 years? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. What onetime communist was at least theoretically at the head of a group that engineered the overthrow of the corrupt Zairois president in 1997, and then himself took over the presidency? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. Operatives from which countries have been accused, and in some cases lethally punished, for allegedly pulling the strings behind the January, 2001 assassination of the sitting Congolese president? Hint



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Most Recent Scores
Mar 22 2024 : misdiaslocos: 6/10
Mar 17 2024 : alaspooryoric: 2/10
Mar 17 2024 : raffucci: 0/10
Mar 02 2024 : Guest 98: 4/10
Feb 02 2024 : Guest 203: 6/10

Score Distribution

quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. An expatriate Pole named Korzeniowski, who had witnessed outrages in the Congo at first hand, wrote of the atrocities inflicted on the indigenous population of this huge African country by European imperialists. What was the name of his famous novella?

Answer: Heart of Darkness

Korzeniowski became a literary giant, now known to the world as Joseph Conrad. In "Heart of Darkness", published in 1899, Conrad gave the world the infamous colonial agent Kurtz, a cultured product of the enlightenment who rapidly descends into depravity and savagery when freed from societal constraints in the African bush. Conrad's bleak take on humankind and its motives and endeavors, exemplified by Kurtz' haunting last words ("the horror, the horror"), was fully borne out on another, more northerly continent some 40 years later.
2. Between 1885 and 1908, who owned the Congo?

Answer: King Leopold II of THE BelgIANS

It is almost impossible to conceive of a nation of the Congo's size (and mineral wealth) as having been owned by one man, but owned by one man it was. The definitive account is Adam Hochschild's "King Leopold's Ghost--A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa", published in 1998. According to Hochschild, Leopold never even so much as set foot in the the vast tropical domain which was his personal property.
3. What chilling words did Mr. Korzeniowski's (fictive?) European imperialist write at the end of a seemingly benign report to the "International Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs"?

Answer: "Exterminate all the brutes."

Conrad, no literary piker, wrote that Kurtz' scrawled words were "luminous and terrifying like a flash of lightning in a serene sky." Conrad thus reduced the great bulk of the European colonial experience in Africa into a phrase which has become part of the modern moral vernacular. Swedish author Sven Lindqvist recently used it as a title for his book about the history of European genocide.
4. Was there in fact a real-life model for the grotesquely evil Kurtz, and if so, who was he?

Answer: Yes, Léon Rom, head of the 'Force Publique'.

"Apocalypse Now" fans, take note: according to Hochschild, Rom had a fence around his office with a human skull on each post, as well as a number of rotting heads about the property. Conrad's descriptions of depravity, interpreted for many years as metaphorical, actually turn out to have been clinically reportorial.
5. After decolonization, the freely elected first Prime Minister of the newly independent Congo, Patrice Lumumba was assassinated in relatively short order in early 1961. To the extent that the question can be answered, who is now believed to have assassinated Lumumba?

Answer: Luba soldiers from the Kasai region, possibly in the presence of Belgian officers.

There is no doubt that the CIA wanted to get rid of Lumumba (the CIA station chief in Leopoldville was given the means to do so), but there is a good deal of evidence suggesting that they were beaten to the punch. Michela Wrong's excellent "In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz...", points to the Luba soldiers, but is equivocal about Belgian involvement; however a Belgian (Flemish) writer, one Ludo De Witte, has gone so far as to posit "direct responsibility" for the murder on the part of Belgian officers.
6. What former sergeant in the colonial army took control of the Congo in a coup in 1965, and went on to lead this mineral-rich nation into utter economic ruin during his three decades in power?

Answer: Joseph Mobutu

Mobutu, whose name has become virtually synonymous with kleptocracy, snuggled up to the West, and the US in particular (the extent, if any, of CIA involvement in the '65 coup is still debated)
and stole his own country blind. He fled the country in 1997 and died shortly thereafter in Morocco. At his death and for some time prior thereto, he was one of the world's richest men.
7. What was the response of the notoriously corrupt president of starving, prostrated Zaire when he was asked at a press conferfence if he was the second wealthiest political leader in the world?

Answer: "It's a lie. It's a lie. I am only the fourth richest."

You can't make this stuff up. Mobutu, who was by then calling himself Mobutu Sese Seko Wa Zabanga, Marshal of Zaire, amassed an astonishing financial empire. Though evil in sub-Saharan Africa has often had a white face, Mobutu ransacked his huge and underdeveloped country no less rapaciously than King Leopold II had.
8. On a rare positive note, who has contributed over three million dollars toward construction of the first hospital built in the Congo in nearly 40 years?

Answer: Dikembe Mutombo

A good guy who also happens to be one of the greatest defensive centers in the history of basketball. Mutombo came to Georgetown U. and John Thompson from Kinshasa, Zaire. He has not forgotten his people's moving plight.
9. What onetime communist was at least theoretically at the head of a group that engineered the overthrow of the corrupt Zairois president in 1997, and then himself took over the presidency?

Answer: Laurent Kabila

It is not entirely clear whether Kabila, a onetime protege of Che Guevara, enlisted Rwandan and Ugandan support for the coup, or whether the tail was in fact wagging the dog. He held the presidency for less than four years, and was assassinated by a bodyguard on 1/16/01.
10. Operatives from which countries have been accused, and in some cases lethally punished, for allegedly pulling the strings behind the January, 2001 assassination of the sitting Congolese president?

Answer: All of these

A Congo governmental investigation pointed to Rwanda, Uganda and Congolese rebels as motive forces. Shortly after the assassination, 11 Lebanese nationals believed to have links to the bodyguard who killed Kabila were assassinated. As is seemingly inevitable with these things, at least one website accuses the US of covert involvement.
Source: Author coolupway

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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