Lindqvist’s Analysis
Sven Lindqvist’s Analysis – “Exterminate all the Brutes”
In the 1800s, there was exponential growth in population, energy, production, innovations, etc. that led to an era called the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution brought imaginary ideas and concepts to realization. New innovations such as the steam engine, interchangeability of parts, vehicles, telegraph, and AC power paved the way for this exponential growth on a local and global scale. Thus, countries began to boom and expand creating new relations anywhere in the world and at the same time spreading the idea of Imperialism. Because in a sense, every country and every society believed they were the best and others were of lesser value. So yes, one could say the Industrial Revolution was brilliant and it changed the way of life forever. However, it did not come free of charge. Somebody or something had to pay the price. It is the overlooked and unobserved that was lost while achieving such a striking outcome; in the notion of Joseph Conrad’s words, “Exterminate all the Brutes”.1
Joseph Conrad, born Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski on December 3, 1857 in the Polish Ukraine, did not learn English until he was 21 years of age. As a young boy his father was exiled to Siberia and his mother died. Not ever seeing his parents again, he was sent to his mother’s brother in Krakow to be educated. At the age of 17, he traveled to Marseilles and spent his next 20 years as a sailor, later becoming a British subject.2 He then fulfilled his childhood dream of traveling to the Congo; there he took command of a steamship in the Belgian Congo. His endeavors, as commander of a steamship for a Belgian trading company, led him to write his most renowned book “Heart of Darkness”. As commander of the steamship, Conrad was able to experience the full force of Imperialism deep in the Congo Jungle. He saw the devastating consequences of imperialism, which was occurring not only in Africa but also across the
In the 1800s, there was exponential growth in population, energy, production, innovations, etc. that led to an era called the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution brought imaginary ideas and concepts to realization. New innovations such as the steam engine, interchangeability of parts, vehicles, telegraph, and AC power paved the way for this exponential growth on a local and global scale. Thus, countries began to boom and expand creating new relations anywhere in the world and at the same time spreading the idea of Imperialism. Because in a sense, every country and every society believed they were the best and others were of lesser value. So yes, one could say the Industrial Revolution was brilliant and it changed the way of life forever. However, it did not come free of charge. Somebody or something had to pay the price. It is the overlooked and unobserved that was lost while achieving such a striking outcome; in the notion of Joseph Conrad’s words, “Exterminate all the Brutes”.1
Joseph Conrad, born Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski on December 3, 1857 in the Polish Ukraine, did not learn English until he was 21 years of age. As a young boy his father was exiled to Siberia and his mother died. Not ever seeing his parents again, he was sent to his mother’s brother in Krakow to be educated. At the age of 17, he traveled to Marseilles and spent his next 20 years as a sailor, later becoming a British subject.2 He then fulfilled his childhood dream of traveling to the Congo; there he took command of a steamship in the Belgian Congo. His endeavors, as commander of a steamship for a Belgian trading company, led him to write his most renowned book “Heart of Darkness”. As commander of the steamship, Conrad was able to experience the full force of Imperialism deep in the Congo Jungle. He saw the devastating consequences of imperialism, which was occurring not only in Africa but also across the