Was imperialism good or bad? I will tell you later, but first we need to define what imperialism is and some of its examples just to give us a clearer idea of ​​what it is. It can be defined as a practice of expanding territory and power by gaining political and economic control of other areas. Imperialism and colonialism are not the same thing because, as we saw in World History classes, colonialism used more violence and involved direct control over colonies. Some places in Africa can be said to have been colonized, but most of Africa was imperialized. The book “Heart of Darkness” shows the situation in which the inhabitants of the Belgian Congo lived and the mistreatment by the French soldiers. Furthermore the book shows how the empire of France was gaining territory and getting ivory traded with it in France. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Most people say that "Heart of Darkness" was an autobiographical book because Joseph Conrad, the author, was in the Congo and through an alter ego called Marlow, he tried to explain life in Africa and especially to people who didn't know her. Conrad once described that experience as “an experience taken a little beyond the actual facts” but as I researched Conrad he tried so hard that the work didn't seem to be autobiographical. In fact in the first scene of the book when they were on the boat those people who appeared were Conrad's friends and Conrad himself was also there, the only "imaginary thing" in the book was the character Marlow who as I said was like an alter ego by Joseph Conrad. At that time in Africa there were many unknown places, so they appear as empty spaces on the map. It should be noted that geographers named rivers and lakes in the blank spaces of maps of Africa, and where there were no cities they placed elephants as a symbol. Conrad was curious as a child and every time he saw an empty space on the map he wanted to go there when he grew up. This is why Conrad visited the Belgian Congo a quarter of a century later in command of a ship carrying ivory across the Congo River. In the book Conrad explains it exactly like this: Marlow pointed his finger at the center of Africa in a river that looked like a giant snake and years later moved all his contacts until he became captain of a steamship that trafficked ivory. of Africa, as I could see in the book, were too aggressive and violent but perhaps they were after the empires came to colonize its territory and its people. The story circulated among the sailors of a captain called Johannes Fresleven, who by the way was the predecessor of Marlow (Conrad), who died on January 22, 1890 in a dispute between the local chiefs of a tribe over the purchase of chickens. The tribe behaved so violently that the steamship's crew fled leaving behind the body of their captain, which is why Marlow was made captain of the steamship. Another event that happened in the book that proves that the natives were violent occurred when Marlow and his crew were on their way to find Mr. Kurtz, the best ivory trafficker in the Congo, a group of natives started attacking the ship steam by shooting arrows. and killing some people on the ship, including the slaves in charge of maintaining the ship. At the end of the book we find out that the ship's attack was ordered by Mr. Kurtz because he didn't want to leave the settlement where he interacted with the tribe and they gave him ivory. One thing that caught my attention was that almost all sailors viewed the jungles and rivers of Africa with fear but also with respect because those.