Abstract
On November 15 1884, the representatives of fourteen European powers and a plethora of ambassadors gathered in Berlin to decide the fate of colonial Africa. From 1884 to 1909, 5 to 21 million Africans (about 50% of the population of the Congo Basin) perished. Such collective palliation of the crimes of humanity was called by some "a whitewashed official complicity in political spheres". Along with this, it is important to note that Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness, serialized in 1899, holds a central position in what is defined as "colonial literature", developing on a number of different themes, European imperialism and shared complicity in particular. The hushed complicity we can observe in Heart of Darkness involves the protection of a common secret, leading to the covering up of a joint guilt. However, to properly understand the complicity, we should bear in mind that it is rooted in a complex relationship of proximity and mutual understanding.
