King Leopold II was the second King of the Belgians, most remembered for the founding and exploitation of the Congo Free State as a private venture. The Belgian Congo was a colony in Central Africa between 1908 and 1960 in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. King Leopold ii was given this colony because the leading nations of Europe had to name a piece of Africa through this it meant going through the Berlin Conference in 1884 through 1885 this formalized many majors powers compromised in Africa and granted the converted river basin to King Leopold ii of Belgium.
This Congo colony was ruled by King Leopold which the victims were so brutally hurt and torture. In this case he turned his “Congo free state” to a massive labor camp. In twenty three years Leopold ii ruled the Congo, he mascaraed ten million of Africans by cutting their hands and genitals, flogging them to death, starving them, force labor to work, holding children and women down, raping them, and last but not least burning down their villages. In alliance with this ten million innocent people died in this camp, but he claimed that he was doing it for their own good and to protect the natives from Arab slavers, and to open the heart of Africa to Christians. Would you think this is for their own good if people were dyeing? In my opinion I don’t think it was.
King Leopold ii made a fortune money for himself in this camp from his rubber that he would collect sending out the innocent men to go out and look for. They would use a tacked the army would choose a man from every village then the men would have to go out into the forest to look for rubber as there wife’s and children were tied up against the wall being abused and raped. Then if the men would not bring enough rubber back and if the agent would lose their commission the agents would order the death of everyone or chop their hands off and would not have compassion at all for anyone. Though it is said that king Leopold ii committed these atrocities by not even setting foot in the Congo. The rubber that the men’s would go out and look for was a great demand in Europe for use in the manufacture of bicycle and automobile tires, this is why the King Leopold was so interested in this rubber.
Then the force publique also came into this which was created largely from local African’s and many of Belgian officers in order to marshal labor, quell revolts, and enforce the collection of rubber and ivory. The force publique would chop off the hands of the victims and children to prove to their supervisors that they would not be wasting their bullets on animals. After this then a Congolese soldier of the Force Publique had to present to his white officer the
severed hand of a rebel killed. If a soldier fired at someone and missed, or used a bullet to shoot game, he then cut off the hand of a living victim to be able to show it to his officer. Sense chopping so many hands became a habit this soon became the symbol of the Congo Free State.
In the end king Leopold ii thought he could keep his camp under control and in a secret with all his power he had, but he couldn’t. Witnesses came out, the first witnesses that said something were Protestant missionaries. At this time the missioners were not seen as a reliable source on political events because the culture of the time simply thought they should be doing their job and not involving them self in politics. King Leopold tried to say that these missioners were all saying lies but then people started to believe them around the 1890’s. Then the media started to also believe and agreed to take reports of missionaries more seriously and went to investigate for themselves. They found out that what the missioners were saying was true. Then later on King Leopold died in his bed at Laeken Palace on December 17, 1909, age 74.
This Congo colony was ruled by King Leopold which the victims were so brutally hurt and torture. In this case he turned his “Congo free state” to a massive labor camp. In twenty three years Leopold ii ruled the Congo, he mascaraed ten million of Africans by cutting their hands and genitals, flogging them to death, starving them, force labor to work, holding children and women down, raping them, and last but not least burning down their villages. In alliance with this ten million innocent people died in this camp, but he claimed that he was doing it for their own good and to protect the natives from Arab slavers, and to open the heart of Africa to Christians. Would you think this is for their own good if people were dyeing? In my opinion I don’t think it was.
King Leopold ii made a fortune money for himself in this camp from his rubber that he would collect sending out the innocent men to go out and look for. They would use a tacked the army would choose a man from every village then the men would have to go out into the forest to look for rubber as there wife’s and children were tied up against the wall being abused and raped. Then if the men would not bring enough rubber back and if the agent would lose their commission the agents would order the death of everyone or chop their hands off and would not have compassion at all for anyone. Though it is said that king Leopold ii committed these atrocities by not even setting foot in the Congo. The rubber that the men’s would go out and look for was a great demand in Europe for use in the manufacture of bicycle and automobile tires, this is why the King Leopold was so interested in this rubber.
Then the force publique also came into this which was created largely from local African’s and many of Belgian officers in order to marshal labor, quell revolts, and enforce the collection of rubber and ivory. The force publique would chop off the hands of the victims and children to prove to their supervisors that they would not be wasting their bullets on animals. After this then a Congolese soldier of the Force Publique had to present to his white officer the
severed hand of a rebel killed. If a soldier fired at someone and missed, or used a bullet to shoot game, he then cut off the hand of a living victim to be able to show it to his officer. Sense chopping so many hands became a habit this soon became the symbol of the Congo Free State.
In the end king Leopold ii thought he could keep his camp under control and in a secret with all his power he had, but he couldn’t. Witnesses came out, the first witnesses that said something were Protestant missionaries. At this time the missioners were not seen as a reliable source on political events because the culture of the time simply thought they should be doing their job and not involving them self in politics. King Leopold tried to say that these missioners were all saying lies but then people started to believe them around the 1890’s. Then the media started to also believe and agreed to take reports of missionaries more seriously and went to investigate for themselves. They found out that what the missioners were saying was true. Then later on King Leopold died in his bed at Laeken Palace on December 17, 1909, age 74.
Sources
- Hochschild, Adam. "Leopold II." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica. Web. 13 May 2016. <http://www.britannica.com/biography/Leopold-II-king-of-Belgium>.
- "Leopold II of Belgium." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 13 May 2016. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_II_of_Belgium>.