King Leopold II of Belgium created the Congo Free State as his private fiefdom—a business venture—during Europe’s scramble for African territories. The Belgian government seized the state from Leopold after public revelations of his brutal and ruthless exploitation of the Congolese people. In twenty-two years, an estimated ten million Congolese—half the population—were forced into labor and were murdered or died from disease or starvation.
In September, 1908, the Belgian parliament passed an annexation treaty and a colonial charter that specified how the Congo Free State (CFS) would be managed, without Belgian king Leopold II. On November 15, in a ceremony in the state’s capital of Boma, the CFS became the Belgian Congo. The worst of the abuses perpetrated by Leopold’s administration had finally decreased because of international and domestic pressure, and the abuses were prohibited with the transfer of power. The economic exploitation and the political and cultural repression of colonial rule persisted, albeit in a more benign manner, but nothing compared to Leopold’s twenty-two-year exploitation of the Congolese people.
King Leopold II.
Newly independent Belgium had no interest in colonialism, but its second king, Leopold II, had always coveted an overseas colony. He had explored the purchase or acquisition of areas around the world. During the mid-nineteenth century, sub-Saharan Africa was largely unexplored and, except for the coastal areas, was mostly unclaimed by European countries, leading Leopold to Africa’s interior.
In 1879, Leopold hired the British American explorer Henry Morton Stanley to survey the Congo River area and to build a road, establish posts along the navigable river, and make treaties with Congolese chiefs along the way. The survey was made under the guise of the
Leopold quickly abandoned the pretense of a free trade zone and instead controlled the country through private trusts. He declared that any uncultivated land was vacant and available for exploitation. He authorized forced labor for the Congolese population on behalf of his economic interests, primarily the collection of rubber and ivory. Congolese who refused to provide labor, rubber, and ivory, or who did not meet their assigned quotas, were beaten and mutilated (amputating hands was a common practice), their wives and children were kidnapped, women were raped, their villages were burned, and many of the uncooperative were executed. In the twenty-two years the CFS existed, an estimated ten million Congolese—half the population—lost their lives to murder, starvation, and disease.
The CFS was unique in being a personal fiefdom rather than a colony. Accordingly, Leopold had total control of its resources and was answerable to no one. He chose to maximize his short-term economic gains at all costs. He gave his agents the authority to impose draconian methods to maximize his return. They took possession of all lands and forced compliance with demands for labor, rubber, and ivory.
When novelist Joseph Conrad
In 1900, Edmund Dene Morel was a clerk for an English company with a shipping contract for the CFS. He noticed that returning ships were full of valuable products, such as raw rubber and ivory, while the outgoing ships carried guns, ordnance, explosives, and chains, but no commercial goods. After realizing that Leopold had created a forced labor system of immense proportions, in essence
Red Rubber: The Story of the Rubber Slave Trade Flourishing on the Congo in the Year of Grace, 1906.
In response to Morel’s accounts, the British House of Commons passed a 1903 resolution on the Congo and subsequently ordered the British consul in the Congo, Roger Casement, to inspect the region. His 1904 report, which meticulously confirmed Morel’s accusations, had a considerable impact on public opinion. Morel and Casement established the Congo Reform Association
King Leopold’s Soliloquy, a fiercely satirical pamphlet, and Doyle published The Crime of the Congo
Leopold rebutted the accusations, belittled them, and suggested they were part of a British campaign of expansionism. However, under external pressure, he instituted his own commission of enquiry in 1904. Its report, which Leopold tried to suppress, substantially confirmed the accusations. After being shown the report, the vice governor-general of the Congo committed suicide. In 1906,
The United States, Britain, France, and Germany pressured Belgium to take over the Congo and remove Leopold from its control. In 1906 the Belgian parliament voted in principle to do so. Leopold, however, insisted on being paid to give up his rights to the country and managed to extract 110 million francs to cover his outstanding debts, 45 million francs to complete the building projects in Belgium he had started, and 50 million francs in future receipts from the Congo. He also destroyed many records of his tenure in the Congo.
The atrocities perpetrated by Leopold II’s administration, unthinkable in their severity and scale, also led to the formation of a new awareness of crimes against humanity (indeed, the phrase was coined at this time) and to the founding of the first large-scale human rights group, the
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Ewans, Martin. European Atrocity, African Catastrophe: Leopold II, the Congo Free State, and Its Aftermath. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2002. A well-documented book exploring Leopold’s abuses in the Congo Free State. -
Gondola, Charles Didier. The History of the Congo. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2002. Places the Leopoldian years in the context of Congo history. -
Hochschild, Adam. King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998. A readable and well-researched history of the Congo Free State. -
Twain, Mark. King Leopold’s Soliloquy: A Defense of His Congo Rule. Boston: P. R. Warren, 1905. Satirical pamphlet that includes biting cartoons and pictures of maimed women and children. Part of the campaign to bring attention to Leopold’s atrocities in the Congo. Available in several modern reprint editions.
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