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Belgium wanted some of Congo's resources and took things such as Ivory, Diamond, Rubber and Copper.

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Stanley's usual methods were:

- Negotiations with local chiefs, buying domination in exchange for cloth and trinkets.

- (If needed) shot the chief and negotiated with its successor instead

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the violence used by Free State officials against indigenous Congolese and a ruthless system of economic extraction led to intense diplomatic pressure on Belgium to take official control of the country, which it did in 1908, creating the Belgian Congo.

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The Belgian colonial empire comprised three colonies controlled by belgium are Belgium Congo Ruanda-urundi and a Concession in China

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The Belgian colonies eradicated advanced education for the priests of the Church in order to help the rest of the Congolese get a better education at school from their basic primary education. The Belgian colonial empire was one of the few empires in Africa to not promote education as of a high importance, unlike Britain and France.

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PROS

- Built schools to help educate the Natives,

- Bought new technology

- Bought new medicines

CONS

- Overcame the Natives, instead of helping them

- Destroyed Congo's previous way of living and left it

- Killed Natives in attempts to "humanize" them

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In 1908, Leopold was forced to hand over the Congo Free State to the Belgian government, which brought some improvements. They built some schools, railways, roads, plantations, mines, industrial areas, and airports. However, society was separated into 2: the whites (who had all the luxuries) and the natives (who were not allowed to participate in the running of their own country).

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King Leopold II decided that to have a Belgian colony in Congo would demand power from other European countries. As well as this, Belgium also wanted some of Congo's resources and wanted to convert the people of Congo to Christianity. The Belgians decided it was their "job/calling" to colonize Congo.

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The second king of Belgium, Leopold II, commissioned Sir Henry Morton Stanley's expedition to explore the Congo region in 1876, creating Leopold's own personal colony, called The Congo Free State. It was 74 times the size of Belgium. His rule was brutal, as his soldiers were rewarded by the amount of hands they amputated from native workers as a punishment for not working hard enough.

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The King of Belgium at the tine, King Leopold II led the colonization of Congo