Jack Congo suspect by

King Leopold II

944379 — 2025-04-22 15:51:55 UTC

King Leopold was the King of Belgium. When at the Berlin Conference he claimed the Congo Free State. He then turned the Congo and created a system that the people of the Congo had to produce rubber. He got the Congolese to do this by treaties and paid and funded the entire expedition even though Leopold had never stepped foot in the Belgian Congo.

Why he is responsible

944379 — 2025-04-22 16:10:06 UTC

King Leopold is responsible for the deaths of 10 million Congolese people. King Leopold is the King of Belgium and during the Berlin Conference claimed the Congo. King Leopold didn't claim this land for Belgium but instead claimed this land for himself as his own colony. He is mostly to blame because of the fact that he funded the expedition of the Congo and used the Congo to create a profit and gain power and wealth. He also created a fake reputation as a humanitarian. This is how King Leopold is the person to blame for the deaths of the people in the Congo.

Evidence 1

944379 — 2025-04-22 21:13:04 UTC

According to the Suspect Profile, King Leopold "created organizations with humanitarian-sounding names like the International African Association and International Association of the Congo. But you were just using these organizations as a facade for your real motives: power and money."

Reasoning 1

944379 — 2025-04-23 15:44:31 UTC

This is important due to the fact that King Leopold was able to torture the Congo and its people while others believed that he was helping and was a humanitarian. He paid to have fake news reporters to explain what his efforts were to help the people in the Congo. An example of this is how King Leopold got rid of the Muslim Slave Traders. This got people to believe that he was a humanitarian due to the lack of knowledge and information provided to others.

Evidence 3

944379 — 2025-04-23 16:03:02 UTC

According to the Belgian Congo reading it says " Leopold instructed Stanley, under the excuse of doing scientific explorations...to secretly establish monopoly control over the rich Congo ivory trade...Stanley had to get local clan chiefs to sign treaties turning over their lands...Because of the language gap, the Congo chiefs were tricked into signing the deals which left them with virtually no power."

Reasoning 3

944379 — 2025-04-23 16:10:17 UTC

This shows how King Leopold was to blame as a result of paying Henry M. Stanley to sign treaties. This was a clever idea from Leopold because he knew that they didn't speak the same language. Because of this language gap King Leopold sent Stanley with treaties and the Chiefs signed them without knowing that they gave over the land and put Leopold in power.

Counterclaim

944379 — 2025-04-23 21:06:25 UTC

However, some people might argue that Henry M. Stanley was the person to blame because he was the one who went to the Congo and got Chiefs to sign treaties. This is incorrect due to the fact that Leopold funded and paid for the expedition and he was the one that came up with the plans and the treaties.

Evidence 2

944379 — 2025-04-23 21:10:18 UTC

The Belgian Congo reading states "He guessed rightly that the many natives needed to collect the rubber were forced to do so at gunpoint."

Reasoning 2

944379 — 2025-04-23 21:17:01 UTC

This explains that King Leopold was the main person to blame. This is because he funded and started the Belgian Congo. He then got the natives to sign treaties and then made them collect rubber at gunpoint. This is how Leopold is the person to blame for the horrid things that happened in the Congo Free State.