https://padlet.com/sdobbertin/uxpqrrh2ffw4 Made with a lightning strike of genius en-us 2017-11-27 12:58:16 UTC 2025-12-01 22:58:10 UTC hello@padlet.com sdobbertin https://padlet.com/sdobbertin/uxpqrrh2ffw4/wish/210365489 Congo natives were treated with incredible disrespect. Women were often held as hostages, and men were forced to harvest ivory, rubber, and other natural resources. Both men and women were also subject to torture. The practice of severing hands was a common torture method by Leopold and his subjects. 
Diseases were also very common. Due to British entering the Congo, new pathogens were introduced to the people of the Congo, to which they had not built any immunity towards. Many deaths of Congo natives were a result of disease, not necessarily a result of brutality.




]]> 2017-11-27 13:00:42 UTC https://padlet.com/sdobbertin/uxpqrrh2ffw4/wish/210365489 gstash https://padlet.com/sdobbertin/uxpqrrh2ffw4/wish/210368338 Humans have lived in the Congo region for the last 90,000 years, but it was first formally surveyed by European Explorer Henry Morton Stanley in the 1870's, under the sponsorship of King Leopold II of Belgium. Following Stanley's exploration, Leopold took private ownership of the region and renamed it the "Congo Free State". Leopold was the sole owner and profited greatly from the ivory and rubber that came out of the region. Under his rule, millions of Congolese died of starvation and atrocities and the Congo was eventually annexed by the Belgian Government after Leopold's death in 1908, becoming the "Belgian Congo".]]> 2017-11-27 13:07:45 UTC https://padlet.com/sdobbertin/uxpqrrh2ffw4/wish/210368338 sdobbertin https://padlet.com/sdobbertin/uxpqrrh2ffw4/wish/210369957 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx2Sj1fhSso]]> 2017-11-27 13:11:55 UTC https://padlet.com/sdobbertin/uxpqrrh2ffw4/wish/210369957 gstash https://padlet.com/sdobbertin/uxpqrrh2ffw4/wish/210852715 Leopold utilized a private colonial military, the Force Publique, to force the natives into harvesting ivory, which could be sold at a great profit back in Europe. Later, towards the end of the 19th century when rubber prices skyrocketed, Leopold again forced the natives to collect rubber from the native rubber trees growing in the Congo. All these profits went solely to Leopold, who was the sole owner of the Congo Free State.]]> 2017-11-28 12:53:53 UTC https://padlet.com/sdobbertin/uxpqrrh2ffw4/wish/210852715 sdobbertin https://padlet.com/sdobbertin/uxpqrrh2ffw4/wish/210853740 At the Berlin Conference in 1884, King Leopold was allowed ownership of the Congo, only if he were to run the province in ways that would benefit the natives. 
Leopold, however, essentially ignored these  plans, and instead, used the Congo's natural resources for his own personal gain.
The Force Publique (Public Force) was a form of law enforcement used by the Belgians to keep their control over the Congo.]]> 2017-11-28 12:56:16 UTC https://padlet.com/sdobbertin/uxpqrrh2ffw4/wish/210853740 gstash https://padlet.com/sdobbertin/uxpqrrh2ffw4/wish/210854443 2017-11-28 12:57:42 UTC https://padlet.com/sdobbertin/uxpqrrh2ffw4/wish/210854443 gstash https://padlet.com/sdobbertin/uxpqrrh2ffw4/wish/210855896 2017-11-28 13:01:24 UTC https://padlet.com/sdobbertin/uxpqrrh2ffw4/wish/210855896