King Leopold by

Who King Leopold Was and What he Did

854661_1 — 2025-04-22 15:08:06 UTC

King Leopold ll was the King of Belgium from 1865-1909. Because Belgium is such a small country, King Leopold was not very well known and craved more power. His opportunity arose on November 15, 1884 when the Berlin Conference began. All of the European leaders were invited to Berlin after discovering Africa. Due to Africa being so rich in resources, these European leaders decided to divide the land between them, without Africans knowing. King Leopold immediately laid his hands on the Congo Free State, wanting to build an empire. Through his time owning the Congo Free State, Leopold abused people and put them through forced labor, eventually killing 10,000,000 Congolese people through a span of 13 years. This is why King Leopold is guilty and responsible for what he did to the Congolese people.

Fake Humanitarian/Evidence 1

854661_1 — 2025-04-22 19:29:22 UTC

After driving powerful Muslim slave traders out of the country, "Leopold portrayed this as a great humanitarian act, his real purpose was to gain control of the upper Congo River and to acquire more workers" (The Heart of Darkness, paragraph 3).

Abuse and Labor

854661_1 — 2025-04-23 01:24:22 UTC

After the Congo Free State was investigated, there was clear, "evidence of hostage-taking, floggings, mutilation, forced labor, and outright murder" (A Secret Society of Murderers, paragraph 2).

Executing orders/Evidence 1

854661_1 — 2025-04-23 01:32:22 UTC

Leopold had ordered his agents to hold, "the wives and children of these men as hostages until they returned with their quota of rubber" (The Heart of Darkness, paragraph 4).

Reasoning 1:

854661_1 — 2025-04-23 14:47:08 UTC

Many people were unaware of what Leopold was doing in the Congo and pinned him as a great king and humanitarian for claiming the Congo Free State for Belgium and kicking slave traders out of the Congo. However, that wasn't the case. Leopold originally took the Congo for himself, and paid off many journalists to portray him as a great king. Later though, a man named Edmund Dene Morel discovered that Leopold wasn't who everybody thought he was, after figuring out that 10,000,000 people died under his watch.

Reasoning 2:

854661_1 — 2025-04-23 14:51:48 UTC

Leopold had executed orders telling his army to take the hostage of these wife and kids of these men, that were providing Leopold with Ivory and Rubber. If these men refused to do their work, they would be killed in an instant. King Leopold was behind this the whole time, being the mastermind, powering these demands and orders.

Reasoning 3:

854661_1 — 2025-04-23 14:57:06 UTC

King Leopold's strategy to gain the resources he valued most (ivory and rubber) was to put a quota in place, giving the men that worked for him a goal. If they were unable to obtain this amount of the specific resource by the end of the day, they would be abused and killed. King Leopold was able to abuse these innocent people, despite ever having to step foot in the Congo.