Introduction

On February 5, 1885, King Leopold II of Belgium established a colony named Congo Free State. Leopold seized Congo as his own personal possession, claiming he would “bring civilization to the people of Congo.”  However, the real reason was because Congo had a rich amount of rubber that permitted him to make a lot of money. The Belgian government loaned him money to develop his project. Additionally, the motivation of Leopold to colonize Belgium was because he was following a trend in Europe named Age of Imperialism. From 1870 to 1914 in the Age of Imperialism Europeans were interested in expanding their territories and strengthening their power so they decided to colonize other nations. As for Leopold, he was also interested in strengthening Belgium and persuaded European nations to grant him ownership of Congo during the Berlin Conference (1884-1885), a conference made among Europeans to distribute the lands of Africa. Leopold II’s brutality was one of history’s greatest crimes against humanity. Between April 9, 1835 and December 17, 1909, approximately 15 million Congolese died due to malnutrition, overwork, exhaustion, and some were directly killed. However, local and foreign opponents resisted Leopold II’s brutal rule of the Congo through armed resistance, reporting and political organizing.