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King Leopold II, whose rule of the Congo Free State was marked by severe atrocities, violence and major population decline.. Even before his accession to the throne of Belgium in 1865, the future king Leopold II began lobbying leading Belgian politicians to create a colonial empire in the Far East or in Africa, which would expand and enhance Belgian prestige. [2]
In 1885, Leopold's efforts to establish Belgian influence in the Congo Basin were awarded with the État Indépendant du Congo (CFS, Congo Free State). By a resolution passed in the Belgian Parliament, Leopold became roi souverain , sovereign king, of the newly formed CFS, over which he enjoyed nearly absolute control.
The Belgian Congo (French: Congo belge, pronounced [kɔ̃ɡo bɛlʒ]; Dutch: Belgisch-Congo) [a] was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964.
The skulls reportedly belonged to people killed between January 1893 and May 1894, according to IOL News. From 1908 until 1960, the Belgian Congo was a Belgian colony in Central Africa.
The monuments were supposed to help get rid of the scandal after international commotion about the atrocities in the Congo Free State during Leopold II's rule, and to raise people's enthusiasm for the colonial enterprise in Belgian Congo. [65] Leopold's controversial regime in the Congo Free State has motivated proposals for these statues to be ...
Leopold's advisors believed that peace had been restored and suggested he left, but soon after the Hotel of Trazegnies was also ransacked and the military were sent in. [81] Over 115 people were arrested and seven were wounded, before the Belgian legislature passes a law that would punish pro-Orangist propaganda. [82]
Planned in 1909, the day after the death of King Leopold II, the Monument to the Belgian Pioneers in Congo was meant to be a patriotic hommage to the so-called 'civilising mission' of the first Belgian colonials, and more specifically, to the transfer of the Congo Free State by Leopold II to Belgium in 1908. [1]
Roughly 98% of Belgium's overseas territory was just one colony (about 76 times larger than Belgium itself) – known as the Belgian Congo. The colony was founded in 1908 following the transfer of sovereignty from the Congo Free State, which was the personal property of Belgium's king, Leopold II. The violence used by Free State officials ...