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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]
Belgian apologies to the Congo are the subject of a societal debate in Belgium over the expression of apologies for the role that country has played in the atrocities that have been committed in the Congo Free State (or the Independent State of Congo) and the Belgian Congo between 1885 and 1960, and the colony of Ruanda-Urundi (1924–1962).
Belgian Mission - Congo Genocide: 1890 to 1910 10/15 Millions Deaths By King Leopold II, the constitutional monarch of Belgium against African Congolese people. In the 19th century, Leopold II, tried to persuade the governance to colonize certain areas of Africa. Under the pretext of humanitarian purposes, he managed to legally own the Kongo ...
The Belgians freed thousands of men, women and children slaves from Swaihili Arab slave owners and slave traders in Eastern Congo in 1886-1892, enlisted them in the militia Force Publique or turned them over as prisoners to allied local chiefs, who in turn gave them as laborers for the Belgian conscript workers; when Belgian Congo was ...
Opposition to atrocities in the Congo Free State (1 C, 6 P) P. ... Belgian apologies to the Congo; C. Congo Free State propaganda war; Paul Costermans; K. King ...
In the Daily Express the book was praised as "the most powerful indictment yet launched against the Belgian rulers of this bloodstained colony". The Express also noted that "After reviewing the early history of the Congo Free State Sir Arthur quotes the testimony of many unimpeachable witnesses regarding the brutalities of the 'rubber system' and the coldblooded mutilation and massacre of ...
News of these atrocities brought slow, but powerful, international condemnation of Leopold's administration leading, eventually, to his assignment of the country to Belgian administration. In 1908, Belgium annexed the Congo as a colony and proclaimed a general sea-change in administrative policy. Actual change, however, was nearly imperceptible.
The Belgian Congo, today the Democratic Republic of the Congo, highlighted on a map of Africa. Colonial rule in the Congo began in the late 19th century. King Leopold II of Belgium, frustrated by Belgium's lack of international power and prestige, attempted to persuade the Belgian government to support colonial expansion around the then-largely unexplored Congo Basin.