King Leopold II

King Leopold II Was The King Of Belgium From 1865 To His Death In 1909. He Was Also Owner Of The Congo Free State From 1885 Till His Death. He Is Infamous For Enslaving Much Of The Congolese Population And Forcing Them To Work For Rubber, With Often Severe Punishments For Not Doing so, Such As Cutting Of Hands, Whipping, And Even Death.

Leopold II was born To Leopold I in Brussels on 9 April 1835, Being The Heir To The Belgian Throne. His Mother Would Die In 1850, When Leopold Was Only 15 Years Old

At The Age Of 18 Leopold Married Marine Henriette, Though They Later Split Up. After Becoming King In 1865, Leopold Prepared For Overseas Colonisation, Believing It Was The Key To A Country's Success. He Failed Many Times To Make A Colony, Finally Succeeding In 1876, Establishing A Holding Company Disguised As A Scientific Association Named The International African Society, And Begun Colonising The Congo Area. In 1885, He Established The Congo Free State, Ruling The "Free" State With An Iron Fist.

The Native Africans Did Not Respond Well To The Sudden Military Activity, Causing Many Tribal Revolts Which Leopold Used As An Excuse To Burn Down Entire Villages That Sometimes Had Nothing To Do With The Revolts. After Realising The Vast Amount Of Rubber In His Colony, Leopold Put The Native Population To Work, Acquiring Rubber In Often Dangerous Environments. Natives That Would Refuse To Do So Were Usually Killed, And They Would Often Be Whipped For Long Periods For Nothing At All. Entire Villages Were Burnt To A Crisp Because One Person Refused, And The People Often Had No Time To Feed Their Family.

Africans Were Often Forced To Kill Their Own People When They Refused, And Sometimes Villages Would Be Burned For "Rebelling" With No Evidence. Roughly 8 million Congolese Were Killed During The Free State. This Was All Overseen And Even Encouraged By Leopold II, Believing The Belgians Superior To The "Negros". Eventually Due To Pressure

By The International Community, Leopold Ceased The Free State In 1908, Dying One Year Later.