Congo Free State
Congo Free State État indépendant du Congo | |||||||||
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| 1885–1908 | |||||||||
 Coat of arms
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| Motto: French: Travail et progrès (Work and Progress) | |||||||||
| Anthem: "Towards the Future" | |||||||||
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| Status | Personal union with the Kingdom of Belgium | ||||||||
| Capital | Boma | ||||||||
| Common languages | French (de facto official), more than 200 indigenous languages | ||||||||
| Government | Absolute monarchy | ||||||||
| Ruler and owner | |||||||||
• 1885-1908 | Leopold II of Belgium | ||||||||
| Governor-general | |||||||||
• 1885–1886 | Francis Walter de Winton (first) | ||||||||
• 1900-1908 | Théophile Wahis (last) | ||||||||
| Historical era | New Imperialism | ||||||||
| July 1[1] 1885 | |||||||||
| November 15 1908 | |||||||||
| Currency | Congolese franc | ||||||||
| ISO 3166 code | CG | ||||||||
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The Congo Free State (French: État indépendant du Congo) was a large area in Central Africa. It was privately owned by Leopold II, King of the Belgians. Leopold convinced the international community that he was involved in humanitarian work. He attracted scientific and humanitarian backing for the International African Association (French: Association internationale africaine), which he formed during a Brussels Geographic Conference of geographic societies, explorers, and leaders he hosted in 1876. Leopold used the Association and the defunct "Committee for Studies of the Upper Congo" (French: Comité d'études du Haut-Congo) as a way to claim most of the Congo Basin.
Leopold created the International Association of the Congo (French: Association internationale du Congo) as a new organization. The entity was officially recognized by the Berlin Conference of 1884-85 and various governments. On May 29, 1885, the king named his new private property in Central Africa, the Congo Free State (French: État indépendant du Congo) and ruled it as both a dictator and an absolute monarch (even though he never visited his private property in Central Africa).
The colonial governors of the Congo Free State ordered Leopold's private army, the Force Publique to commit amputations of the hands and sometimes feet of the locals, in order to gain full control and force the locals into extracting mainly rubber, gold and ivory on plantations for Leopold II's personal profit.
His harsh rule was responsible for the deaths of between five to 10 million Congolese people. The Congo became one of the most infamous international scandals of the Edwardian period. As a result, Leopold II was forced to give control of his private property to the government of Belgium. The Belgian government took control in 1908 and turned it into the Belgian Congo.
References
[change | change source]- ↑ Encyclopædia Britannica