LEOPOLD II OF BELGIUM
African nations are often described as unstable. There is a great deal of truth in this statement because almost all post-colonial African nations have gone through political violence and economic mismanagement during the mid and late twentieth century
Here' is the belgian congo ,"the free congo state"
Leopold II (9 April 1835 – 17 December 1909) reigned as the second King of Belgians from 1865 to 1909. He became popular for founding and exploitation of the Congo Free State as a private venture. Yes!! Private venture
He was born in Brussels as the second and only surviving son ofLeopold I and Louise of Orléans, he succeeded his father to the Belgian throne in 1865 and reigned for 44 straight years until his death that was the longest reign of any Belgian monarch. He died without surviving male issue
The Congo was a case granted to King Leopold II of Belgium, the Congo was actually a “personal” concession for the King, instead of a colony. The King, "not the Belgian government" owned and controlled the Congo effectively.
Leopold II administered the Congo in a brutal manner, he was using it to increase his own personal wealth . The Congo’s wealth, which included numerous rubber trees, was extracted brutally using what we knw as slave labor. The rubber forcefully extracted was exported to fuel the industrial growth of both nineteenth- and early twentieth-century America and Europe.
He ruled the Congo using the mercenary Force Publique to enhance his wealth. He also made of used great sums of the money from this exploitation for public and private construction projects in Belgium during this period. He gave up the private buildings to the state before his death, to preserve them for Belgium.
Under his reign millions of the Congolese people died,modern estimates range from 1 to 15 million, with a growing 10 million consensus, also Human-rights abuses under his régime leads to a significant number death.
The reports of deaths and abuse in the early 20th century acted to a major international scandal, and the Belgian government forced Leopold to relinquish control of the colony ultimately to Belgian civil administration in 1908.
Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_II_of_Belgium
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I like to think of django unchained whenever I see stuffs like this. Take my mind off the cruelty
Yea Django Unchained's commitment to condemning the atrocities of slavery is cruelty yea cruelty
Autocracy in African communities in the pre and post colonial era is something that cannot be forget in a hurry. Thank God for democracy.
You so onpoint sir