King Leopold's Congo Free State to Come to an End
The Congo Free State, King Leopold of Belgium's murderous personal kingdom, is soon to come to an end due to the recent outcry from various groups about the brutalities being perpetrated by Leopold's corrupt government.
The territory of the Congo, located in central Africa, will be reverted to the Belgian Government and will be renamed the Belgian Congo.Perhaps this will signal an end of the barbarity for our Congolese Race. Our area, Africa's richest in natural resources such as rubber and precious stones, was first given over to Belgium at the Berlin Conference.
Prior to this conference, 
Leopold sent one of his explorers, Henry Morton Stanley, to explore this area and make several treaties with local chieftans on Leopold's behalf. He obtained these agreements through a use of deceitful sleight of hand tricks and threats. We, the African people, will be glad to see the last of Leopold II.
When he acquired the territory in 1885, Leopold named it the Congo Free State in support of his noble ideas for its future. At the Berlin Conference, he was reported to have said that he wanted to bring freedom and Christianity to the Congo, and the flag that was proposed for his Congo Free State, a blue field with a bright yellow star in the middle, was to symbolize the light of civilization in the middle of "the dark continent". Unfortunately, what followed was anything but what had been proposed. Promises were broken, and in showing his true face, Leopold branded himself a murderous barbarian.
Leopold destroyed our land by turning the Congo into his own personal kingdom over the next two decades. His aim turned from civilizing and bringing peace to the natives to making as much profit off of the Congo's many natural resources as he could. He began to cede huge tracts of land to private rubber and mining companies, along with the people on those lands. He imposed outrageous taxes and turned the Congo into an area that was feared and our people into a race of slaves.
These and other brutalities were brought to the attention of the world by the many Catholic missionaries w
ho had moved to the region, along with various explorers. Reports included appointed officials outright murdering those who could not pay their taxes and then cutting off and drying their right hands to keep a tally of those who could not pay. Our people were forced to turn to cannibalism and murder to survive. The only food to be found was that off of our brothers' bodies, the only solace for our barbarity was hope that one day, Leopold would pay for his crimes. Finally, the Belgian Government decided to do something about these atrocities and turn the Congo Free State into a protectorate of the Belgian Government. It will soon be renamed the Belgian Congo and be remanded into the hands of parliament.
Hopefully, this new government will signal a turnaround for the Congo. King Leopold's reign has greatly damaged our region and depleted its supply of everything, including people. The population has been reported to have gone down from around 50 million to 15 million people. Disease, kidnappings, malnutrition and murder were among the main causes of these millions of deaths. Even the Belgian population has turned against its King. Perhaps, with a new order here, the Congo's people will finally be able to enjoy the natural riches which are rightfully ours.
Footnotes:
1. Edgerton, Robert B. The Troubled Heart of Africa: A History of the Congo. (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2002), 93-98.
2. Hochschild, Adam. King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa. (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998), 145.
Image Citations:
1. Edgerton, Robert B. The Troubled Heart of Africa: A History of the Congo. (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2002), 93-98.
2. <http://www.chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/i2l/kls.html>
3.<http://www.pbs.org/newshour/images/art/jan-june98/afart20.gif >
4. <http://www.vauxhallsociety.org.uk/Stanley.jpg>
