King Leopold II Of Belgium Born 1835 Oldest

King Leopold II Of Belgium • Born 1835 • Oldest son of King Leopold I, first king of the Belgians

King Leopold II Of Belgium • Joins Army at an early age • Becomes a duke in 1846 (age 11) • Marries in 1853

King Leopold II Of Belgium • Widely traveled • Holds the belief that Belgium should become a colonial power

King Leopold II Of Belgium • He becomes king in 1865 when his father dies but as a constitutional monarch, has no power to decide governmental policy

King Leopold II Of Belgium • Lobbies Parliament to get a colony over the next 20 years and eventually decides to establish his own private colony, singling out Africa to do so.

King Leopold II Of Belgium • 1876—sponsors an international geographical conference in Brussels for the purpose of civilizing and exploring Africa (International African Association)

King Leopold II Of Belgium • Privately tells Henry Morton Stanley (an explorer) to “purchase as much land as you will be able to obtain” in the Congo • Also tells him to give no “political power to the Negroes”.

King Leopold II Of Belgium • Stanley buys all the ivory he can too. • Stanley gets the chiefs of the Congo to give up much land in exchange for bolts of cloth and trinkets.

King Leopold II Of Belgium • Eventually holds a conference to establish the terms under which many nations were to divide up Africa

King Leopold II Of Belgium • He plays on the jealousies of the parties and gets 900, 000 acres for his own country (75 times the size of his own Belgium)

King Leopold II Of Belgium • Under the guise of “humanitarian pretences, ” the so -called “Congo Free State” turned the whole area in to a forced labor camp in which natives extracted ivory and rubber.

King Leopold II Of Belgium • Approximately 10 million people died working for this cause between 1880 and 1920. • Conrad recounted his own observations before this hit the national presses.

King Leopold II Of Belgium • HOW DID HE GET AWAY WITH IT? • Prohibited trade in arms • Set his own terms of employment for the natives (7 yrs. Of indentured servitude) • Establishes the Force Publique which enforces his rules and crushes uprisings.