Congo Free State ( Belgian Congo, Belgian Congo, Rwanda and Urundi) King. Native peoples were forced to gather ivory and transport it for export. Also in 2005, the American and British publishers of King Leopold's Ghost reissued the book with a new afterword[6] by Hochschild in which he talks about the reactions to the book, the death toll, and events in the Congo since its publication. Leopold II (French: Léopold Louis Philippe Marie Victor, Dutch: Leopold Lodewijk Filips Maria Victor; 9 April 1835 - 17 December 1909) was the second King of the Belgians from 1865 to 1909, and the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free State from 1885 to 1908.. Born in Brussels as the second but eldest-surviving son of Leopold I and Louise of Orléans, Leopold succeeded his father to the . The people of the Congo did not suffer these injustices without fighting back. King Leopold II ruled over Belgium from 1865 to 1909. To enforce the rubber quotas, the colonists cut off the limbs of the natives as a matter of policy. 18.00. Leopold II's rule in what is now Democratic Republic of Congo was so bloody it was eventually condemned by other European colonialists in 1908 - but it has taken far longer to come under scrutiny at home. BelgianCongo Belgian Congo - Léopold III - (Democratic Republic of the Congo) - all 1 Franc of the year 1944 -World War II coins. The baskets of severed hands, set down at the feet of the European post commanders, became the symbol of the Congo Free State…The collection of hands became an end in itself. On Monday the University of Mons removed a bust of the late king, following the circulation of a student-led petition saying it represented the "rape, mutilation and genocide of millions of Congolese". The extraction of ivory and mining also helped to fill Leopold’s coffers. Meanwhile, early missionaries and human rights advocates such as Roger Casement, E. D. Morel, George Washington Williams, and William Henry Sheppard began to circulate news of the widespread atrocities committed in the Congo under the official blessing of Leopold's administration. Weight: 10 g. Very rare! Numista does not buy or sell coins or banknotes. Lot of 4 Belgian Congo Leopold II silver coins. It was only in the 19. As competition from other areas of rubber cultivation mounted, Leopold’s private rule was left increasingly vulnerable to international scrutiny. He had already become famous for finding alive, in 1871, British missionary David Livingstone, who had gone missing in the continent six years previously; Stanley had also made expeditions to look for the source of the Nile. In history classes, each generation is taught that he was a humanitarian who brought Christianity and the wonders of civilization to The Congo Free State. There were even small wars where villages attacked neighboring villages to gather hands, since their rubber quotas were too unrealistic to fill. Following its annexation by the Belgian parliament in 1908, the Congo Free State became known as the Belgian Congo. He called it État Indépendant du Congo, the Congo Free State. It ranges from 0 to 100, 0 meaning a very common coin or banknote and 100 meaning a rare coin or banknote among Numista members. Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. Rather than control the Congo as a colony, as other European powers did throughout Africa, Leopold privately owned the region. Numista does not buy or sell coins or banknotes. Because of this, the slave labor industries of the Congo diminished in importance and atrocities became far less frequent. The Force Publique’s officer corps included only white Europeans (Belgian regular soldiers and mercenaries from other countries). In 1870 roughly 80 percent of Africa south of the Sahara Desert was governed by indigenous kings, chiefs, and other rulers. BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgium confronted its colonial past and looked . [4] Recently, however, the museum reopened after an extensive five-year renovation. Beginning c. 1890, rubber—originally manufactured from coagulated sap—became economically significant in international trade. Slavery, exploitation and the reign of terror continued and even increased. Many of his relatives sat on the other thrones of Europe, most He spoke contemptuously of Belgium’s small size, could not speak proper Dutch, the native language of more than half of its citizens, spent long winters in luxurious quarters on the French Riviera, and was estranged from two of his three daughters. In 1908, the area was annexed by Belgium as a colony known as the Belgian Congo. Leopold’s reign in the Congo eventually earned infamy due to the increasing mistreatment of the indigenous peoples. Throughout the tropics, people rushed to sow rubber trees, but those plants could take many years to reach maturity, and in the meantime there was money to be made wherever rubber grew wild. Request availability for Lot: AF720X (Click here) Shipping: Fedex Priority: € 35 ~ (SEK 385). Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. King Philippe marked the 60th anniversary of Belgium ended its colonial rule in Congo, by expressing regret for "acts of violence and cruelty" his country inflicted on the citizens of the African country. Under British and U.S. pressure, the region was removed from Leopold’s personal rule and annexed to Belgium in 1908 as the Belgian Congo. Beginning in the mid-1880s, Leopold first decreed that the state asserted rights of proprietorship over all vacant lands throughout the Congo territory. Early on, the FP was used primarily to campaign against the Arab slave trade in the Upper Congo, protect Leopold’s economic interests, and suppress the frequent uprisings within the state. Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service. The Commissioner has promised us if we have plenty of hands he will shorten our service. Leopold II, King of the Belgians, was fascinated with obtaining a colony and focused upon claiming the interior of Africa—the only unclaimed sizable geographic area. Killings, famine and disease combined to cause the deaths of perhaps 10 million people, though historians dispute the true number. The Congo Free State was a corporate state in Central Africa privately owned by King Leopold II of Belgium founded and recognized by the Berlin Conference of 1885. He is remembered in Belgium for some of what he built with his Congo wealth, such as the monumental Arcade du Cinquantenaire in Brussels, and for his advocacy of strong fortifications in the eastern part of the country, which slowed the advance of German troops in 1914 at the beginning of World War I. web pages Presenting himself as a philanthropist eager to bring the benefits of Christianity, Western civilization, and commerce to African natives—a guise that he perpetuated for many years—Leopold hosted an international conference of explorers and geographers at the royal palace in Brussels in 1876. The newly named “Belgian Congo” remained a colony until the Democratic Republic of Congo gained its independence in 1960. To prove that he had not wasted bullets—or, worse yet, saved them for use in a mutiny—for each bullet expended, a Congolese soldier of the Force Publique had to present to his white officer the severed hand of a rebel killed. For some years ivory was a principal source of the great wealth that Leopold and his associates drew from the new colony. But in the chaos of the early 20th Century when World War One threatened to destroy Belgium, Leopold II's nephew King Albert I erected statues to remember the successes of years gone by. In Kinshasa, the capital of DR Congo, Leopold II's statues were moved to the National Museum. If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media. The Belgian administrators' first priority, therefore, was to make northern . © 1996 - 2023 National Geographic Society. DE L'ETAT INDEP. A Catholic priest quotes a man, Tswambe, speaking of the hated state official Léon Fiévez, who ran a district along the river 500 kilometres (300 mi) north of Stanley Pool: All blacks saw this man as the devil of the Equator…From all the bodies killed in the field, you had to cut off the hands. When you reach out to him or her, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource. Meanwhile, the FP was required to provide the hands of their victims as proof when they had shot and killed someone, as it was believed they would otherwise use the munitions (imported from Europe at considerable cost) for hunting. These detailed unlawful killings and other abuses by Abir, and Leopold II was embarrassed into instituting reforms. Colonial administrators also kidnapped orphaned children from communities and transported them to "child colonies" to work or train as soldiers. 1887, LA#VCM-11: legend by 1887: LEOPOLD II ROI DES BELGES SOUV. For many years Leopold II was widely known as a leader who defended Belgium's neutrality in the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian war and commissioned public works fit for a modern nation. By the early 1890s a new source of riches had appeared. Diameter: 23 mm. Yielding to international pressure, the parliament of Belgium annexed the Congo Free State and took over its administration on November 15, 1908, as the colony of the Belgian Congo. This tax was taken in the form of rubber obtained from a relatively rare rubber vine. Belgian King Removes Statue Of Former Ruler, Regrets Colonial Violence. As the realities and suffering within the Congo Free State became more widely known, many European people spoke out against these abuses. Belgium's education minister announced this week that secondary schools would teach colonial history from next year. A renewed global focus on racism is highlighting a violent colonial history that generated riches for Belgians but death and misery for Congolese. (Believing one people is more civilized than another is wrong.) He became duke of Brabant in 1846 and served in the Belgian army. Several rebellions were mercilessly put down under Leopold's direction. A petition calling on the city for its removal has reached 74,000 signatures. ABIR enjoyed a boom through the late 1890s, by selling a kilogram of rubber in Europe for up to 10 fr which had cost them just 1.35 fr. [14] Belgian historian Jean Stengers commented, "Terrible things happened, but Hochschild is exaggerating. However, rubber exports continued to fall and rebellions increased, resulting in the Free State assuming control of the concession in 1906. This geography -related article is a stub. Meanwhile, the Force Publique (the gendarmerie / military force) were required to provide the hand of their victims as proof when they had shot and killed someone, as it was believed that they would otherwise use the munitions (imported from Europe at considerable cost) for hunting. Diameter varies between 24.8 mm and 29.1 mm. Under Leopold II’s administration, the Congo Free State became one of the greatest international scandals of the early-20th century. On February 5, 1885, Belgian King Leopold II established the Congo Free State by brutally seizing the African landmass as his personal possession. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964.. Colonial rule in the Congo began in the late 19th century. But taking the monument away does not solve the problem of racism, she believes, while creating one museum devoted to the statues would not be useful either. On May 29, 1885, the king named his new colony the Congo Free State. As an answer to the Stokes affair, British activists and politicians formed the Congo Reform Association (CRA), aiming at denouncing the abuses committed by Leopold II and his henchmen. For activists the holy grail is the giant statue of Leopold II on horseback at the gates of the Royal Palace in Brussels. Covered by a dense tropical forest, it had been little mapped by the Europeans. Who is no longer world's richest? Each post was commanded by a European agent and manned with armed sentries to enforce taxation and punish any rebels. One of the most famous explorers of that time was Henry Morton Stanley, a Welsh journalist who dedicated most of his life to unraveling Africa’s secrets. Initially he was most interested in ivory, a material that was greatly valued in the days before plastics because it could be carved into a great variety of shapes—statuettes, jewelry, piano keys, false teeth, and more. There are at least 13 statues to Leopold II in Belgium, according to one crowd-sourced map, and numerous parks, squares and street names. Leopold II, orig. Although Leopold II established Belgium as a colonial power in Africa, he is best known for the widespread atrocities that were carried out under his rule, as a result of which as many as 10 million people died in the Congo Free State. Belgian exploration and administration took place from the 1870s until the 1920s. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. In some areas, the population declined dramatically; it has been estimated that sleeping sickness and smallpox killed nearly half the population in the areas surrounding the lower Congo River. Leopold was succeeded by his nephew, Albert I. Leopold II, King of the Belgians, privately controlled and owned the Congo Free State from 1885 to 1908. The people being colonized are robbed of their land, resources, and freedom.) Leopold’s rėgime began various infrastructure projects, such as construction of the railway that ran from the coast to the capital of Leopoldville (now Kinshasa) and took eight years to complete. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. By: Rylee Moe and Alex Medina King Leopold and The Belgian Congo Leopold II Leopold II became king in 1865 after his fathers death Under Leopold's rule the Congo notorious for its exploitation and mistreatment of the colony's inhabitant. Charles Michel, prime minister at the time, declined. This value is given for information purpose only. Abir continued to receive a portion of profits from rubber exports and in 1911 was refounded as a rubber plantation harvesting company. The royal palace is yet to give its own response. They also burned recalcitrant villages, and above all, cut off the hands of Congolese natives, including children. The country of Belgium itself was only about five years old at the birth of Leopold II, who became the eldest surviving son of Leopold I, first king of the Belgians, and his second wife, Louise-Marie of Orléans. [17] In an article published by The American Conservative, political scientist Bruce Gilley was highly critical of the accuracy of the book.[18]. Weight: 10 g. See the value in the Aernout Laurens books on pages 464 and 465. Rubber revenue went directly to King Leopold II, who paid the Free State for the high costs of exploitation. LEOPOLD II R.D.BELGES SOUV.DE L'ETAT INDEP.DU CONGO 2 minutes read. Just prior to releasing sovereignty over the CFS, Leopold had all evidence of his activities in the CFS destroyed, including the archives of the departments of finance and of the interior. Under Leopold II’s administration, the Congo Free State became the site of one of the most infamous international scandals of the turn of the 20th century. "Civilisation" was at the core of Leopold II's pitch to European leaders in 1885 when they sliced up and allocated territories in what became known as the Scramble for Africa. Frequencies show the percentage of Numista users who own each year or variety among all the users who own this coin. [12][13], While Hochschild has said that his intention was to tell the story in "a way that brings characters alive, that brings out the moral dimension, that lays bare a great crime and a great crusade", he was criticised for his overly moralistic dimension, and former Belgian officials deplored his comparison of Leopold with Hitler and Stalin. These began with the appointment of American Richard Mohun by Leopold II as director of Abir. Lettering: The treaties, some of which appear to have been subsequently doctored to Leopold’s liking, were then put to use by the Belgian monarch. Read about our approach to external linking. I never imagined this happening in my lifetime," Ms Kayembe adds. Belgian Congo. On February 5, 1885, Belgian King Leopold II established the Congo Free State by brutally seizing the African landmass as his personal possession. Statues have been daubed with red paint in Ghent and Ostend and pulled down in Brussels. The era of World War I shifted attention from atrocities in Africa to European trench warfare. [11], Hochschild's estimate of 10 million deaths is generally considered on the high range of possibilities, but a plausible one. Shocked by what he found, Williams immediately penned an "Open Letter" to Leopold . From the beginning, he ensured his vision was humanitarian, not economic, and he sought only to civilize Africa’s remote peoples: “opening up the path for civilization in the only part of our world that it still hasn’t reached, piercing the darkness in which entire populations are shrouded, is, I dare say, a crusade worthy of this era of progress,” he stated during the Berlin Conference. Values in the table above are expressed in EUR. He did however apologise for the kidnapping of thousands of mixed-race children, known as métis, from Burundi, DR Congo and Rwanda in the 1940s and 1950s. Value. Among those who weren't killed, many were punished by having a hand and/or foot amputated. Updates? The title is adopted from the 1914 poem "The Congo", by Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay. Sometimes the hands were collected by the soldiers of the Force Publique, sometimes by the villages themselves. [#1045156] Coin, Belgian Congo, Leopold III, 5 Francs, 1936, VF, Nickel-Bro, nze Buy now $21.14. A summary of the reign of Elizabeth II and events that took place during her reign. Finally, in 1960, the Congo gained independence. For many years Leopold II was widely known as a leader who defended Belgium's neutrality in the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian war and commissioned public works fit for a modern nation. However, this came at a cost to the human rights of those who couldn’t pay the tax, with imprisonment, flogging, and other corporal punishment recorded. Updated: Apr 9, 2022. says Ms Kayembe. This resource is designed to compliment Subject area(s): History, World History, African instruction on "New Imperialism" in World and History, European History European History.Most survey texts provide a sentence or short paragraph on Leopold II and Grade Level: High School the . A series of militarized outposts were established along the length of the Congo River, and imported paddle wheelers commenced regular river service. He called it Congo Free State. They are based on evaluations by Numista users and sales realized on Internet platforms. The newly named “Belgian Congo” remained a colony until the Democratic Republic of Congo gained its independence in 1960. Can UK’s Storm Shadow missiles change Ukraine war? Léopold-Louis-Philippe-Marie-Victor, (born April 9, 1835, Brussels, Belg.—died Dec. 17, 1909, Laeken), King of the Belgians (1865–1909). In 1870 more than 80 percent of Africa south of the Sahara was under the rule of indigenous chiefs or kings. He promised a humanitarian and philanthropic mission that would improve the lives of Africans. He attributes colonial crimes to the king himself, rather than the Belgian people or state. * No order limit FedEx Economy : € 15 ~ (SEK 165). 2 Francs 1891 2 Francs piece under Leopold II of Belgian Congo Ag 83. Updates? BELGIAN CONGO 5 Francs 1936 XF Lion Buy now $42.51 [15], Hochschild was also criticized by Barbara Emerson, the author of a biography of Leopold, who described his book as "a very shoddy piece of work" and declared that "Leopold did not start a genocide. By the final decade of the 19th century, John Boyd Dunlop’s 1887 invention of inflatable rubber bicycle tubes and the growing popularity of the automobile dramatically increased global demand for rubber, leading to major economic boom for rubber production and an increase in the exploitation of the natives. Free shipping for many products! The Congo Free State was a corporate state privately controlled by Leopold II of Belgium through his Association internationale africaine, a non-governmental organization supposedly dedicated to humanitarian purposes. 1 Franc, 1887. To extract the rubber, Congolese workers would lather their bodies with latex, which hardened and was painfully scraped off the skin. The report of the British Consul Roger Casement led to the arrest and punishment of white officials responsible for cold-blooded killings during a rubber-collecting expedition in 1903, including one Belgian national who caused the shooting of at least 122 Congolese natives. Carefully . King Leopold II and the Congo Free State. A cartoon depicting Leopold II as a rubber vine entangling a Congolese rubber collector. Responding to a growing call to remove statues of Leopold II, the former Belgian king who colonized the Congo, Belgian Prince Laurent came to his ancestor's defense. Leopold II's fiefdom had left very little infrastructure in Tanganyika even if large proportions of its population had been subdued by its forces. The peak year was 1903, with rubber fetching the highest price and concessionary companies raking in the highest profits. By the final decade of the 19th century, John Boyd Dunlop’s 1887 invention of inflatable rubber bicycle tubes and the growing popularity of the automobile dramatically increased global demand for rubber. Like statues of racist historical figures vandalised or removed in Britain and the US, Leopold II's days on Belgian streets could now be numbered. To monopolize the resources of the entire Congo Free State, Leopold issued three decrees in 1891 and 1892 that reduced the native population to serfs. L. WIENER, Translation: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. (Colonizing other peoples, regardless of the justification . Rather than control the Congo as a colony, as other European powers did throughout Africa, Leopold privately owned the region. He was the architect of one of history's greatest, if lesser known, crimes against humanity. This grew out of the earlier decree that all “unoccupied” land belonged to the state and ivory and rubber collected from this land also belonged to the state, creating a de facto state-controlled monopoly. If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer. National Geographic Society is a 501 (c)(3) organization. Via the International Association of the Congo, he was able to lay claim to most of the Congo Basin. The country's Royal Museum for Central Africa, founded by Leopold II, mounted a special exhibition in 2005 about the colonial Congo; in an article in the New York Review of Books, Hochschild accused the museum of distortion and evasion. If you have questions about licensing content on this page, please contact ngimagecollection@natgeo.com for more information and to obtain a license. The Belgian king was one of the main encouragers of the Berlin Conference, which redrew the map of Africa – in his own words, Leopold II did not want to take the risk of missing “ A fine chance to secure for ourselves a slice of this magnificent African cake,” as mentions US historian Adam Hochschild in his book ‘King Leopold’s Ghost’, one of the main works on the Congo exploration. Christian missionaries and a handful of human rights organizers internationally publicized these atrocities. The children sent to a 'holiday camp' never to come back, Floods sweep region after huge Ukraine dam destroyed, Hearings start in fight over Harry's US visa files, Chris Christie's long-shot mission to torpedo Trump, 'Thicko, cheat, underage drinker' - Key extracts from Prince Harry's statement, The fake job that snared FBI agent spying for Moscow. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited. A series of reports into the operation of the Free State were issued, starting with the British Consul Roger Casement’s “Casement Report” and followed by reports commissioned by the Free State and Leopold II. Abir’s failure to suppress destructive harvesting methods and maintain rubber plantations meant that the vines became increasingly scarce, and by 1904 profits began to fall. 1887-1896. Actual change, however, was nearly imperceptible. Leopold had designs on what would become the Congo and was able to procure the region by convincing the European community that he was involved in humanitarian and philanthropic work and would not tax trade. For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. Leopold formally acquired rights to the Congo territory at the Conference of Berlin in 1885 and made the land his private property. By the 1860s, most African coastal regions were claimed as colonies of European powers, but the vast interior of the continent remained unknown to Europeans. Calculate the value of the rubber industry to the Belgian government. The European officer in command “ordered us to cut off the heads of the men and hang them on the village palisades… and to hang the women and the children on the palisade in the form of a cross.” After seeing a Congolese person killed for the first time, a Danish missionary wrote, “The soldier said ‘Don’t take this to heart so much. Statue de Thomas Jefferson.
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