Global Blueprint: Extraction Goes Global · Episode 3 of 5 · 34 min
How King Leopold Privately Owned the Congo: The Rubber Terror
For twenty-three years King Leopold II of Belgium personally owned the Congo Free State, running it as a private enterprise for ivory and then wild rubber. Quotas enforced by the Force Publique brought hostage-taking, village burning and severed hands, until E. D. Morel and Roger Casement exposed the system and Belgium took the colony in 1908.
Who's who
- Leopold IIKing of Belgium who owned the Congo Free State personally
- E. D. MorelBritish journalist who exposed the system through trade statistics
- Roger Casement+1 more episodeBritish consul whose 1904 report documented the atrocities
- Henry Grattan GuinnessCo-founder of the Congo Reform Association
Where it happens
- Congo Free StateLeopold's personal domain in central Africa
- BelgiumTook over the colony from Leopold in 1908
- Berlin, Germany+2 more episodesConference recognized Leopold's claim in 1885
Timeline
- 1885Berlin Conference recognizes Leopold's claim; Free State established
- 1899-1903Morel exposes the system through trade figures
- February 12, 1904Casement's report laid before Parliament
- March 1904Congo Reform Association founded
- 1908Belgium annexes the territory from Leopold
Still debated
The death toll is the central uncertainty: there was no census, and estimates run from a few million to about ten million, often described as roughly half the population. Scholars also debate whether to call it genocide or a forced-labor terror.
← PreviousA Pipeline Built on Forced Labor: How Villagers Sued an Oil CompanyNext →From Severed Hands to Firestone: The Tire Company That Funded a Warlord
