King Leopold II and the Congo Free State

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King Leopold II of Belgium (1835-1909) was the reigning king of Belgium from 1865 until his death in 1909. He managed the throne after the death of his father, Leopold I. He was born under the original name of Louis Philippe Marie Victor in Brussels. He joined the Belgium armed forces at a relatively early age and, in 1853, he took as his wife the Archduke of Austria’s daughter, Maria Henrietta. He became widely noted as a philanthropist, his work earning him worldwide fame. Upon his death, Leopold’s nephew, Albert I, succeeded him to the throne of Belgium.

The famous travels of Sir Henry Stanley in search of Dr. Livingstone through the unexplored regions of Africa caught the attention of Leopold. He hired the famous explorer in 1876 to search and claim as much of the Congo Basin as he could. In the name of Belgium, Stanley claimed an area consisting of nearly 905,000 square miles. In conjunction with this massive claim of land, Leopold started the International African Association for the Exploration and Civilization of the Congo. Because of Leopo...

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