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The Congo Free State, also known as the Independent State of the Congo (French: État indépendant du Congo), was a large state and absolute monarchy in Central Africa from 1885 to 1908. It was privately owned by King Leopold II , the constitutional monarch of the Kingdom of Belgium .
King Leopold II, whose rule of the Congo Free State was marked by severe atrocities, violence and major population decline.. Even before his accession to the throne of Belgium in 1865, the future king Leopold II began lobbying leading Belgian politicians to create a colonial empire in the Far East or in Africa, which would expand and enhance Belgian prestige. [2]
The Congo Free State propaganda war (1884–1912) occurred at the height of European imperialism.Demand for goods drove European imperialism, and the European stake in Asia was confined largely to trading stations and strategic outposts necessary to protect trade.
Prior to the creation of the Congo Free State, the International Association of the Congo (IAC) had signed treaties with over 300 native Congolese chiefs and in effect exercised sovereignty over a large area of the Congo Basin. The IAC was headquartered in Belgium and run by a committee under the presidency of Maximilien Strauch.
Map of the Congo Free State, c. 1890. Leopold was the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free State, a private project undertaken on his own behalf. [27]: 136 He used explorer Henry Morton Stanley to help him lay claim to the Congo, an area now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Congo Free State was a state in Africa created and headed by the former Belgian monarch, Leopold II as a personal union with Belgium.On 29 May 1885, after the closure of the Berlin Conference, the king announced that he planned to name his possessions "the Congo Free State", an appellation which was not yet used at the Berlin Conference and which officially replaced "International ...
The Belgian government's ambivalence about the idea led Leopold to eventually create the colony on his own account. With support from a number of Western countries, who viewed Leopold as a useful buffer between rival colonial powers, Leopold achieved international recognition for a personal colony, the Congo Free State, in 1885. [7]
The station of Luozi is created at the point where the Luozi River flows into the Congo. [1] 28 April Belgian Chamber of Representatives passes a law that authorized King Leopold II of Belgium to become head of the state founded in Africa by the International Association of the Congo. 30 April The senate ratifies the law creating the Congo Free ...