The Butcher Of Congo: King Leopold The Second Of Belgium

King Leopold II of Belgium did very bad things to people in the Congo, Africa, in the late 1800s. He was in charge when 10 million people from Congo were killed or hurt very badly. Belgium got a lot of money and resources from Congo because of what he did.

Back then, European countries wanted to take over parts of Africa to get its riches. Leopold said he wanted to help Africa by teaching them about Western ways and religion, but he really wanted to take over Congo for its rubber, which was very valuable. He made a group that pretended to help Congo, but he actually used it to take control and make a lot of money.

Leopold's soldiers were very cruel. They would hurt or kill people if they didn't collect enough rubber. They even cut off people's hands. What's even more shocking is that Leopold did all of this without ever going to Congo himself.

It's important to remember that bad things like this were happening to native people in other parts of the world too. Britain on the Aborigines in Australia, the United States on Native Americans and Filipinos , French on Northwest Congolese, Spanish on the north and central Native Americans, Portuguese on the Angolans and Amazonians and Germans on Southwest Africans. But what happened in Congo was so terrible that many people around the world, including famous writers, spoke out against it.

Leopold tricked Congo's leaders into giving him control of their land for very little in return. If people didn't collect enough rubber, they were punished severely.

Leopold became very rich from this, but after he died, the money went to the Belgian government. Congo is very rich in minerals like diamonds, but even after it became independent, there were more problems. Leaders were killed or did bad things, and the country had a lot of trouble.

Even today, Congo has lots of valuable minerals, but its history has been very difficult because of what happened when Leopold was in charge and afterwards.