17. Leopold II of Belgium ruled the Congo as a privately held colony
Leopold II was King of Belgium from 1865 – 1909. In 1885 he established the Congo Free State as a private colony, from which he extracted great wealth which was used for private and public projects in Belgium. Beginning with ivory, and later expanding to the wealth attained from rubber, Leopold exploited the native population of the Congo through forced labor. He maintained his iron grip on the natives by using administrators who resorted to torture and executions. Laborers in the rubber plantations and processing facilities faced quotas which often killed them through overwork and exhaustion, and those who failed to meet the quotas established by the King were subjected to beatings, the amputation of limbs, and other atrocities. Approximately 10 million Congolese died under his rule. In 1908, concerned about the rising condemnation of other nations over the activities in the Congo, the government of Belgium established control over the colony, which became the Belgian Congo, free from Leopold’s direct control. He died the following year, having never visited the colony which he ruled with such ruthlessness.