King Leopold facts

While investigating facts about King Leopold's Ghost and King Leopold Congo, I found out little known, but curios details like:

King Leopold II of Belgium turned the Congo into one massive slave plantation that resulted in an estimated 10,000,000 deaths, with historians comparing him to Hitler and Stalin.

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About the hidden holocaust, better known as the "Congo Horrors" caused by King Leopold II of Belgium. The magnitude of the population fall over the period is disputed, but it is thought to be as high as 15 million people.

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In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering who was king leopold ii and what did he do. Here are 28 of the best facts about King Leopold 2 and King Leopold Of Belgium I managed to collect.

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King Leopold II of Belgium effectively enslaved the population of Congo from 1885 to 1908, forcing them to extract rubber, ivory, and minerals. Strict, and basically impossible, quotas were set and those who did not meet them were mutilated or killed.
King Leopold of Belgium ordered Congolese to deliver all rubber they could find. Failure to meet quota was punishable by death - the victim's hand delivered as proof. The quotas were so unrealistic a "hand-harvest" ensued where villagers attacked neighboring villages to gather hands.
Belgium's King Leopold II turned his "Congo Free State" into a massive labour camp, made a fortune for himself from the harvest of its wild rubber, and contributed in a large way to the death of perhaps 10 million innocent people.
When Belgium conquered the Congo in Africa, King Leopold II instituted a reign of terror that killed approximately 10,000,000 Africans in the Congo
Congo Free State was privately owned by King Leopold II of Belgium. Between 1885-1908 (23 years), they massacred 10 million Africans by cutting their hands and genitals; flogging them to death; starving them into forced labour; holding children ransom; and burning their villages.
King Leopold of Belgium created the Congo Free State under the guise it be a humanitarian project that would end the slave trade, build infrastructure, and modernize the state. It became a brutal regime that mutilated and massacred half the population.
King Richard "Lionheart" composed a song while wrongfylly imprisoned by Leopold Duke of Austria. The false imprisonment led to Leopold's excommunication.
After the invasion of Belgium during WW2, King Leopold III was held under house arrest by the Nazis until 1944. Despite this he was very active in politics, and sent a letter to Hitler that saved an estimated 500,000 Belgian women and children from deportation to munitions factories in Germany.

king leopold facts — What is king leopold known for?

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King Leopold II of Belgium exploited Congo while he named it Frees State of Congo just to go on and exploit its people. - source

At the age of 65, King Leopold II of Belgium (1865-1909) developed a relationship with 16-year-old prostitute Caroline Lacroix. The couple proceeded to have two children - source

The Democratic Republic of the Congo's modern military can trace its origins directly to King Leopold II's private army that terrorized the country

King Leopold II of Belgium, the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free State. Under his regime there were an estimated 10 million deaths among the Congolese people. Human rights abuses under his regime were a significant cause of the excess deaths - source

When did king leopold die?

About Joseph Pujol, Le Pétomane, a French artist able to fart at will. He could perform songs like 'O sole Mio and La Marseillaise, appeared at the Moulin Rouge and his audience included Edward, Prince of Wales; King Leopold II of the Belgians; and Sigmund Freud.

How did king leopold ii die?

Leopold Senghor, the first President of Senegal, wrote a narrative poem about Martin Luther King’s assassination in the days immediately following the event. The date of the assassination, April 4, 1968, was also the date of the Senegalese national holiday

"The Fartiste" a man born with incredible abdomen and sphincter control. In the late 1800s he performed to rave reviews for Prince Edward, King Leopold II, and Sigmund Freud. His routine consisted of farting musical tunes, and blowing out candles "from a distance of several yards."

In private colony of Belgian king Leopold II in Congo, along many other atrocities, there was a punishment of cutting hands of workers who did not make the quota. As in an act of justice, last son of the king was born with a deformed hand.

King leopold II of Belgium carried out a genocide of 10 million indigenous people of Congo

When did king leopold ii die?

At least 10 million Africans died in the Congo Free State under the private ownership of King Leopold II of Belgium from 1885-1908.

For 20 years, King Leopold II of Belgium owned the Free State of Congo in west Africa. Leopold’s private police force terrorized and exploited Congo, largely in secrecy. It is estimated that 10 million people—about half of the country’s population at the time—died during Leopold’s reign.

In 1843 King Leopold of Belgium signed a contract with Ladd and Co., a sugarcane and land speculation company run by two Americans, to colonize the Kingdom of Hawaii but the deal fell apart when Ladd & Co. ran into financial difficulties.

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