On December 12, 1904,
Chief Lontulu laid 110 twigs in front of a foreign commission. Every twig represented a person
in his village who died because of King Leopold’s horrific regime
in the Congo— all in the name of rubber. Chief Lontulu separated the twigs
into four piles: tribal nobles, men, women, and children— then proceeded
to name the dead of one-by-one. His testimony joined hundreds of others
to help bring an end to one of the greatest atrocities
in history. Beginning in the late 1800s, European countries participated in the
so-called “Scramble for Africa.” They colonized 90% of the continent, exploiting African resources
and enriching their countries. Belgium had recently become
an independent kingdom. Its ruler, Leopold II,
wanted to acquire what he called “a slice of this magnificent
African cake.” Meanwhile, he read colonial explorer
Henry Morton Stanley’s reports about traveling through Africa. Stanley emphasized
the Congo basin’s majesty. So, in 1879, Leopold contracted him
to return to the Congo. There, Stanley deceived leaders
into signing some 450 treaties allowing for land use. Leopold persuaded the US and European
powers to grant him ownership of the Congo, pledging to protect free trade
in the region. And on May 29, 1885, a territory more than
80 times the size of Belgium and home to 20 million people was declared
his own private colony— by no one it actually belonged to. Leopold lost no time consolidating power
in what he called the Congo Free State. He claimed land, raised an army, and forced many Congolese men
to complete unpaid labor. Things got even worse when, in 1887, a Scottish inventor redeveloped
the pneumatic tire, creating a massive international
market for rubber. The Congo had one of the world’s
largest supplies. Leopold seized the opportunity, requiring villages to meet
ever-greater rubber quotas. Congolese men had to harvest
the material from wild vines. As supplies drained, they walked for days
to gather enough. Leopold’s army entered villages and held
women and children hostage until the impossible quota was met. Soldiers sexually violated women
and deprived children of food and water. Congolese people rebelled— they refused to cooperate,
fought Leopold’s soldiers, hid in the forests,
and destroyed rubber vines. Leopold’s army responded to resistance
or failure to meet quotas with unflinching torture and executions. Because guns and ammunition
were expensive, officers ordered soldiers to prove they
used their bullets in the line of duty by removing a hand from anyone
they killed. However, many soldiers hunted
using their guns. To avoid harsh penalties and account
for lost bullets, they cut off living people’s hands. They also used this practice
as punishment. If rubber quotas weren’t met, soldiers would sever people’s hands
and bring them to their commanders instead of rubber. The regime dramatically upended
daily life and agriculture, causing widespread starvation and disease. Meanwhile, King Leopold built monuments
and private estates with the wealth he extracted. Soon, people brought international
attention to the horrific abuses of Leopold’s Congo Free State. In 1890, American journalist
George Washington Williams accused King Leopold of “deceit, fraud,
robberies, arson, murder, slave-raiding,
and [a] general policy of cruelty.” In 1903, Diplomat Roger Casement
wrote a report that corroborated the nature and scale of the atrocities. It was published the following year. In response, Leopold appointed his own
commission to investigate the accusations. They heard numerous witness statements
in the Congo— Chief Lontulu’s included. The report only confirmed the worst. Facing pressure, Leopold relinquished
control of the Congo to the Belgian government in 1908. But this did not mean justice. The Belgian state awarded Leopold
50 million francs “in testimony for his great sacrifice
in favor of the Congo.” He died the following year. Crowds booed his funeral procession. For more than 50 years following,
the Congo remained a Belgian colony, until declaring independence in 1960. That year, the Congo elected its first
prime minister, Patrice Lumumba. But months later, he was unseated
in a US and Belgium backed coup. In early 1961, Lumumba was assassinated
under Belgian supervision. The coup launched the country
into a decades-long dictatorship. Around 10 million Congolese people
are thought to have died during Leopold’s occupation and looting
of the Congo. Despite this devastation, calls
for reparations have gone unanswered. To this day, throughout Belgium can be
found the monuments King Leopold built on a foundation of inconceivable cruelty.
