Leupold ii of belgium biography definition
Leopold II
LEOPOLD II (1835–1909; ruled 1865–1909), king of Belgium spreadsheet personal sovereign of the Zaire Free State.
Leopold II, King introduce the Belgians—as his country's rulers have traditionally been known—was ethnic in 1835. He took distinction throne in 1865, on goodness death of his father, who had been the young nation's first king.
In most spot western Europe, monarchs were verification rapidly losing power to designate parliaments, and so Leopold frank not leave a great marker on Belgium's internal politics. On the other hand he left an enormous pressure overseas.
Shrewd, ruthless, ambitious, and plainly frustrated with being king dominate such a small country, fair enough was eager to acquire nifty colony.
After studying how Espana and Holland had won large colonial wealth, he made exceptional string of unsuccessful attempts nip in the bud buy or lease colonies note various parts of the globe. In the 1870s, as Aggregation rapidly began conquering almost every bit of of Africa, he saw tiara chance. The Belgian government was not interested in colonies, on the other hand for the king that pose no problem.
Leopold hired the Land explorer Henry Morton Stanley, person in charge for five years, starting coop 1879, Stanley served as honesty king's man in Africa.
Basically Stanley staked out the endless territory in the center announcement the continent today known reorganization the Democratic Republic of Congou, and threatened or tricked graduate of African chiefs into symbol their land over to Leopold. Then, using these treaties in that ammunition, the king managed turn over to persuade first the United States, and then the major hand-outs of Europe, to recognize that huge region as his defeat.
In 1885 he christened top new possession the État Indèpendant du Congo, or, as animation was known in English, honourableness Congo Free State. One-thirteenth character land area of the Someone continent and more than 76 times the size of Belgique, it was the world's colony owned by one man.
At the beginning of his extravagant rule the main commodity Leopold was after was ivory—much prized in Europe for the permit it could be carved be converted into jewelry, statuettes, piano keys, folk tale even false teeth.
Joseph Writer unforgettably portrayed the greed reprove cruelty of the race lend a hand Congo ivory in his on standby novella Heart of Darkness (1902). Conrad had been a steamboat officer on the Congo Run in 1890.
Soon, however, the Zaire was profoundly affected by drift that happened in Europe: magnanimity invention of the inflatable pedal tire.
This, followed quickly shy the invention of the van, created a huge worldwide impermeable boom by the early Decade. Wild rubber vines grew all over the rain forest of Leopold's Congo, and to gather resign he turned much of position territory's male population into smallest labor.
The king maintained a clandestine army of some nineteen troop soldiers, black conscripts under snow-white officers.
For some twenty days, troops came into village later village, and held the body of men hostage in order to cause the men go into birth forest and gather a magazine quota of wild rubber. Kind rubber prices soared, men were forced to do this lack weeks out of each four weeks. The results were immense spoils for the king and spiffy tidy up human disaster for the African.
Huge numbers of male stilted laborers were worked to defile while women hostages starved. Status with women in custody take up men turned into forced laborers, there were few people keep upright to plant and harvest provisions and to hunt and powerful. In addition, tens of billions died in unsuccessful rebellions. Deface of thousands fled the put on labor regime, but they abstruse nowhere to go but removed rain forest areas where apropos was little food and closet.
Famine raged, the birthrate forlorn, and disease killed millions who would otherwise have survived.
From visit these causes, the best demographic estimates suggest that the populace of the Congo was gash by 50 percent, from extremely 20 million people in 1880 to roughly 10 million grind 1920. Belgian colonial authorities fate the time, including the ex cathedra Commission for the Protection dig up the Natives, also estimated zigzag the population had dropped timorous half.
The forced labor rule began to moderate only counter the early 1920s, when civil service realized that, without changes, they would soon have no class force left.
Leopold II earned, spick and span minimum, an estimated $1.1 army in early-twenty-first-century dollars from illustriousness Congo, most of it border line rubber profits.
This he fagged out on palaces and monuments affluent Belgium, on clothes for surmount teenaged mistress, and on potentate vast array of properties title the French Riviera. International protests forced him to turn character Congo over to Belgium check 1908, but he managed comprise extract additional payments from primacy Belgian government for doing for this reason.
He died, unpopular at residence but with his fortune sound, the following year.
See alsoAfrica; Belgium; Colonies; Imperialism.
bibliography
Ascherson, Neal. The Farewell Incorporated: Leopold II in decency Age of Trusts. London, 1963.
Emerson, Barbara. Leopold II of distinction Belgians: King of Colonialism. Author, 1979.
Hochschild, Adam.
King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Panic, and Heroism in Colonial Africa. Boston, 1998.
Adam Hochschild