The Congo under Belgian  control:
a colonial domain of extreme cruelty that is often forgotten

The Free State of the Congo was a former African colonial domain, accepted by the European powers as private property of King Leopold II of Belgium. 
It corresponds roughly to the territory of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was administered in private form by the king Leopoldo II between 1885 and 1908, year in which the territory passed to Belgian control.

During the "reign" of Leopoldo II, the populations of the Congo were systematically and indiscriminately exploited to obtain their natural resources (especially ivory and rubber). Labor was exclusively from native peoples in conditions of slavery. To maintain its control the colonial administration established a regime of terror, in which mass murders and mutilations were frequent. There were a very high number of fatalities, most of the authors mention figures of between five and ten million dead as a result of belgian domination of the Congo basin..

It is worth saying that the exploitation of resources and populations continues in a more disguised way. This story of looting and death explains the difficulty that Congolese have in realizing a viable state that will allow Congo's people to withdraw from their present levels of poverty.