Leopold II, King of the Belgians, publicly claimed his mission in central Africa was to bring Christianity, free trade, and the benefits of Western civilization to the region he named the Congo Free State. According to historical accounts, those promises were broken almost immediately after he took control of the territory. Trade in the region was monopolized, and Congolese men, women, and children were forced into labor. They were compelled to harvest rubber, ivory, and palm oil, with the profits going directly to enrich the king.
Historical records state that failure to meet rubber quotas was punishable by death, and a private army composed of Congolese men employed by Leopold carried out most of the punishments. Because authorities feared these soldiers might stockpile weapons or use them for hunting, the soldiers were required to provide proof that they had killed someone. This proof came in the form of the severed hands of their victims. In oral testimony collected later, one Congolese man described witnessing a soldier place ten arrested natives in a net, attach heavy stones to it, and throw it into the river.
He also testified that soldiers forced young men to kill or rape their own mothers and sisters. Estimates of the death toll during Leopold’s rule between 1885 and 1908 range as high as ten million people. The deaths were attributed to widespread famine, systematic murder, and disease that ran rampant under his brutal administration.