WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -On February 5, 1885, Belgian King Leopold II established the Congo Free State by brutally seizing the African landmass as his personal possession. Rather than control the Congo as a colony, as other European powers did throughout Africa, Leopold privately owned the region.

Detailed explanation-2: -Belgium created two colonies in Africa: the entities now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly the Republic of Zaire) and the Republic of Rwanda, previously Ruanda-Urundi, a former German African colony that was given to Belgium to administer after the defeat of Germany in World War I.

Detailed explanation-3: -Portuguese exploration In 1482–1483, Captain Diogo Cão, sailing southwards on the uncharted Congo River, discovered the mouth of the river, and became the first European to encounter the Kingdom of Kongo. Initially relations were limited and considered beneficial to both sides.

Detailed explanation-4: -Under the mantle of propagating Christianity and trade in Africa, Belgium exploited Congo’s riches, including rubber. Severed hands became the infamous symbol of the colonial state where officials brutally maimed those failing to deliver harvest quotas.