Why did the belgians colonize the congo?
why did the belgians colonize the congo? Leopold II, King of the Belgians built a railway and exploted ruthless Congo (privately controlled )for rubber, copper, ivory and other minerals (cobalt) .the Congo Free State eventually earned infamy due to the brutal mistreatment of native peoples and plunder of natural resources By 1908, public pressure and diplomatic maneuvers led to the end of Leopold II’s rule and to the annexation of the Congo as a colony of Belgium, known as the Belgian Congo. —————————–The Congo Free State was a corporate state privately controlled by Leopold II, King of the Belgians through a dummy non-governmental organization, the Association Internationale Africaine. Leopold was the sole shareholder and chairman, exploiting the state for rubber, copper and other minerals in the upper Lualaba River basin. The state included the entire area of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo and existed from 1885 to 1908, when it was annexed by the gove
