Why did King Leopold finally leave the Congo Region in Africa?
The Congo was Leopold’s private fiefdom and did not became a colony of the Belgian state until 1908 shortly before his death. Belgium did not leave until the 1960s at the same time that the British were relinquishing their African colonies. The reasons why the Belgians left are many but post WW2 there was ceertainly a feeling that it was morally wrong to hold onto colonies and all the colonial powers shed their colonies in Africa eventually. Due to their lack of preparation for departure Zaire (the name adopted by the former colony) was then plunged into genocidal war and a semblance of peace was not established until the kleptocrat Mobutu gained power. He pretty much enriched himself at the expense of the country in the same way as Leopold.
