Colonialism1885 CE – 1960 CEAfrica

Belgian Congo

King Leopold II's personal colony in the Congo Free State (1885-1908) was the site of one of history's worst colonial atrocities, where rubber quotas enforced through mutilation, hostage-taking, and terror killed an estimated 1-10 million people (the exact number is heavily debated).

Key Figures
King Leopold IIE.D. MorelRoger CasementPatrice LumumbaHenry Morton Stanley

Preceding Causes

The Berlin Conference (1884-85) granted Leopold II personal control of the Congo Free State as a supposedly humanitarian venture. The global demand for rubber (bicycle and automobile tires) drove brutal extraction policies from the 1890s onward.

Colonialism1881 CE

Scramble for Africa

European powers rapidly colonized virtually all of Africa, with the Berlin Conference of 1884–85 establishing rules for colonial claims — though no Africans were invited or consulted.

Cause-Effect Graph

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