Leopold II of Belgium

Leopold Louis-Philippe Marie Victor of Saxe-Coburg (April 9, 1835 – December 17, 1909), succeeded his father, Leopold I of Belgium, to the Belgian throne in 1865 as Leopold II, King of the Belgians and remained king until his death. Outside of Belgium, however, he is chiefly remembered as the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free State, a private project undertaken by the King to extract rubber and ivory, which relied on slavery and was responsible for the deaths of millions of Africans.

External links

• "Reforming The Heart of Darkness" The Congo under Leopold II