Once upon a time, far beyond nine rivers, nine forests, and nine seas, there lived an evil king. This is how fairy tales begin in my country. But what I am going to write about today is no fairy tale. And unfortunately, the story does not even end happily.
I keep writing about the Latin Monetary Union and its gold twenty-franc coins. This is already my fourth article on this topic. I don't want to repeat myself with the measurements and weights of these coins. This time, I was intrigued by the story of the man depicted on the coin.
This time I am showing a Belgian coin, and this is King Leopold II, *1835 - +1909. He was the second Belgian king since Belgium was founded in 1830. Leopold ruled from 1865 to 1909. At first glance, it is not apparent that this king was the devil incarnate.
At the turn of 1884/1885, a congress of European countries was held in Berlin, where these countries divided among themselves Africa.
One of the outcomes of the Berlin Conference was the creation of the Congo Free State. This state was operated by the Congo Trading Company, whose sole shareholder was Leopold II of Belgium.
Leopold II's only goal was profit. First, elephants were killed for their ivory. Then rubber began to be cultivated and harvested. Leopold resorted to forced labor of the local population, which was enforced by drastic means. Leopold built his private army of guards and soldiers, mainly from the indigenous population.
It was notorious for cutting off the hands of those who did not meet their work quotas. This included women and children.
Leopold tried to isolate "his" country as much as possible. He managed to do so for almost 20 years. Then reports of the events in Congo reached the press. The world was horrified. Such cruelty would have been exceptional even in ancient times, let alone at the beginning of the 20th century. Leopold was forced by public opinion to hand over his private colony to the Belgian kingdom.
The death toll during Leopold's rule in the Congo can only be estimated. His administration did not care about any infrastructure except that related to rubber. No census was conducted. It is reported that between 1 and 15 million people died. The reason for this was the breakdown of traditional society, epidemics, and famine. The population in 1908 reached 8.5 million.
Congo remained a Belgian colony until 1960, when its population reached approximately 15 million. It currently has over 100 million inhabitants. It is a potentially very rich country, at least in terms of mineral resources. For a time, the country was called Zaire. The state suffers from all the ills of Africa: separatism, religious fanaticism, despotism, and corruption. The colonizers are not remembered fondly here, especially Belgians.
In connection with Leopold's activities, the term "crime against humanity" was used by journalists for the first time in history. But there was neither trial nor punishment. The king died of old age in 1909. He is remembered in Belgian history as the King Builder. With the blood money obtained from the Congo, he built many public buildings, linear structures, and urban projects.
The king died without a legitimate male heir. His funeral procession was booed and jeered by the crowd because of the Congo.
His nephew Albert I of Belgium ascended to the throne. He was a man of a completely different character. But he also issued gold twenty-franc coins. And I already know what I will write about next time.
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I used Deepl.com for the English translation. All coins and photos shown are mine.
