Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, General Research and Reference Division

Edmund Dene Morel, King Leopold’s Rule in Africa (New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1905)

The Congo Free State-which was the size of England, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy combined and which was the private domain of King Leopold II of Belgium until 1908-experienced arguably the worst excesses of colonialism. It is estimated that up to ten million people died as a result of "pacification," forced labor, portage, indiscriminate slaughter, and slavery-like conditions.