Letter of King Leopold 2 to the Missionairies

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At the end of the 19th century, Europe scrambled for control of Africa.

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But of all the awful crimes committed, Belgium's King Leopold II left arguably the largest and most horrid legacy of all.

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While the Great Powers competed for territory elsewhere, the king of one of Europe's smallest countries carved his own private colony out of 100 km2 of Central African rainforest.

He claimed he was doing it to protect the "natives" from Arab slavers, and to open the heart of Africa to Christian missionairies and Western Capitalists.

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But instead King Leopold II unleased new horrors on the African continent. He turned his "Congo Free State" into a massive labour camp, made a fortune for himself from the harvest of its wild rubber and contributing in a large way to the death of up to 10 million innocent people.

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On the left is the letter written in 1883 by King Leopold II of Belgium to Belgian Christian missionaries being sent to Congo. These  Christian missionaries would eventually become the spearhead of Belgian colonialism only to be followed by Belgian traders and lastly the Belgian army.

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Clicking on the picture will reveal the whole letter.