Cold Open

It’s October 10th, 1896, in a remote village in the Congo Free State in Central Africa.

A young man walks through the forest on the outskirts of the village, examining thick vines that encircle the tree trunks. Like almost everyone else who lives here, the young man is a rubber farmer—it’s his job to harvest the vines and collect the natural latex that drips out of them. It’s hard work, especially given the near-impossible production quotas imposed by the government.

The young man is distracted from work by sudden shouting. Ducking behind a tree, he peers through the thick forest and spots a group of uniformed men with rifles. The rubber farmer’s heart sinks. It’s the Force Publique — mercenaries employed by the government who are renowned for their violence and cruelty.

The rubber farmer thinks the armed men haven’t seen him. But he didn’t dash away quick enough.

A bullet ricochets off the tree the farmer is hiding behind. A voice calls out through the forest, telling him to surrender. The young man has a difficult choice to make: either he flees and risks being hunted down by angry soldiers, or he gives himself up and hopes the men spare him. He chooses to surrender and steps out from behind the tree with his hands up.

The mercenaries don’t shoot.

But instead, one of the men snaps shackles around the farmer’s wrists and drags him through the undergrowth to a group of other trembling prisoners.

On the ground beside them is a body, covered in blood. The rubber farmer recognizes him at once - it’s his neighbor. Standing over the dead man is a soldier… who hacks at the body with a machete. First, he cuts off one hand. Then the other. When he’s done, the man wipes his blade clean and nods at the next prisoner in line. That machete will see much more blood today.

That day in total, more than fifty men, women, and children are killed in the massacre. They committed no crime - they were murdered simply because a government official was disappointed with the village’s rubber harvest. But such atrocities are not unusual in this part of the world. The Congo Free State is one of the most brutal colonial regimes in Africa and has been ever since it was founded when King Leopold II of Belgium took these lands as his personal fiefdom on July 1st, 1885.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is July 1st, 1885: The Creation of the Congo Free State.

Act One

It’s spring 1877 on the Congo River in Central Africa, nineteen years before the massacre of the rubber farmers.

36-year-old Welshman Henry Morton Stanley carefully gets up from his seat in a canoe and looks upstream. The wide and slow-moving river continues far into the distance lined all the way by thick dark forests on its banks. Satisfied that the route ahead is clear of dangerous rapids, Henry turns and checks on the dozens of other canoes and rafts that are part of his expedition.

Five years ago, Henry was catapulted to global fame when he led a voyage up the River Nile. Deep in the interior of Africa, Henry found fellow explorer David Livingstone, who had been missing and presumed dead for years. Since then, Henry has begun a new quest: to find the source of the River Congo. Now, after almost six months, Henry’s sure he’s close.

He raises his arm to wave to the other boats. But just as he does, an arrow flies past his head. Henry turns with a start and spots a group of men on the distant bank, gesturing angrily. As a warrior notches another arrow to his bow, Henry shouts a warning to the canoes following behind. He orders his men to paddle away from the bank, to the other side of the river. And once they’re safely out of range, Henry’s boats continue, toward the source of the Congo.

Upon his return to Britain, a few months later, Henry is celebrated for his exploits in Africa. He writes a book about his journey—and makes it clear that he wishes to return. Henry claims that Central Africa is a land of abundant natural resources and that the local tribes he saw from the River would benefit from being “civilized” by Europeans like him. He lobbies the British government to colonize the region, but the prime minister is reluctant.

So, with his homeland showing no interest, Henry travels throughout Europe seeking alternative power to back his colonial project—and eventually, he finds an ally in King Leopold II of Belgium. King Leopold funds Henry to go on another expedition to Central Africa, but this time Henry does more than just draw maps. He seeks out tribal chiefs and leaders along the River Congo persuading them to sign treaties they don’t fully understand—treaties that hand over their lands to a foreign power. Henry thinks he's bringing civilization to the Congo by doing this. But in fact, he is bringing only destruction and destitution.

*

It's July 1st, 1885, in the Royal Palace in Brussels, Belgium, eight years after Henry Morton Stanley’s trip up the River Congo.

50-year-old King Leopold II sits behind a grand desk in his luxurious private study. In front of him are the state papers that the government sends to the king every day for ratification. Today, there’s one especially important document that needs his signature: a new law passed by the Belgium Parliament that authorizes King Leopold’s personal annexation of the Congo.

After Henry Morton Stanley returned from his second expedition to Central Africa with treaties securing land, King Leopold knew that only half the battle had been won. For Belgium to seize the Congo, he didn’t just need the consent of tribal leaders, Leopold also needed the agreement of other world powers. So, in 1884, the Belgian government sent their top diplomats to a special conference that had gathered in Berlin, Germany. The most powerful countries in the world were meeting to finalize the borders of their different colonies in Africa. But delegates from these other nations were unwilling to allow Belgium to take control of the Congo for fear of upsetting the delicate balance of power on the continent.

To solve the impasse, King Leopold offered to run the Congo personally, without the involvement of the Belgian state. He promised that his Congolese government would civilize the region and uphold free trade without favoring any nation over another. It was an arrangement that the other parties at the conference could accept and now, the Belgian Parliament has declared that it too accepts the compromise.

So today, King Leopold takes his pen and signs the law to make it official. Then, he carefully sets the historic document to one side to let the ink dry. According to its terms, Leopold is now king of two separate nations—one in Europe, and one in Africa.

Leopold names his new realm the Congo Free State, emphasizing its unusual status. And over the next few months, officials from Belgium head to Central Africa to establish a new government under the king’s authority. But the façade of Leopold’s humanitarian mission will soon crumble, and the real reason behind his land grab will become clear: he wants to make a profit, no matter what the cost.

Act Two

It’s 1891 at the Royal Palace in Brussels, six years after the creation of the Congo Free State.

King Leopold II settles into a comfortable chair and listens intently as an official delivers the latest reports from central Africa. The man has just arrived after a long journey, and King Leopold is eager to hear about progress in his second realm—but as usual, the news is grim.

After King Leopold installed a government to run the Congo Free State on his behalf, his ministers discovered that ruling Central Africa was not going to be as easy as they had thought. The natural riches predicted by Henry Morton Stanley proved elusive, and without raw materials to sell, Leopold’s government soon ran up huge debts. His ministers also struggled to impose Leopold’s rule in the region. Slave traders operated openly, kidnapping Congolese subjects and selling them to Arab warlords. And settlers from British colonies in South Africa then encroached on Leopold’s territory, founding their own settlements inside the borders of the Congo Free State.

King Leopold has never been to his second kingdom in Africa—and nor does he intend to. Instead, he relies on the advice of his men on the ground. And on their recommendation, he issues a series of decrees that overhaul the Congo Free State’s economy. First, Leopold declares that all uninhabited and undeveloped land is now his property. Most of this land is thick forest, so King Leopold has his Congolese subjects clear the trees. They aren’t paid for their labor. But instead, they’re coerced with threats of violence, and many who refuse to work are simply executed.

When the land is finally cleared, the ancient forests are replaced with giant rubber plantations. But according to another royal decree, the Congolese rubber farmers who work on these plantations must sell their harvest only to the state, at a low and non-negotiable fee that leaves many workers struggling to survive.

King Leopold’s proclamations create a state monopoly on the rubber trade and this contradicts the vow to protect free trade and commerce that Leopold made when he first took over the Congo Free State. But it isn’t the only promise that Leopold has broken. His so-called humanitarian commitments have also been forgotten and instead, Leopold rules with an iron fist.

After rubber farmers are forced to sell only to the government, officials in the capital Boma set ambitious production targets for every village and plantation. To ensure that the strict quotas are met, the government authorizes Leopold’s mercenary army, the Force Publique, to collect the rubber and punish any farmers who don’t make quota.

Leopold’s enforcers are effectively slave drivers. They slaughter farmers and their entire families for minor transgressions. They take hostages and pocket the proceeds from ransoms. And they engage in systematic torture and rape.

Such is the level of violence that the commanders of the Force Publique struggle to keep track of the number of villagers who have failed to meet their quotas. So, they come up with a gruesome recording method—they order their soldiers to chop off the hands of the farmers they execute. But this system only encourages more violence. Soldiers who collect the most hands are rewarded with extra pay or time off and it isn’t long between many in the Force Publique prioritize collecting severed hands over collecting harvested rubber. Many massacres and mutilations occur simply so soldiers can add to their personal tally of body parts.

For years, though, the world seems to ignore the brutality taking place in the Congo Free State. Hundreds of thousands of people die through violence, sickness and starvation. Eventually, though, reports of the horrifying conditions do leak out. Christian missionaries working in the country write home about the poverty they’ve seen and the murders and mutilations they’ve witnessed. Then in 1899, the author Joseph Conrad publishes his bestselling novel “Heart of Darkness.” It depicts a journey through Africa by boat and was inspired by Conrad’s own experiences working on a steamer in the Congo. His gripping story helps focus international attention on events in King Leopold’s private kingdom and no longer will the world turn a blind eye to what’s happening there. As the scale of the humanitarian disaster becomes clearer to outsiders, King Leopold’s reputation will be shredded and his reign in the African country brought to an end—leaving the people of the Congo to begin a slow, hard journey to independence.

Act Three

It’s late 1903 in the Congo Free State, eighteen years after the country was founded by King Leopold II.

39-year-old British diplomat Roger Casement takes a deep breath as he walks into a village escorted by private guards. Roger struggles to maintain a neutral expression as he takes in the desperate poverty of the villagers. Their homes are dilapidated wooden huts, and the people are obviously malnourished - their eyes stare blankly as if they have no energy to think or take interest in the newcomers.

It’s not the first time that Roger has witnessed such suffering. Over the past few months, Roger has traveled all over the Congo gathering evidence for a British government commission on King Leopold’s regime. Roger has interviewed government officials and Force Publique soldiers who deny any wrongdoing. But in villages like this one, Roger has uncovered damning evidence of their crimes.

Today, Roger sits down with another village elder, and with tears in his eyes, he describes a brutal raid by the Force Publique about a year ago. But Roger just doesn’t have to take the elder’s word for it. The elder holds up his arm to show his hand is missing. And he’s not the only one who’s been mutilated. Dozens of other villagers have had their hands amputated by government soldiers too. 

So, when Roger’s report is published in 1904, the detailed descriptions of killings and mutilations cause an outcry. Campaigners in Europe and the United States come together to form the Congo Reform Association to put pressure on King Leopold to improve conditions in the country. Leopold tries to counter the growing swell of international condemnation by launching his own inquiry into the claims, but even this concludes that the Congo Free State is ruled by a barbaric and ruthless government.

So, four years later, the Belgian government votes to strip King Leopold of the Congo Free State. But the Congolese are not given their independence. Instead, the country is annexed as a colony of Belgium and renamed the Belgian Congo, the worst excesses of King Leopold’s regime come to an end, but the land and its people are still exploited for the benefit of their colonial overlords.

It takes another 52 years before the Congo finally gains its independence. But further unrest and violence will follow in civil wars and military takeovers, as the nation struggles to cast off the legacy of one of the darkest times in its history, when the Congo became the personal possession of a foreign king on July 1st, 1885.

Outro

Next on History Daily. July 2nd, 1839. Enslaved Africans rise up against their captors and take control of the slave ship Amistad.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Muhammad Shahzaib.

Sound design by Gabriel Gould.

Music by Thrumm.

This episode is written and researched by Scott Reeves.

Edited by Dorian Merina.

Managing producer, Emily Burke.

Executive Producers are William Simpson for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.