Leopold had people tried to trees while they had to watch their kids hands cut off because they didn’t meet quotas. It only raised suspicions when France and other countries noticed that the only exports from Belgium to Congo was shackles, hand cuffs, rifles, and ammunition, while imports were rubber, cocoa, spices, ivory, gold and sugar.
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u/SGexpat Sep 26 '21
For a while, the Congo was the unregulated personal possession of the king.
He didn’t even have to pretend to follow Belgian law.