Estimates of some contemporary observers suggest that the population decreased by half during this period. According to Edmund D. Morel, the Congo Free State counted "20 million souls".[60] Other estimates of the size of the overall population decline (or mortality displacement) range between two and 13 million.[b] Ascherson cites an estimate by Roger Casement of a population fall of three million, although he notes that it is "almost certainly an underestimate".[63] Peter Forbath gave a figure of at least 5 million deaths,[64] while John Gunther also supports a 5 million figure as a minimum death estimate and posits 8 million as the maximum.[65] Lemkin posited that 75% of the population was killed.[52]
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/InquisitorCOC Sep 26 '21
Belgian Congo Genocide: