History UsefulNotes / DemocraticRepublicOfTheCongo

After gaining independence on June 30, 1960, the country soon started falling apart. Belgian troops in the province of Katanga encouraged a secession that threatened to tear the country apart. This became known as the Congo Crisis, where the country was split into four regions. The Congo Crisis lead to the death of the beloved Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba. Lumumba was a socialist and Pan-Africanist, and firmly democratic. Lumumba begged the UN for help, but it was made clear to him that they were not going to help him put down the Belgian-backed and anti-communist Katangan rebels. After he agreed to a Soviet arms deal in desperation, it should come as little surprise that Lumumba's death came about after two unsuccessful assassination attempts by the CIA. His death was sponsored and requested by the Belgian and American governments. (The Soviets for their part named their "Peoples' Friendship University"--the university in Moscow catering to international students, particularly from the developing world--after him.[[note]]The university is the subject of a lot of [[RussianHumour Russian jokes]] about Africans--particularly cannibal chiefs, who inevitably turn out to be Lumumba University graduates.[[/note]]) This conflict is infamous for being the one that killed Dag Hammarskjold, known as one of the best UN Secretary-Generals of all time, when his plane crashed in Zambia en route to negotiating a peace settlement. Conspiracy theories abound.

While Belgian state control agreed to be better than Leopold, it was still very harsh--Belgian colonial officials were largely the same one that had governed there under the king. While they did govern with a somewhat lighter hand and had a fair bit of success turning the Congo into a "model colony" with proper infrastructure and education, they were also probably the most blatant racists of all the various colonial powers short of [[UsefulNotes/ImperialGermany the]] [[UsefulNotes/FascistItaly genocidal]] [[UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan ones]]. They made a point of distinguishing between groups of their colonial subjects even when the distinctions did not previously exist or meant something else entirely (the worst example being the changes to the differentiation between Hutu and Tutsi in neighboring UsefulNotes/{{Rwanda}}, but this happened in the Congo, as well).

Originally the Congo Free State, the area now known as the '''[[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Democratic Republic]] of the Congo''' has essentially gone FromBadToWorse. In precolonial times, it was the site of three kingdoms: The Kongo Kingdom, the Luba Kingdom, and the Lunda Kingdom, which were civilized societies and had an established rule of law. All of this flew out the window when Europeans came along. The Kongo Kingdom fell to the Portuguese slave trade and the Luba and Lunda kingdoms collapsed due to Zanzibar slave traders. Henry Morton Stanley's expedition to Africa to find Dr. Livingston only made matters worse. News of the source of the Congo River and the riches of Africa caught the attention of King Leopold II of Belgium. He hired Stanley to carve out a piece of the African Cake for Belgium. This began the Scramble for Africa. When the Berlin Conference was held, Leopold successfully acquired the entire country for himself. [[ExactWords Not for Belgium, for]] ''[[ExactWords himself]]''. [[PrivatelyOwnedSociety He owned and ruled the entire area without oversight or accountability]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrocities_in_the_Congo_Free_State started one of the cruellest and most atrocity-filled European regimes in Africa]]. Not only that, he did it by inventing a front company called the International African Association, which was supposedly an altruistic venture - lest you think he was merely [[ValuesDissonance a man of his time who didn't know what was really going on]], he actually talks candidly about the need for cruelty in his diaries, and deliberately burned much of his records before his death to cover up his crimes. Under the exploitative rule of King Leopold II, the local population were enslaved, mostly in the booming rubber market. [[YouHaveFailedMe If you failed to meet the quota]], you [[AnArmAndALeg had your right hand chopped off]]. Belgian actions in the Congo (including mass rapes, village massacres and the use of the severed hands as currency) created an international scandal[[note]]which among other things inspired Joseph Conrad's ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness'', on which ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' was eventually based[[/note]]. Things got so bad even the other colonialist powers (France, the UK, Germany, the USA, Belgium) [[EveryoneHasStandards thought the racism and colonialism was going too far.]] Leopold responded by waging one of the first modern press wars, including creating fictional accounts of Belgian education systems in the Congo, defaming eyewitnesses to Belgian atrocities and using the international press to denounce their stories as anti-Belgian propaganda. He even attempted to spin the photographic evidence of mounds of severed hands as "cancer treatment". The scandal forced Belgium to annex the Congo Free State as the Belgian Congo from Leopold in 1908. Leopold actually ''sold'' the Congo to his government, meaning that even as he lost direct control of the country, he still made an obscene profit from it. He died the following year as (in modern terms) a billionaire. He had never once set foot in the Congo.

If you want to see the lighter side of the country, the DR Congo pioneered a genre of soul music called Soukous or African Rumba [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soukous]] that spread throughout Africa in the 50s through the eighties, and even for a time found in London and Paris discos. It suffered from the war, but remains relatively popular in the DRC. More recently, the Congolese band Konono n°1 has gained worldwide popularity among indie music circles, creating and popularizing a genre sometimes known as "Congotronics", which is essentially traditional Congolese music played with homemade electronic instruments and amplification. It's about as trippy as you'd expect.

A huge Central African country located right in the middle of Africa, the DR Congo is the second largest country in Africa and has the most natural resources. The Congo River is home to a vast ecosystem of fish. The Kivu region has diamonds. Katanga is home to large supplies of copper and provided the uranium for the bombs dropped in Japan. The troubled eastern region has gold and metals used in electronics. It is home to several unique species including the okapi and bonobo. It has the second largest rain forest in the world.

[[NamesTheSame Not to be confused with]] the neighboring UsefulNotes/RepublicOfTheCongo, which is located along the west side of the Congo River. To prevent confusion of the two nations, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is often called "Congo-Kinshasa", while the Republic of the Congo is "Congo-Brazzaville", after their capital cities.[[note]]The capital cities sit directly across the river from each other. Not including city-states, they're the closest pair of national capitals in the world.[[/note]] This dates back to when they were ''both'' named simply "Republic of the Congo", with the current Democratic Republic going by "Congo-Leopoldville" (based on Kinshasa's former name).

Originally the Congo Free State, the area now known as the '''[[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Democratic Republic]] of the Congo''' has essentially gone FromBadToWorse. In precolonial times, it was the site of three kingdoms: The Kongo Kingdom, the Luba Kingdom, and the Lunda Kingdom, which were civilized societies and had an established rule of law. All of this flew out the window when Europeans came along. The Kongo Kingdom fell to the Portuguese slave trade and the Luba and Lunda kingdoms collapsed due to Zanzibar slave traders. Henry Morton Stanley's expedition to Africa to find Dr. Livingston only made matters worse. News of the source of the Congo River and the riches of Africa caught the attention of King Leopold II of Belgium. He hired Stanley to carve out a piece of the African Cake for Belgium. This began the Scramble for Africa. When the Berlin Conference was held, Leopold successfully acquired the entire country for himself. [[ExactWords Not for Belgium, for]] ''[[ExactWords himself]]''. [[PrivatelyOwnedSociety He owned and ruled the entire area without oversight or accountability]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrocities_in_the_Congo_Free_State started one of the cruellest and most atrocity-filled European regimes in Africa]]. Not only that, he did it by inventing a front company called the International African Association, which was supposedly an altruistic venture - lest you think he was merely [[ValuesDissonance a man of his time who didn't know what was really going on]], he actually talks candidly about the need for cruelty in his diaries, and deliberately burned much of his records before his death to cover up his crimes. Under the exploitative rule of King Leopold II, the local population were enslaved, mostly in the booming rubber market. [[YouHaveFailedMe If you failed to meet the quota]], you [[AnArmAndALeg had your right hand chopped off]]. Belgian actions in the Congo (including mass rapes, village massacres and the use of the severed hands as currency) created an international scandal[[note]]which among other things inspired Joseph Conrad's ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness'', on which ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' was eventually based[[/note]]. Things got so bad even the other colonialist powers (France, the UK, Germany, the USA, Belgium) [[EvenEvilHasStandards thought the racism and colonialism was going too far.]] Leopold responded by waging one of the first modern press wars, including creating fictional accounts of Belgian education systems in the Congo, defaming eyewitnesses to Belgian atrocities and using the international press to denounce their stories as anti-Belgian propaganda. He even attempted to spin the photographic evidence of mounds of severed hands as "cancer treatment". The scandal forced Belgium to annex the Congo Free State as the Belgian Congo from Leopold in 1908. Leopold actually ''sold'' the Congo to his government, meaning that even as he lost direct control of the country, he still made an obscene profit from it. He died the following year as (in modern terms) a billionaire. He had never once set foot in the Congo.

Lubumbashi is the country's second-largest city and a mining center. Half of the world's cobalt production is in the Katanga region. Oscar Tshiebwe, the consensus NCAA Division I men's basketball player of the year in 2022 with the University of Kentucky, is a native.

Lubumbashi is the country's second-largest city and a mining center. Half of the world's cobalt production is in the Katanga region.

Formerly Léopoldville (after the infamous Leopold II of the Belgians, who ran the country as his personal fief), Kinshasa is the country's humongous capital and a fast-rising world metropolis, accounting for over 80% of the DR Congo's economy. According to a UN estimate, nearly 400,000 people immigrate to the city annually, swelling its population from 2.6 million during the 1980s (the last official census) to around 12 million during TheNewTens and it's projected to rise further in the coming years. Fun fact: Kinshasa is the world's largest officially Francophone city. Yes, it dwarfs UsefulNotes/{{Paris}}, whose urban population is about two million less than Kinshasa. However, French is used mainly in government and education; most speak the Lingala vernacular as a day-to-day language.

* '''Highest point:''' Mount Stanley (5109 m/16,762 ft) (30th[[note]]shared with Uganda[[/note]])

* '''Highest point:''' Mount Stanley (5109 m/16,762 ft) (49th[[note]]shared with Uganda[[/note]])

* '''ISO-3166-1 Code:''' CD

Thus it forms [[DarkestAfrica the stereotypical image of African troubles]] with all its common tropes potholed in the preceding description.

Originally the Congo Free State, the area now known as the '''[[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Democratic Republic]] of the Congo''' has essentially gone FromBadToWorse. In precolonial times, it was the site of three kingdoms: The Kongo Kingdom, the Luba Kingdom, and the Lunda Kingdom, which were civilized societies and had an established rule of law. All of this flew out the window when Europeans came along. The Kongo Kingdom fell to the Portuguese slave trade and the Luba and Lunda kingdoms collapsed due to Zanzibar slave traders. Henry Morton Stanley's expedition to Africa to find Dr. Livingston only made matters worse. News of the source of the Congo River and the riches of Africa caught the attention of King Leopold II of Belgium. He hired Stanley to carve out a piece of the African Cake for Belgium. This began the Scramble for Africa. When the Berlin Conference was held, Leopold successfully acquired the entire country for himself. [[ExactWords Not for Belgium, for]] ''[[ExactWords himself]]''. [[PrivatelyOwnedSociety He owned and ruled the entire area without oversight or accountability]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrocities_in_the_Congo_Free_State started one of the cruellest and most atrocity-filled European regimes in Africa]]. Not only that, he did it by inventing a front company called the International African Association, which was supposedly an altruistic venture - lest you think he was merely [[ValuesDissonance a man of his time who didn't know what was really going on]], he actually talks candidly about the need for cruelty in his diaries, and deliberately burned much of his records before his death to cover up his crimes. Under the exploitative rule of King Leopold II, the local population were enslaved, mostly in the booming rubber market. [[YouHaveFailedMe If you failed to meet the quota]], you [[AnArmAndALeg had your right hand chopped off]]. Belgian actions in the Congo (including mass rapes, village massacres and the use of the severed hands as currency) created an international scandal[[note]]which among other things inspired Joseph Conrad's ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness'', on which ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' was eventually based[[/note]]. Things got so bad even the other colonialist powers (France, the UK, Germany, the USA, Belgium) [[EvenEvilHasStandards thought]] the racism and colonialism was going too far. Leopold responded by waging one of the first modern press wars, including creating fictional accounts of Belgian education systems in the Congo, defaming eyewitnesses to Belgian atrocities and using the international press to denounce their stories as anti-Belgian propaganda. He even attempted to spin the photographic evidence of mounds of severed hands as "cancer treatment". The scandal forced Belgium to annex the Congo Free State as the Belgian Congo from Leopold in 1908. Leopold actually ''sold'' the Congo to his government, meaning that even as he lost direct control of the country, he still made an obscene profit from it. He died the following year as (in modern terms) a billionaire. He had never once set foot in the Congo.

Originally the Congo Free State, the area now known as the '''[[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Democratic Republic]] of the Congo''' has essentially gone FromBadToWorse. In precolonial times, it was the site of three kingdoms: The Kongo Kingdom, the Luba Kingdom, and the Lunda Kingdom, which were civilized societies and had an established rule of law. All of this flew out the window when Europeans came along. The Kongo Kingdom fell to the Portuguese slave trade and the Luba and Lunda kingdoms collapsed due to Zanzibar slave traders. Henry Morton Stanley's expedition to Africa to find Dr. Livingston only made matters worse. News of the source of the Congo River and the riches of Africa caught the attention of King Leopold II of Belgium. He hired Stanley to carve out a piece of the African Cake for Belgium. This began the Scramble for Africa. When the Berlin Conference was held, Leopold successfully acquired the entire country for himself. [[ExactWords Not for Belgium, for]] ''[[ExactWords himself]]''. [[PrivatelyOwnedSociety He owned and ruled the entire area without oversight or accountability]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrocities_in_the_Congo_Free_State started one of the cruellest and most atrocity-filled European regimes in Africa]]. Not only that, he did it by inventing a front company called the International African Association, which was supposedly an altruistic venture - lest you think he was merely [[ValuesDissonance a man of his time who didn't know what was really going on]], he actually talks candidly about the need for cruelty in his diaries, and deliberately burned much of his records before his death to cover up his crimes. Under the exploitative rule of King Leopold II, the local population were enslaved, mostly in the booming rubber market. [[YouHaveFailedMe If you failed to meet the quota]], you [[AnArmAndALeg had your right hand chopped off]]. Belgian actions in the Congo (including mass rapes, village massacres and the use of the severed hands as currency) created an international scandal[[note]]which among other things inspired Joseph Conrad's ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness'', on which ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' was eventually based[[/note]]. Leopold responded by waging one of the first modern press wars, including creating fictional accounts of Belgian education systems in the Congo, defaming eyewitnesses to Belgian atrocities and using the international press to denounce their stories as anti-Belgian propaganda. He even attempted to spin the photographic evidence of mounds of severed hands as "cancer treatment". The scandal forced Belgium to annex the Congo Free State as the Belgian Congo from Leopold in 1908. Leopold actually ''sold'' the Congo to his government, meaning that even as he lost direct control of the country, he still made an obscene profit from it. He died the following year as (in modern terms) a billionaire. He had never once set foot in the Congo.

* '''Area:''' 2,345,409 sq km (905,567 sq mi) (11th)

----

A huge Central African country located right in the middle of Africa, the '''Democratic Republic of the Congo''' is the second largest country in Africa and has the most natural resources. The Congo River is home to a vast ecosystem of fish. The Kivu region has diamonds. Katanga is home to large supplies of copper and provided the uranium for the bombs dropped in Japan. The troubled eastern region has gold and metals used in electronics. It is home to several unique species including the okapi and bonobo. It has the second largest rain forest in the world.

Originally the Congo Free State, the area now known as the [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Democratic Republic]] of Congo has essentially gone FromBadToWorse. In precolonial times, it was the site of three kingdoms: The Kongo Kingdom, the Luba Kingdom, and the Lunda Kingdom, which were civilized societies and had an established rule of law. All of this flew out the window when Europeans came along. The Kongo Kingdom fell to the Portuguese slave trade and the Luba and Lunda kingdoms collapsed due to Zanzibar slave traders. Henry Morton Stanley's expedition to Africa to find Dr. Livingston only made matters worse. News of the source of the Congo River and the riches of Africa caught the attention of King Leopold II of Belgium. He hired Stanley to carve out a piece of the African Cake for Belgium. This began the Scramble for Africa. When the Berlin Conference was held, Leopold successfully acquired the entire country for himself. [[ExactWords Not for Belgium, for]] ''[[ExactWords himself]]''. [[PrivatelyOwnedSociety He owned and ruled the entire area without oversight or accountability]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrocities_in_the_Congo_Free_State started one of the cruellest and most atrocity-filled European regimes in Africa]]. Not only that, he did it by inventing a front company called the International African Association, which was supposedly an altruistic venture - lest you think he was merely [[ValuesDissonance a man of his time who didn't know what was really going on]], he actually talks candidly about the need for cruelty in his diaries, and deliberately burned much of his records before his death to cover up his crimes. Under the exploitative rule of King Leopold II, the local population were enslaved, mostly in the booming rubber market. [[YouHaveFailedMe If you failed to meet the quota]], you [[AnArmAndALeg had your right hand chopped off]]. Belgian actions in the Congo (including mass rapes, village massacres and the use of the severed hands as currency) created an international scandal[[note]]which among other things inspired Joseph Conrad's ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness'', on which ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' was eventually based[[/note]]. Leopold responded by waging one of the first modern press wars, including creating fictional accounts of Belgian education systems in the Congo, defaming eyewitnesses to Belgian atrocities and using the international press to denounce their stories as anti-Belgian propaganda. He even attempted to spin the photographic evidence of mounds of severed hands as "cancer treatment". The scandal forced Belgium to annex the Congo Free State as the Belgian Congo from Leopold in 1908. Leopold actually ''sold'' the Congo to his government, meaning that even as he lost direct control of the country, he still made an obscene profit from it. He died the following year as (in modern terms) a billionaire. He had never once set foot in the Congo.

A huge Central African country located right in the middle of Africa, the DR Congo is the second largest country in Africa and has the most natural resources. The Congo River is home to a vast ecosystem of fish. The Kivu region has diamonds. Katanga is home to large supplies of copper and provided the uranium for the bombs dropped in Japan. The troubled eastern region has gold and metals used in electronics. It is home to several unique species including the okapi and bonobo. It has the second largest rain forest in the world.

Originally the Congo Free State, the area now known as the [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Democratic Republic]] of Congo has essentially gone FromBadToWorse. In precolonial times, it was the site of three kingdoms: The Kongo Kingdom, the Luba Kingdom, and the Lunda Kingdom, which were civilized societies and had an established rule of law. All of this flew out the window when Europeans came along. The Kongo Kingdom fell to the Portuguese slave trade and the Luba and Lunda kingdoms collapsed due to Zanzibar slave traders. Henry Morton Stanley's expedition to Africa to find Dr. Livingston only made matters worse. News of the source of the Congo River and the riches of Africa caught the attention of King Leopold II of Belgium. He hired Stanley to carve out a piece of the African Cake for Belgium. This began the Scramble for Africa. When the Berlin Conference was held, Leopold successfully acquired the entire country for himself. [[ExactWords Not for Belgium, for]] ''[[ExactWords himself]]''. [[PrivatelyOwnedSociety He owned and ruled the entire area without oversight or accountability]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrocities_in_the_Congo_Free_State started one of the cruellest and most atrocity-filled European regimes in Africa]]. Not only that, he did it by inventing a front company called the International African Association, which was supposedly an altruistic venture - lest you think he was merely [[ValuesDissonance a man of his time who didn't know what was really going on]], he actually talks candidly about the need for cruelty in his diaries, and deliberately burned much of his records before his death to cover up his crimes. Under the exploitative rule of King Leopold II, the local population were enslaved, mostly in the booming rubber market. [[YouHaveFailedMe If you failed to meet the quota]], you [[AnArmAndALeg had your right hand chopped off]]. Belgian actions in the Congo (including mass rapes, village massacres and the use of the severed hands as currency) created an international scandal[[/note]]which among other things inspired Joseph Conrad's ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness'', on which ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' was eventually based[[/note]]. Leopold responded by waging one of the first modern press wars, including creating fictional accounts of Belgian education systems in the Congo, defaming eyewitnesses to Belgian atrocities and using the international press to denounce their stories as anti-Belgian propaganda. He even attempted to spin the photographic evidence of mounds of severed hands as "cancer treatment". The scandal forced Belgium to annex the Congo Free State as the Belgian Congo from Leopold in 1908. Leopold actually ''sold'' the Congo to his government, meaning that even as he lost direct control of the country, he still made an obscene profit from it. He died the following year as (in modern terms) a billionaire. He had never once set foot in the Congo.

Originally the Congo Free State, the area now known as the [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Democratic Republic]] of Congo has essentially gone FromBadToWorse. In precolonial times, it was the site of three kingdoms: The Kongo Kingdom, the Luba Kingdom, and the Lunda Kingdom, which were civilized societies and had an established rule of law. All of this flew out the window when Europeans came along. The Kongo Kingdom fell to the Portuguese slave trade and the Luba and Lunda kingdoms collapsed due to Zanzibar slave traders. Henry Morton Stanley's expedition to Africa to find Dr. Livingston only made matters worse. News of the source of the Congo River and the riches of Africa caught the attention of King Leopold II of Belgium. He hired Stanley to carve out a piece of the African Cake for Belgium. This began the Scramble for Africa. When the Berlin Conference was held, Leopold successfully acquired the entire country for himself. [[ExactWords Not for Belgium, for]] ''[[ExactWords himself]]''. [[PrivatelyOwnedSociety He owned and ruled the entire area without oversight or accountability]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrocities_in_the_Congo_Free_State started one of the cruellest and most atrocity-filled European regimes in Africa]]. Not only that, he did it by inventing a front company called the International African Association, which was supposedly an altruistic venture - lest you think he was merely [[ValuesDissonance a man of his time who didn't know what was really going on]], he actually talks candidly about the need for cruelty in his diaries, and deliberately burned much of his records before his death to cover up his crimes. Under the exploitative rule of King Leopold II, the local population were enslaved, mostly in the booming rubber market. [[YouHaveFailedMe If you failed to meet the quota]], you[[AnArmAndALeg had your right hand chopped off]]. Belgian actions in the Congo (including mass rapes, village massacres and the use of the severed hands as currency) created an international scandal[[/note]]which among other things inspired Joseph Conrad's ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness'', on which ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' was eventually based[[/note]]. Leopold responded by waging one of the first modern press wars, including creating fictional accounts of Belgian education systems in the Congo, defaming eyewitnesses to Belgian atrocities and using the international press to denounce their stories as anti-Belgian propaganda. He even attempted to spin the photographic evidence of mounds of severed hands as "cancer treatment". The scandal forced Belgium to annex the Congo Free State as the Belgian Congo from Leopold in 1908. Leopold actually ''sold'' the Congo to his government, meaning that even as he lost direct control of the country, he still made an obscene profit from it. He died the following year as (in modern terms) a billionaire. He had never once set foot in the Congo.

Originally the Congo Free State, the area now known as the [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Democratic Republic]] of Congo has essentially gone FromBadToWorse. In precolonial times, it was the site of three kingdoms: The Kongo Kingdom, the Luba Kingdom, and the Lunda Kingdom, which were civilized societies and had an established rule of law. All of this flew out the window when Europeans came along. The Kongo Kingdom fell to the Portuguese slave trade and the Luba and Lunda kingdoms collapsed due to Zanzibar slave traders. Henry Morton Stanley's expedition to Africa to find Dr. Livingston only made matters worse. News of the source of the Congo River and the riches of Africa caught the attention of King Leopold II of Belgium. He hired Stanley to carve out a piece of the African Cake for Belgium. This began the Scramble for Africa. When the Berlin Conference was held, Leopold successfully acquired the entire country for himself. [[ExactWords Not for Belgium, for]] ''[[ExactWords himself]]''. [[PrivatelyOwnedSociety He owned and ruled the entire area without oversight or accountability]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrocities_in_the_Congo_Free_State started one of the cruellest and most atrocity-filled European regimes in Africa]]. Not only that, he did it by inventing a front company called the International African Association, which was supposedly an altruistic venture - lest you think he was merely [[ValuesDissonance a man of his time who didn't know what was really going on]], he actually talks candid Under the exploitative rule of King Leopold II, the local population were enslaved, mostly in the booming rubber market. [[YouHaveFailedMe If you failed to meet the quota]], you[[AnArmAndALeg had your right hand chopped off]]. Belgian actions in the Congo (including mass rapes, village massacres and the use of the severed hands as currency) created an international scandal[[/note]]which among other things inspired Joseph Conrad's ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness'', on which ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' was eventually based[[/note]]. Leopold responded by waging one of the first modern press wars, including creating fictional accounts of Belgian education systems in the Congo, defaming eyewitnesses to Belgian atrocities and using the international press to denounce their stories as anti-Belgian propaganda. He even attempted to spin the photographic evidence of mounds of severed hands as "cancer treatment". The scandal forced Belgium to annex the Congo Free State as the Belgian Congo from Leopold in 1908. Leopold actually ''sold'' the Congo to his government, meaning that even as he lost direct control of the country, he still made an obscene profit from it. He died the following year as (in modern terms) a billionaire. He had never once set foot in the Congo.

Originally the Congo Free State, the area now known as the [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Democratic Republic]] of Congo has essentially gone FromBadToWorse. In precolonial times, it was the site of three kingdoms: The Kongo Kingdom, the Luba Kingdom, and the Lunda Kingdom, which were civilized societies and had an established rule of law. All of this flew out the window when Europeans came along. The Kongo Kingdom fell to the Portuguese slave trade and the Luba and Lunda kingdoms collapsed due to Zanzibar slave traders. Henry Morton Stanley's expedition to Africa to find Dr. Livingston only made matters worse. News of the source of the Congo River and the riches of Africa caught the attention of King Leopold II of Belgium. He hired Stanley to carve out a piece of the African Cake for Belgium. This began the Scramble for Africa. When the Berlin Conference was held, Leopold successfully acquired the entire country for himself. [[ExactWords Not for Belgium, for]] ''[[ExactWords himself]]''. [[PrivatelyOwnedSociety He essentially owned and ruled the entire area without oversight or accountability]] and... well, let's just say there were no picnics to be had. Under the exploitative rule of King Leopold II, the local population essentially became slaves to provide enough rubber to finance whatever Leopold wanted at the time. [[YouHaveFailedMe If they failed to meet the quota]], the Congolese [[AnArmAndALeg had their hands chopped off]], among other things. It created an international scandal (which inspired Joseph Conrad's ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness'', on which ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' was eventually based) that forced Belgium to annex the Congo Free State as the Belgian Congo from Leopold in 1908. While this was agreed to be better than Leopold, it was still very harsh--Belgian colonial officials were not known for their sympathy to the locals. While they did govern with a somewhat lighter hand and had a fair bit of success turning the Congo into a "model colony" with proper infrastructure and education, they were also probably the most blatant racists of all the various colonial powers short of [[UsefulNotes/ImperialGermany the]] [[UsefulNotes/FascistItaly genocidal]] [[UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan ones]]. They made a point of distinguishing between groups of their colonial subjects even when the distinctions did not previously exist or meant something else entirely (the worst example being the changes to the differentiation between Hutu and Tutsi in neighboring UsefulNotes/{{Rwanda}}, but this happened in the Congo, as well).

After gaining independence on June 30, 1960, the country soon started falling apart. Belgian troops in the province of Katanga encouraged a secession that threatened to tear the country apart. This became known as the Congo Crisis, where the country was split into four regions. The Congo Crisis lead to the death of the beloved Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba. Lumumba was a socialist and Pan-Africanist, and firmly democratic. Lumumba begged the UN for help, but it was made clear to him that they were not going to help him put down the Belgian-backed and anti-communist Katangan rebels. After he agreed to a Soviet arms deal in desperation, it should come as little surprise that Lumumba's death came about after two unsuccessful assassination attempts by the CIA. His death was sponsored and requested by the Belgian and American governments. (The Soviets for their part named their "Peoples' Friendship University"--the university in Moscow catering to international students, particularly from the developing world--after him.[[note]]The university is the subject of a lot of [[RussianHumour Russian jokes]] about Africans--particularly cannibal chiefs, who inevitably turn out to be Lumumba University graduates.[[/note]]) This conflict is infamous for being the one that killed Dag Hammarskjold, known as one of the best UN Secretary-Generals of all time, when his plane crashed in Zambia en route to negotiating a peace settlement. Conspiracy theories are abound.

After gaining independence on June 30, 1960, the country soon started falling apart. Belgian troops in the province of Katanga encouraged a secession that threatened to tear the country apart. This became known as the Congo Crisis, where the country was split into four regions. The Congo Crisis lead to the death of the Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba. Lumumba was a socialist and openly friendly to the Soviet Union; it should come as little surprise that Lumumba's death came about after two unsuccessful assassination attempts by the CIA. His death was sponsored and requested by the Belgian and American governments. (The Soviets for their part named their "Peoples' Friendship University"--the university in Moscow catering to international students, particularly from the developing world--after him.[[note]]The university is the subject of a lot of [[RussianHumour Russian jokes]] about Africans--particularly cannibal chiefs, who inevitably turn out to be Lumumba University graduates.[[/note]]) This conflict is infamous for being the one that killed Dag Hammarskjold, known as one of the best UN Secretary-Generals of all time, when his plane crashed in Zambia en route to negotiating a peace settlement. Conspiracy theories are abound.

Originally the Congo Free State, the area now known as the [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Democratic Republic]] of Congo has essentially gone [[CrapsackWorld from suck]] [[FromBadToWorse to suck]]. In precolonial times, it was the site of three kingdoms: The Kongo Kingdom, the Luba Kingdom, and the Lunda Kingdom, which were civilized societies and had an established rule of law. All of this flew out the window when Europeans came along. The Kongo Kingdom fell to the Portuguese slave trade and the Luba and Lunda kingdoms collapsed due to Zanzibar slave traders. Henry Morton Stanley's expedition to Africa to find Dr. Livingston only made matters worse. News of the source of the Congo River and the riches of Africa caught the attention of King Leopold II of Belgium. He hired Stanley to carve out a piece of the African Cake for Belgium. This began the Scramble for Africa. When the Berlin Conference was held, Leopold successfully acquired the entire country for himself. [[ExactWords Not for Belgium, for]] ''[[ExactWords himself]]''. [[PrivatelyOwnedSociety He essentially owned and ruled the entire area without oversight or accountability]] and... well, let's just say there were no picnics to be had. Under the exploitative rule of King Leopold II, the local population essentially became slaves to provide enough rubber to finance whatever Leopold wanted at the time. [[YouHaveFailedMe If they failed to meet the quota]], the Congolese [[AnArmAndALeg had their hands chopped off]], among other things. It created an international scandal (which inspired Joseph Conrad's ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness'', on which ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' was eventually based) that forced Belgium to annex the Congo Free State as the Belgian Congo from Leopold in 1908. While this was agreed to be better than Leopold, it was still very harsh--Belgian colonial officials were not known for their sympathy to the locals. While they did govern with a somewhat lighter hand and had a fair bit of success turning the Congo into a "model colony" with proper infrastructure and education, they were also probably the most blatant racists of all the various colonial powers short of [[UsefulNotes/ImperialGermany the]] [[UsefulNotes/FascistItaly genocidal]] [[UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan ones]]. They made a point of distinguishing between groups of their colonial subjects even when the distinctions did not previously exist or meant something else entirely (the worst example being the changes to the differentiation between Hutu and Tutsi in neighboring UsefulNotes/{{Rwanda}}, but this happened in the Congo, as well).

Originally the Congo Free State, the area now known as the [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Democratic Republic]] of Congo has essentially gone [[CrapsackWorld from suck]] to suck. In precolonial times, it was the site of three kingdoms: The Kongo Kingdom, the Luba Kingdom, and the Lunda Kingdom, which were civilized societies and had an established rule of law. All of this flew out the window when Europeans came along. The Kongo Kingdom fell to the Portuguese slave trade and the Luba and Lunda kingdoms collapsed due to Zanzibar slave traders. Henry Morton Stanley's expedition to Africa to find Dr. Livingston only made matters worse. News of the source of the Congo River and the riches of Africa caught the attention of King Leopold II of Belgium. He hired Stanley to carve out a piece of the African Cake for Belgium. This began the Scramble for Africa. When the Berlin Conference was held, Leopold successfully acquired the entire country for himself. [[ExactWords Not for Belgium, for]] ''[[ExactWords himself]]''. [[PrivatelyOwnedSociety He essentially owned and ruled the entire area without oversight or accountability]] and... well, let's just say there were no picnics to be had. Under the exploitative rule of King Leopold II, the local population essentially became slaves to provide enough rubber to finance whatever Leopold wanted at the time. [[YouHaveFailedMe If they failed to meet the quota]], the Congolese [[AnArmAndALeg had their hands chopped off]], among other things. It created an international scandal (which inspired Joseph Conrad's ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness'', on which ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' was eventually based) that forced Belgium to annex the Congo Free State as the Belgian Congo from Leopold in 1908. While this was agreed to be better than Leopold, it was still very harsh--Belgian colonial officials were not known for their sympathy to the locals. While they did govern with a somewhat lighter hand and had a fair bit of success turning the Congo into a "model colony" with proper infrastructure and education, they were also probably the most blatant racists of all the various colonial powers short of [[UsefulNotes/ImperialGermany the]] [[UsefulNotes/FascistItaly genocidal]] [[UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan ones]]. They made a point of distinguishing between groups of their colonial subjects even when the distinctions did not previously exist or meant something else entirely (the worst example being the changes to the differentiation between Hutu and Tutsi in neighboring UsefulNotes/{{Rwanda}}, but this happened in the Congo, as well).