In 1885, following the Berlin Conference, King Leopold II of Belgium claimed a vast territory in Central Africa as the so-called Congo Free State. Though the na

In 1885, following the Berlin Conference, King Leopold II of Belgium claimed a vast territory in Central Africa as the so-called Congo Free State. Though the name implied freedom and self-governance, the reality was starkly different: the land was not a Belgian colony but the king’s personal propert…