He didn’t govern a colony—he owned it. Under Leopold II, the Congo became a private empire built on violence and greed.

To the shocked Belgians, it seemed a bitter reward for their promise of freedom next June 30 to the rich Congo colony.No sooner had the painful independence pact been completed than the Congo's ...

While Britain and France poured large sums into overseas territories, the Congo colony’s $960 million ten-year development plan has been 70% financed by the Congo itself.

The owner of the prize called it “Congo Free State” a personal property then not yet a colony of his kingdom, Belgium. The other European colonisers upheld Leopold’s ownership of Congo and ...

The Republic of the Congo is the "little Congo," a former French colony that has Brazzaville as its capital. They are adjacent to each other and separated by the Congo River.

BRUSSELS, June 28 (Reuters) - Five decades after it ended its reign as a feared ruler in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Belgium is still coming to terms with its shady past and cannot quite ...

His numerous, well-documented atrocities led to Europe-wide pressure to end his personal regime, and in 1908, Belgium annexed Congo, and thereafter ruled it as a colony.

It does so by exploring two now-notorious regimes: King Leopold II of Belgium's Congo Colony (1908-1960) and Mobutu Sese Seko's totalitarian Zaire, ...

Former colonial power Belgium said on Tuesday that it will "re-examine" its relations with Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila after he failed to step down when his mandate ...

Belgium’s King Philippe reaffirmed his deepest regrets on Wednesday for the exploitation, racism and acts of violence during his country’s colonization of the Democratic Republic of Congo, but ...