At the time of the so-called "Scramble for Africa" just about every European power wanted to get a piece of the action, and the Belgians were no different. Though hardly a major power, the Belgians nonetheless felt fully entitled to take up their share of "the white man's burden." But the cunning King Leopold knew that the Belgians were not militarily strong enough to stake imperial claims like the British and the French. Instead, he resorted to more subtle means, cynically using a charitable organization called the International African Association as a front for Belgian colonial exploitation.
Leopold presented himself to the world as a champion of benign philanthropy; ostensibly, he only wanted to help the poor, benighted natives enjoy the benefits of Western civilization. In actuality, Leopold wanted to get his hands on Congo's natural resources. As he put it, he did not want to miss out on the...
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opportunity of getting a slice of "this magnificent African cake."
King Leopold II of Belgium originally wanted to take over the Philippines. He first asked to purchase the Philippines from Spain, but he did not have the money to do so. He then tried to make the Philippines an independent nation that he could control. When he failed in this attempt, he tried to colonize Africa.
King Leopold tried to establish different colonies in Africa that failed. He was interested in the explorations of Henry Morton Stanley along the Congo, and he organized what appeared to be a benevolent organization called the International African Society. This organization was actually his means to control the Congo as a private individual. At the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885, European diplomats gave him sovereignty over the Congo, then known as the Congo Free State. He was at first interested in controlling this region to extract ivory, and then, when the price of rubber increased, he used the region to enrich himself by enforcing the use of brutality to coerce the native people to extract rubber. For example, the native people were tortured, mutilated, or killed if they did not meet quotas for extracting enough rubber. Eventually, King Leopold was exposed for being a brute and for using Congo to enrich himself, and he died in shame in 1909.
Why did King Leopold want to create overseas colonies?
Generally, King Leopold believed that colonial expansion was key to building a powerful state, and so he sought colonies for Belgium around the world. That said, Leopold set up Belgium's only colony in Africa not as an extension of a Belgian empire, but rather to add to his own personal fortune. Leopold formed a private company in 1876, with the stated goal of setting up a colony in the Congo region. After getting his claims recognized by the rest of Europe, he ruled the region as his own private domain, even using a private military force to enforce his will. He used brutal force to extract wealth from the natives of the region, first using native labor to obtain ivory and then rubber, which proved to be more profitable. Natives were worked under appalling conditions, facing death or mutilation if they failed to gather the required quotas of rubber.
The resulting death toll for the Congolese people was in the millions, and King Leopold faced global criticism for his policies, which were viewed by many as a case study in the abuses of imperialism, though Leopold's abuses were not on behalf of the kingdom he ruled, but for his own private gain. Like many imperialists, though, Leopold defended his actions by claiming, implausibly, that he had "undertaken the work in Congo in the interest of civilization and for the good of Belgium."