Annexation of Congo Free State

Date: November 15, 1908 • Location: Boma, Congo, the Democratic Republic of the

As a result of numerous atrocities in the territory, the Congo Free State was annexed to Belgium to form the Belgian Congo.

From 1885 to 1908, many atrocities were committed in the Congo Free State under the absolute rule of King Leopold II of Belgium. These atrocities were particularly associated with the labour policies, enforced by colonial administrators, used to collect natural rubber for export. Combined with epidemic disease, famine, mass population displacement, and falling birth rates caused by these disruptions, the atrocities contributed to a sharp decline in the Congolese population. These atrocities have sometimes been described as a genocide, though this characterization is disputed. Modern estimates of the magnitude of the population decline ranges from 1.2 million to 10 million people.