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Leopold II of Belgium. Leopold II (French: Léopold Louis Philippe Marie Victor; Dutch: Leopold Lodewijk Filips Maria Victor; 9 April 1835 – 17 December 1909) was the second King of the Belgians from 1865 to 1909, and the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free State from 1885 to 1908. Born in Brussels as the second but eldest-surviving son ...
- 17 December 1865 – 17 December 1909
- Louise of Orléans
Apr 5, 2024 · Leopold II (born April 9, 1835, Brussels, Belgium—died December 17, 1909, Laeken) was the king of the Belgians from 1865 to 1909. Keen on establishing Belgium as an imperial power, he led the first European efforts to develop the Congo River basin, making possible the formation in 1885 of the Congo Free State, annexed in 1908 as the Belgian Congo and now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Jun 12, 2020 · For many years Leopold II was widely known as a leader who defended Belgium's neutrality in the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian war and commissioned public works fit for a modern nation. Reuters
Leopold II, orig. Léopold-Louis-Philippe-Marie-Victor, (born April 9, 1835, Brussels, Belg.—died Dec. 17, 1909, Laeken), King of the Belgians (1865–1909). Succeeding his father, Leopold I, he led the first European efforts to develop the Congo River basin. In 1876 he founded an association to explore the Congo area, with Henry Morton ...
Nov 16, 2022 · Updated March 7, 2024. While reigning as the autocratic ruler of the Congo Free State from 1885 to 1908, King Leopold II of Belgium may have killed as many as 15 million people. Wikimedia Commons Leopold II reigned as King of the Belgians from 1865 to 1909 and established the Congo Free State in order to seize vast quantities of ivory and rubber.
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Oct 10, 2012 · Belgium's Heart of Darkness. King Leopold II’s personal rule of the vast Congo Free State anticipated the horrors of the 20th century, argues Tim Stanley. When I was a boy we used to play a car game called Name Five Famous Belgians. The game speaks to a lazy stereotype among Britons that Belgium is a country without history or character, lost ...
Leopold II of the Belgians (April 9, 1835 – December 17, 1909) succeeded his father, Leopold I of Belgium, the first king of the independent Belgium, to the Belgian throne in 1865 and remained king until his death. He was the brother of Charlotte, Empress of Mexico and cousin to Queen Victoria. Outside of Belgium, he is chiefly remembered as ...
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