The reign of Leopold II (1835 - 1909) proved to be of great importance to Belgium. He was of opinion that the colonies abroad would be the key of the fortune of one's country. When Stanley returned from his great expedition to the basin of the Congo River, the Belgian king took the explorer under his patronage,seizing this vast territoryas virtually his own propertyand developing it for his private fortune.In 1890 he found it necessary to ask the Belgian Parliament for a loan which was granted on condition that in ten years time the territory should pass to the ownership of state government. After many complains received by the Government of the activities of the King the state government in 1908 purchased the so-called Congo Free state.
No comments:
Post a Comment