Definitions for congo free state
con·go free state

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Congo Free State

   The Congo Free State, also known as the Independent State of the Congo (French: État indépendant du Congo), was a large state and absolute monarchy in Central Africa from 1885 to 1908. It was privately owned by and in a personal union with Leopold II of Belgium; it was not a part of, nor did it belong to, the Kingdom of Belgium, of which he was the constitutional monarch. Leopold was able to seize the region by convincing other European states at the Berlin Conference on Africa that he was involved in humanitarian and philanthropic work and would not tax trade. Via the International Association of the Congo, he was able to lay claim to most of the Congo Basin. On 29 May 1885, after the closure of the Berlin Conference, the king announced that he planned to name his possessions "the Congo Free State", an appellation which was not yet used at the Berlin Conference and which officially replaced "International Association of the Congo" on 1 August 1885. The Congo Free State operated as a separate nation from Belgium, in a personal union with its King. It was privately controlled by Leopold II, although he never personally visited the state.The state included the entire area of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo and existed from 1885 to 1908, when the government of Belgium reluctantly annexed the state as a colony belonging to Belgium after international pressure.Leopold's reign in the Congo eventually earned infamy on account of the atrocities perpetrated on the locals. Leopold II's Free State extracted ivory, rubber, and minerals in the upper Congo basin for sale on the world market through a series of international concessionary companies, even though its ostensible purpose in the region was to uplift the local people and develop the area. Under Leopold II's administration, the Congo Free State became one of the greatest international scandals of the early 20th century. The Casement Report of the British Consul Roger Casement led to the arrest and punishment of officials who had been responsible for killings during a rubber-collecting expedition in 1903.The loss of life and atrocities inspired literature such as Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness and raised an international outcry. Debate has been ongoing about the high death rate in this period. The highest estimates state that the widespread use of forced labour, torture, and murder led directly and indirectly to the deaths of 50 percent of the population. The lack of accurate records makes it difficult to quantify the number of deaths caused by the exploitation and the lack of immunity to new diseases introduced by contact with European colonists. During the Congo Free State propaganda war, European and US reformers exposed atrocities in the Congo Free State to the public through the Congo Reform Association, founded by Casement and the journalist, author, and politician E. D. Morel. Also active in exposing the activities of the Congo Free State was the author Arthur Conan Doyle, whose book The Crime of the Congo was widely read in the early 1900s. By 1908, public pressure and diplomatic manoeuvres led to the end of Leopold II's absolutist rule; the Belgian Parliament annexed the Congo Free State as a colony of Belgium. It became known thereafter as the Belgian Congo. In addition, a number of major Belgian investment companies pushed the Belgian government to take over the Congo and develop the mining sector as it was virtually untapped.

WikidataRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Congo Free State

   The Congo Free State was a large area in Central Africa that was privately controlled by Leopold II, King of the Belgians. Leopold was able to procure the region by convincing the international community that he was involved in humanitarian and philanthropic work, attracting scientific and humanitarian backing for the International African Association, which he formed during a Brussels Geographic Conference of geographic societies, explorers, and dignitaries he hosted in 1876. Leopold used both the Association and the defunct "Committee for Studies of the Upper Congo" as smokescreen organizations for laying claim to most of the Congo Basin. To give his African operations a name that could serve for a political entity, Leopold created the International Association of the Congo as a new cover organization. Though the entity officially recognized by the Berlin Conference of 1884-85 and various governments had been the International African Association or the International Association of the Congo, Leopold allowed the concept of a philanthropic "Association" involved in the Congo to end; on May 29, 1885, the king named his new colony the Congo Free State

The Nuttall EncyclopediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Congo Free State

   embraces most of the basin of the Congo, touching British territory in Uganda and Rhodesia, with a very narrow outlet to the Atlantic at the river mouth. It is under the sovereignty of Leopold II. of Belgium, who, in 1890, made over his rights to Belgium with power to annex the State in 1900. It is nine times the size of Great Britain, and continual native unrest gives great trouble to its administrators. Its waters are open to all nations, and traders exchange manufactured goods for ivory, palm-oil, coffee and caoutchouc, bees-wax and fruits. The climate is tropical, on the lower levels malarial. The population is from 20 to 40 millions. The centre of administration is Boma, 80 m. from the sea.

How to pronounce congo free state?

1. Alex

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Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of congo free state in Chaldean Numerology is: 8

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of congo free state in Pythagorean Numerology is: 9

References

1. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congo_Free_State
2. ^ Wikidata
   https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=congo free state
3. ^ The Nuttall Encyclopedia
   https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/12342/pg12342-images.html#CongoFreeState