King Leopold II's Humanitarian Disguise

King Leopold II of Belgium wanted a colony, but Belgium's parliament and public showed little interest. In 1876 he hosted a geographic conference in Brussels and founded the International African Association, presenting his plans as a scientific and humanitarian effort to explore Africa and end the slave trade. From 1879 to 1884 he employed Henry Morton Stanley to build stations along the Congo River and to sign hundreds of treaties with local rulers, many of whom did not understand that they were signing away land and labor rights.

Leopold skillfully lobbied foreign governments; in April 1884 the United States became the first country to recognize his claim. At the Berlin Conference, rival powers accepted his control of the Congo basin partly because they preferred a weak, neutral ruler to a strong rival. Leopold's case shows how humanitarian language could be used to win support for a project whose real aims were personal wealth and power.