White supremacist genocide before word genocide was invented

Determining the precise number of deaths in the Congo Free State under King Leopold Il's brutal regime is challenging due to a lack of reliable records from that time. • However, most historians estimate the death toll during the period between 1885 and 1908, when Leopold |I had absolute rule, to be around 10 million Congolese. Some estimates range as high as 15 million. e It's important to understand the factors contributing to these deaths:<


• Direct Violence and Murder: Leopold's administration used a private army, the Force Publique, to enforce brutal labor policies and suppress resistance.


Punishments for failing to meet rubber quotas often involved severe violence, including the amputation of hands and feet. <


• Forced Labor and Overwork: The system of forced labor for extracting resources like rubber and ivory was physically demanding and often led to exhaustion and death.


• Disease and Famine: The disruption of traditional society and the introduction of diseases like smallpox and sleeping sickness by Europeans, combined with food shortages caused by the exploitation of the land and people, resulted in widespread illness and starvation.


While the atrocities in the Congo Free State are widely recognized as a horrifying chapter in colonial history, the exact number of lives lost remains a subject of ongoing debate and research. & Leopold Il of Belgium - Wikipedia Leopold II of Belgium * Leopold II (9 April 1835 - 17 December 1909) wa... Wikipedia : C