On 30 June 1960, Belgium's King Baudouin arrived in Leopoldville to end 80 years of colonial rule in the Congo. In his speech, the king described the Congo's independence as "the crowning glory" of his ancestor, King Leopold II's work, and declared that Belgium's finest had delivered the land from slavery while creating a modern, civilised society.
Congolese listening to this might have had cause to wonder whether the king had lost his mind. For, as Adam Hochschild relates in King Leopold's Ghost, the true story of Belgian rule in the Congo is one of deceit, greed, and mass murder.
Hochschild charts the sorry history of colonialism in the Congo, starting in the 19th century with Leopold II's vainglorious campaign for a place in the sun. Using his legendary charm, Leopold persuaded the world that his intentions towards the vast area surrounding the mighty Congo river were purely philanthropic. A committee established to manage the colony was swiftly sidelined, and by claiming it in his own name, Leopold by-passed the Belgian parliament altogether. Once in control, the king was free to plunder the Congo's resources and enslave its people as he pleased.
All of this was done by proxy; Leopold never visited the domain that was 76 times the size of his own kingdom. He saw no need to set foot in a territory that was bringing forth precious goods, such as ivory and rubber, to finance his grand building projects at home. While his hand-picked officials were handsomely rewarded, the Congolese natives barely had enough to eat.
Dominant though his presence is, Leopold is not the only memorable figure in the Congo story. King Leopold's Ghost is enlivened by other characters, vividly portrayed by the author. Henry Morton Stanley, for example, (best known for his famous encounter with David Livingstone), is depicted as hot headed and frightened of intimacy. But the great explorer's loyalty to Leopold was a crucial component in the colonisation of the Congo. In contrast was Leopold's nemesis. A hurricane in human form, Edmund Morel unleashed a firestorm of opposition to the king's stewardship of his colony. With mounting horror, Morel uncovered the true nature of Leopold's place in the sun.
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