Congo Free State

The Congo Free State was a large state in Central Africa that existed from 1885 to 1908. It was privately owned by King Leopold II of Belgium (not by the government of Belgium, of which he was the constitutional monarch). Leopold was able to procure 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. It was known for its immense brutality, rivalling that of the communist regimes of the 20th century, roughly 10 million Congolese people were murdered under king Leopold II in the Congo free state