State

Congo Free State

The Congo Free State was a state in Central Africa controlled personally by King Leopold II of Belgium from 1885 to 1908. Its regime of forced labour, especially for rubber collection, caused immense suffering. It absorbed the remaining Luba states, ending the autonomy of the Luba Empire, before being annexed by Belgium as the Belgian Congo.

Congo Free State
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Mentioned in 4 profiles

Luba EmpireDeclineLunda EmpireDeclineKingdom of BelgiumImpact, SummaryKingdom of RwandaMilitary

Mentioned in 2 state histories

Yaka KingdomYeke Kingdom

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Congo Free State. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/congo-free-state
MLA
“Congo Free State.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/congo-free-state. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Congo Free State.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/congo-free-state.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Congo Free State’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/congo-free-state (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻