A statue of Sir Henry Morton Stanley, an explorer famous for his travels in Africa of Africa, lies on the ground, while a Congolese mocks his posture at former President Mobutu Sese Seko’s offices in Kinshasa, August 3, 2006. Stanley was a 19th-century Welsh-born American journalist and explorer famous for his exploration of Africa and his search for David Livingstone. His actions were indirectly responsible for helping establish the rule of King Leopold II over the Congo Free State.

The third largest country in Africa, with a landmass two-thirds the size of Europe, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a critical piece of the puzzle that is modern Africa. Originally inhabited by Pygmies, today known as Bitwa, Congo was eventually settled by Bantu tribes, and by the 1500s was the Kingdom of Luba. In the late 1800s, Europeans discovered the Congo and its vast resources. In 1885 King Leopold II of Belgium made the land his private property and called it the Congo Free State. While the Congo made Leopold rich, life under Leopold was disastrous for native Congolese. During the 23 years of his rule, he enslaved the people and ruthlessly plundered the land; it is thought that 10 million people died, almost half the population. The author Joseph Conrad was so appalled by what he observed in the Congo that he quit his job as captain of a steamer and wrote HEART OF DARKNESS to expose the dark side of European colonialism. As word of the atrocities reached Europe, the Belgian government finally intervened and took over Leopold’s administration of what was then called Belgian Congo. Although the Congolese still had no say in their own government, the Belgians did build an infrastructure of schools, hospitals, and railways.

Credit: AP/Schalk van Zuydam