Age of empire · 1885-1908

The Congo Free State

For 23 years King Leopold II of Belgium owns the Congo as his private state. Forced rubber collection brings him a fortune and brings terror and death to the Congolese. Students learn how the system worked and how one of the first international human rights campaigns exposed it.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
14–16
On the map
3 steps, AD 1900 to AD 1914
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

For 23 years King Leopold II of Belgium owns the Congo as his private state. Forced rubber collection brings him a fortune and brings terror and death to the Congolese. Students learn how the system worked and how one of the first international human rights campaigns exposed it.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Explain how King Leopold II came to own the Congo Free State and how it was run.
  • Describe the system of forced labour for rubber and its effects on Congolese people.
  • Explain how campaigners exposed the abuses and why Belgium took over in 1908.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1900

The Congo basin

Open the map in 1900 and zoom in on Central Africa. Follow the great bend of the Congo River. Compare the size of the Congo with Belgium. About how many times bigger is it?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1900

Down to the sea

Zoom in on the lower Congo River between Léopoldville (Kinshasa) and the ocean. Waterfalls and rapids block the river here. How would goods get from the interior to the coast?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1914

A new name

Drag the slider from 1900 to 1914. How does the name of the territory change on the map, and what does that tell you?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Leopold called his colony the "Free State". Free for whom?
  2. The world wanted rubber for bicycle and car tyres. How can demand in one part of the world cause suffering in another?
  3. Leopold never visited the Congo. Does that make him more or less responsible?
  4. Historians disagree on how many people died, but the population fell sharply through violence, hunger and disease. Why is it so hard to count?
  5. How should Belgium remember this history today, and what should it do?
4

Game round

10 min

No ruler in Rule History fits this lesson. Play Abraham Lincoln's 1862 round on emancipation. Then compare: Lincoln moved to end slavery in the United States, while twenty years later Leopold built a system of forced labour in the Congo. What ended each system: laws, war or public pressure?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.