Leopold II

That conference, among other things, turned the Congo over to Belgium’s King Leopold II, who soon killed off half its population to extract its latex rubber, the “black gold” of that day.

A job with the International African Association established by the Belgian King, Leopold II would follow.

Russia's conquest of Siberia starting in the 1580s, for instance, included the enslavement of indigenous peoples whom it forced to pay tribute in the form of furs known as yasak on pain of death, resulting in starvation as people struggled to meet yasak quotas instead of feeding themselves in a system some historians have compared to Belgian King Leopold II's enslavement of the Congo.

King Leopold II wanted his own slice of the continent, but without government backing he had to win over investors and the public.

The museum traces its origins back to when King Leopold II set up the International Exposition of 1897.