The Congo Free State

Between 1885 and 1908, Belgium's King Leopold II ran the Congo as his personal property — not a Belgian colony, but his private estate. His agents forced the Congolese to harvest wild rubber under a system of terror.

Workers who failed to meet quotas were beaten, and many had their hands cut off as punishment. Estimates of the death toll vary widely, but historians place it in the millions, from murder, starvation, and disease. The scandal broke only when investigators and journalists exposed it — and Leopold was forced to hand the territory to the Belgian government to avoid prosecution.