King Leopold II of Belgium Pt. 1 - Motivated

Boy oh boy… If you don’t know who this guy is, first off, lucky you. Second, I’m sorry that I’m about to change that. He was a simple man; all he really wanted was to take over the throne of Belgium from his father and own a colony somewhere that would help his country build its economy. After trying and failing for years to talk Parliament into building a colony somewhere he decided “F**k it. I’ll do it myself” and he BOUGHT THE CONGO. That means that any money that came from exporting any kind of natural resources would go to him and him alone. He even hired a pet explorer who would go there and “convince” the locals to sell the land they had been on for generations. After the construction was complete, the fun began… Harvesting natural resources, mostly ivory to start with. When the ivory trade started drying up, the beatings began… Did I mention this guy was a complete turd? This is only the beginning, though. Part 2 is going to be horrendous… Get episodes a week early, ad-free episodes, and content on Patreon: https://patreon.com/1159media