The Berlin Conference and the Punch Cartoon That Exposed Leopold

In this episode, Lucas and Luna examine how a single cartoon in the British magazine Punch helped turn public opinion against King Leopold II's brutal regime in the Congo Free State. They explore the role of satirical artist Edward Linley Sambourne, whose 1906 drawing 'The Phantom' depicted Leopold as a vampire bat hovering over the Congo, and trace the broader impact of visual propaganda in the anti-Congo reform movement. The conversation covers the context of the Congo Reform Association's campaign, E.D. Morel's writings, and the way cartoonists and journalists collaborated to expose the atrocities. Lucas also shares the story of Alice Seeley Harris, whose photographs of mutilated Congolese children were shown at lantern-slide lectures across Britain and America. The episode reveals how these images and cartoons, combined with the testimony of Roger Casement and others, finally forced the Belgian parliament to annex the Congo in 1908, ending Leopold's personal rule. #BerlinConference #CongoFreeState #KingLeopoldII #PunchMagazine #EdwardLinleySambourne #CongoReformAssociation #EDMorel #RogerCasement #AliceSeeleyHarris #ThePhantom #VisualPropaganda #SatiricalCartoon #CongoAtrocities #BelgianColonialism #1908Annexation #History #FexingoHistory #ColonialAfrica Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo