E X T E N S I O N BELGIAN COLONISATION OF THE CONGO Although the people in Sub-Saharan Africa1 had for centuries been the victims of the slave trade to the Americas, it was only in the last quarter of the 19th century that massive colonisation began there. Britain, France, Germany and Portugal added new colonies to their empires, while Belgium colonised the Congo. When Leopold II became King of Belgium in 1865, he decided that he wanted a colony for his country, too. African colonies after the Berlin Conference of 1884 In 1876, he organised an International Geographical Conference in Brussels, during which he presented his purpose to the other European powers, justifying it as a mission to bring progress and civilisation to Africa. Eventually, in 1885, at the Berlin Conference, Leopold obtained the authorisation to create his colony, which became known as the Congo Free State. The noble purposes illustrated in the Conference, however, had nothing to do with the reality; what happened in the Congo was mere, and extremely cruel, exploitation. 1. Sub-Saharan Africa: the part of Africa that lies south of the Sahara desert. 46