Examine the impact of King Leopold II’s activities in the Congo.

The question requires that candidates consider the interrelationship between King Leopold II’s activities and their impact in the Congo region. Candidates may refer to the devastation of the territory along with the increasing wealth of the King during the last decades of the 19th century. Impacts may extend beyond the timeframe but they must be clearly linked to the issue raised in the question. Candidates may examine the resources that were found in the Congo territory, and their economic exploitation by King Leopold II through concessionary companies, or they may focus on the local effects of this exploitation. Candidates may refer to the political process that recognized the sovereignty of Leopold II on Congo territory. Other factors may be addressed, for example, the extended rights given to concessionary companies, that included the recruitment and control of forced local labour, or ways in which Leopold’s activities prompted colonial rivalry with other powers, but with a focus on the issue in the question. Candidates’ opinions or conclusions will be presented clearly and supported by appropriate evidence.