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<p>[QUOTE="chrisild, post: 2749360, member: 39"]The guy on that coin is Leopold The First (Léopold Premier) who was Belgium's first king. It was his son Leopold II who, until 1908, "owned" the territory - assisted by people such as Henry Morton Stanley and "legitimized" by the Congo Conference.</p><p><br /></p><p>The inscription "Roi des Belges" (King of the Belgians) hints at an issue that the Belgian kings had: They were not kings without an oath to the constitution and the parliament's approval. That still applies today, except that these days pretty much every king or queen around here is a representational figure, embedded in a democratic system. In Belgium at the times of Leopold II, not too many people - neither in parliament, nor in the general population - shared his colonial enthusiasm. His "way out" of this problem was that idea of a personal colony ...</p><p><br /></p><p>In 1908, the extremely unpopular Leopold II "sold" his colony to Belgium due to domestic and international pressure. One year later he died.</p><p><br /></p><p>Christian[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="chrisild, post: 2749360, member: 39"]The guy on that coin is Leopold The First (Léopold Premier) who was Belgium's first king. It was his son Leopold II who, until 1908, "owned" the territory - assisted by people such as Henry Morton Stanley and "legitimized" by the Congo Conference. The inscription "Roi des Belges" (King of the Belgians) hints at an issue that the Belgian kings had: They were not kings without an oath to the constitution and the parliament's approval. That still applies today, except that these days pretty much every king or queen around here is a representational figure, embedded in a democratic system. In Belgium at the times of Leopold II, not too many people - neither in parliament, nor in the general population - shared his colonial enthusiasm. His "way out" of this problem was that idea of a personal colony ... In 1908, the extremely unpopular Leopold II "sold" his colony to Belgium due to domestic and international pressure. One year later he died. Christian[/QUOTE]
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