On November 15, 1884, the major colonial powers of Europe convened in Berlin to discuss how they might carve up Africa. Leopold’s emissaries presented the territories of the AIC as a free-trade zone and stipulated that the Congo River would remain open for shipping without tariffs. The conference ended with the General Act of Berlin, which set out the terms of the European dissection of Africa. Leopold dissolved the AIC, and on May 29, 1885, he declared himself to be the personal owner and king sovereign of the Congo-Vrijstaat—the Congo Free State. His new patch of personal property in Africa
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