In the book “Heart of Darkness”, Joseph Conrad wrote about the horrors committed by Leopold's regime. As one of the first witnesses to these horrors, he wrote “Heart of Darkness.” With this book he was able to publicize the atrocities he had seen during Leopold's greedy pursuit of rubber and ivory in the Congo. This book details in detail how Leopold made his enormous profit. Leopold issued decrees on the Congo such that the natives could only trade with his state agents or with his concessions. Leopold's concessions were private companies that sold ivory and rubber and gave Leopold 50% of their profits. The Abir Congo Company was part of these concessions which harvest natural rubber from the Congo. She was granted a large portion of the northern lands and had the right to impose a rubber tax on its residents. It was through such concessions but also from his personal business (the Congo Free State) that Leopold created his personal wealth. This book brings us closer to the answer to our question since it tells us how Leopold got his hands on all his profits. But this brings us to another question: exactly how much money did the Congo bring to Leopold II?2. “The Ghost of King Leopold” by Adam Hochschild (chapters 18 and 19) Adam Hochschild has detailed in detail the results and consequences of Leopold's reign in the Congo. He also mentions Jules Marchal's studies on Leopold's Profits. It is said in chapter 18 that he withdrew approximately 220 million Congo francs (or $1.1 billion in today's dollars) during his 41 years of rule. Of course, this sum does not include the more difficult-to-trace money that Leopold spent or hid more secretly. As mentioned earlier, the...... middle of paper ......f signs and symbols representing his royal greatness.4. Political caricature of Leopold, taken from “King Leopold's Soliloquy” by Mark Twain. In Mark Twain's book "The Soliloquy of King Leopold", we find this caricature of Leopold keeping all the money for himself while his officers kill Congolese slaves. I feel like this image is very powerful because it represents a lot in one image. This shows that Leopold knew about the killings in the Congo and felt neither guilt nor pity (as the emotion on his face only shows greed or nervousness). With the image, we learn that Leopold made a huge profit from the Congo but greedily kept it all to himself. The book itself tells of Leopold speaking in his own defense. For example, he talks about himself and how he says he didn't take any money from the government and he didn't use any of Congo's revenue for personal use..