King Leopold’s Outpost: Historical Room Recreation

Explore an outpost in King Leopold II of Belgium’s colony in the African Congo in 1904 with interactive, physics-based, and fully voice acted VR!

(This project was done with the supervision of Boston College professor Dr. Bee Lehman in their class, VR and the Gamification of History. )

In 1885, King Leopold II of Belgium announced a philanthropic mission to the world: he was going to colonize the Congo, a region in central Africa in order to abolish slavery and bring "Western civilization" to the natives.

Instead, he used his private military to force the Africans to farm ivory and rubber for commercial profit. From 1885 to 1908, it is estimated that King Leopold robbed over one billion dollars in today’s currency, with casualties of over ten million Africans, or around 50% of the entire population.

In our VR experience, the user takes the role of Roger Casement, a British Consular who was ordered to investigate King Leopold’s alleged crimes against humanity. He finds the supply post of an agent, and must uncover five clues by grabbing specific items at the outpost.

This part of history was only brought back into the modern conversation by the award winning book and documentary, "King Leopold’s Ghost", originally written by Adam Hoschild and directed by Orees Rees and Pippa Scott.

For more info, we have created a website with extensive information about our project: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/41505f59136e4dd9908b12c4a48e8609.