LeopoldIIofBelgium had likewise remade Brussels into a modern city punctuated by royal monuments, streamlined facades and broad new boulevards that implied not only prosperity but a controlling order.
While a few institutions in the U.S. had collected some African objects beginning in the late 19th century, the American Museum of Natural History acquired a large group in 1907 from Belgium's King LeopoldII (infamous for his treatment of the Congo).