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The BELGIAN CONGO (French: Congo Belge, Dutch: Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa between 1908 and 1960 in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Area - 2 345 410 sq. km Population - 16 600 000 (1960) Capital — Léopoldville. Until the later part of the 19th century, few Europeans had ventured into the Congo basin. The rainforest, swamps and accompanying malaria and other tropical diseases, such as sleeping sickness, made it a difficult environment for European exploration and exploitation. In 1876, King Leopold II of Belgium organized the International African Association with the cooperation of the leading African explorers and the support of several European governments for the promotion of African exploration and colonization. After Henry Morton Stanley had explored the region in a journey that ended in 1878, Leopold courted the explorer and hired him to help his interests in the region. European rivalry in Central Africa led to diplomatic tensions, in particular with regard to the largely unclaimed Congo River basin. In November 1884 Otto von Bismarck convened a 14-nation conference (the Berlin Conference) to find a peaceful resolution to the Congo crisis. Though the Berlin Conference did not formally approve the territorial claims of the European powers in Central Africa, it did agree on a set of rules to ensure a conflict-free partitioning of the region. The rules recognised (inter alia) the Congo basin as a free-trade zone. But Leopold II emerged triumphant from the Berlin Conference and his single-shareholder "philanthropic" organization received a large share of territory to be organized as the Congo Free State. On 18 October 1908, the Belgian Parliament voted in favour of annexing the Congo as a Belgian colony. This was after King Leopold II had given up any hope to maintain a substantial part of the Congo Free State as separate crown property. The highest-ranking representative of the colonial administration in the Congo was the Governor-General. From 1886 until 1926, the Governor-general and his administration were posted in Boma, near the Congo River estuary. From 1926, the colonial capital moved to Léopoldville, some 300 km further upstream in the interior. Initially, the Belgian Congo was administratively divided into four provinces: Léopoldville (or: Congo-Kasaï), Equateur, Orientale and Katanga, each presided over by a vice-Governor-general. An administrative reform in 1932 increased the number of provinces to six, while “demoting” the Vice-governors-general to provincial Governors. The Belgian Congo was directly involved in the two world wars. During World War One, an initial stand-off between the Force Publique and the German colonial army in German East-Africa (Tanganyika) turned into open warfare with a joint Anglo-Belgian invasion of German colonial territory in 1916 and 1917 during the East African Campaign. By 1916 the Belgian commander of the Force Publique, Lieutenant-General Charles Tombeur, had assembled an army of 15,000 men supported by local bearers - Reybrouck indicated that during the war no less than 260,000 native bearers were used - and advanced on to Kigali. Kigali was taken by May 6, 1916, and the army went on to take Tabora on September 19 after heavy fighting. In 1917, after Mahenge had been conquered, the army of the Belgian Congo, by now 25,000 men, controlled one-third of German East Africa. After the war, Belgium was rewarded for the participation of the Force Publique in the East African campaign with a League of Nations mandate over the former German colony of Ruanda-Urundi (1924-1945). During World War II the Belgian Congo served as a crucial source of income for the Belgian government in exile in London after the occupation by the Nazis. After the occupation of Belgium by the Germans in May 1940, the Congo declared itself loyal to the Belgian government in exile in London. The Belgian Congo supported the war on the Allied side in the Battle of Britain with 28 pilots in the RAF (squadron 349) and in the Royal South African Air Force (350 Squadron) and in Africa. The Force Publique again participated in the Allied campaigns in Africa. Belgian Congolese forces (with Belgian officers) notably fought against the Italian colonial army in Ethiopia, and were victorious in Asosa, Bortaï and Saïo under Major-general Auguste-Eduard Gilliaert during the second East African Campaign of 1940-1941. On 3 July 1941, the Italian forces (under General Pietro Gazzera) surrendered when they were cut off by the Force Public under Lieutenant-général Auguste-Eduard Gilliaert. A Congolese unit also served in the Far Eastern Theatre with the British army in the Burma Campaign. Congolese resistance against colonialism was widespread and took many different forms. Armed resistance occurred sporadically and localized until roughly the end of the Second World War. From the end of the Second World War until the late 1950s, the so-called "Pax belgica" prevailed. Until the end of colonial rule in 1960, passive forms of resistance and expressions of an anti-colonial sub-culture were manifold (e.g., Kimbanguism, after the prophet Simon Kimbangu, who was imprisoned by the Belgians). In the early 1950s, political emancipation of the Congolese elites, let alone of the masses, seemed like a distant event. But, it was clear that the Congo could not forever remain immune from the rapid changes that, after the Second World War, profoundly affected colonialism around the world. The independence of the British, French and Dutch colonies in Asia shortly after 1945 had little immediate effect in the Congo, but in the United Nations pressure on Belgium (as on other colonial powers) increased. Belgium had ratified article 73 of the United Nations Charter, which advocated self-determination, and both superpowers put pressure on Belgium to reform its Congo policy. However, the Belgian government tried to resist what it described as 'interference' with its colonial policy. In 1958, the demands for independence radicalised quickly and gained momentum. A key role was played by the Mouvement National Congolais (MNC). First set up in 1956, the MNC was established in October 1958 as a national political party that supported the goal of a unitary and centralised Congolese nation. Its most influential leader was the charismatic Patrice Lumumba. In 1959, an internal split was precipitated by Albert Kalonji and other MNC leaders who favoured a more moderate political stance (the splinter group was deemed Mouvement National Congolais-Kalonji). Despite the organisational divergence of the party, Lumumba’s leftist faction (now the Mouvement National Congolais-Lumumba) and the MNC collectively had established themselves as by far the most important and influential party in the Belgian Congo. Belgium vehemently opposed Lumumba’s leftist views and had grave concerns about the status of their financial interests should Lumumba’s MNC gain power. Currency : 1 Belgian Congo franc .
