Belgian Congo

Democratic Republic of the Congo, 1908–1960. Draft, not yet reviewed

The Belgian Congo was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. Belgium took official control of the country in 1908 after intense diplomatic pressure over the violence used by Free State officials against indigenous Congolese. In World War II the Belgian Congo became one of the major exporters of uranium to the US, particularly from the Shinkolobwe mine. The Belgian Congo achieved independence on 30 June 1960.

Seat of power: Kinshasa

No rulers documented for this era yet.

Culture

• Belgian rule in the Congo was based on the colonial trinity of state, missionary and private-company interests.
• The Colonial Charter of 18 October 1908 said that nobody could be forced to work for the profit of companies, but this was not enforced, and the Belgian government continued to impose forced labour.
• By the 1950s the Congo had a wage labour force twice as large as that in any other African colony.
• In 1960 the Belgian Congo had 3,000 health care facilities, of which 380 were hospitals.

Picture

Boma was the capital of the Congo Free State and the Belgian Congo from 1 May 1886 to 1923, when the capital was moved to Léopoldville.

Image: Χρίστος Ιμμανοελ, CC BY-SA 4.0, file

Sources

• Belgian Congo (Wikipedia)
• Belgian Congo (Wikidata)
• About the picture (Wikipedia)

Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.