The Cape to Cairo Railway was an unfinished project to create a railway line crossing from southern to northern Africa . It would have been the largest, and most important, railway of the continent. It was planned as a link between Cape Town in South Africa and Port Said in Egypt .
165-552: The project was never completed. Completed parts have been inoperative for many years, as a result of wars and lack of maintenance by the former colonies. The plan was initiated at the end of the 19th century, during the time of Western European colonial rule. It was largely based on the vision of Cecil Rhodes , an attempt to connect African colonies of the British Empire through a continuous railway line from Cape Town, South Africa to Cairo , Egypt. The original proposal for
330-517: A Crown colony . Rhodes returned to Mashonaland, further overseeing the suppression of the uprising there into 1897. The scandal attached to his name did not prevent him rejoining the board of the BSAC in 1898. He remained an MP in the Cape Parliament and a Privy Councillor. By the end of 1894, the territories over which the BSAC had concessions or treaties, collectively called "Zambesia" after
495-642: A ferry link up on the Nile, the railway continues in Sudan from Wadi Halfa to Khartoum at the 1,067 mm ( 3 ft 6 in ) Cape gauge ; see Northern Africa Railroad Development . This part of the system was started by Lord Kitchener in 1897 to provide supplies during his war against the Mahdist State . Further railway links go south, the most southern point being Wau . British interests had to overcome obstacles of geography and climate, and
660-815: A phylloxera epidemic. The diseased vineyards were dug up and replanted, and farmers were looking for alternatives to wine. In 1892, Rhodes financed The Pioneer Fruit Growing Company at Nooitgedacht , a venture created by Harry Pickstone, an Englishman who had experience with fruit-growing in California. The shipping magnate Percy Molteno had just undertaken the first successful refrigerated export to Europe. In 1896, after consulting with Molteno, Rhodes began to pay more attention to export fruit farming and bought farms in Groot Drakenstein, Wellington and Stellenbosch. A year later, he bought Rhone and Boschendal and commissioned Sir Herbert Baker to build him
825-619: A "Belgo-Congolese community", his ideas were met with indifference from Brussels and often with open hostility from some of the Belgians in the Congo, who feared for their privileges. It became increasingly evident that the Belgian government lacked a strategic long-term vision in relation to the Congo. 'Colonial affairs' did not generate much interest or political debate in Belgium, so long as
990-633: A 1,860 km rail link to Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia was built from 1970 to 1975 as a turnkey project financed and supported by China. This Tanzania-Zambia-Railway (TAZARA) was built to connect landlocked Zambia and its mineral wealth to a port on the Indian Ocean , independent from port connections in South Africa, a frequent rival economic competitor in the mining sectors or Mozambique, at that time Portuguese-controlled territory. Not intended in
1155-667: A Cape Town to Cairo railway was made in 1874 by Edwin Arnold , then the editor of The Daily Telegraph , which was joint sponsor of the expedition by Henry Morton Stanley to Africa to discover the course of the Congo River . The proposed route involved a mixture of railway and river transport between Elizabethville in the Belgian Congo (now Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of the Congo ) and Sennar in
1320-557: A benevolent and conflict-free administration and of the Belgian Congo as a true model colony. Only in the 1950s did this paternalistic attitude begin to change. In the 1950s the most blatant discriminatory measures directed at the Congolese were gradually withdrawn (among these: corporal punishment by means of the feared chicote —Portuguese word for whip). From 1953, and even more so after the triumphant visit of King Baudouin to
1485-585: A colony of the Belgian Kingdom. This was after King Leopold II had given up any hope of excluding a vast region of the Congo from the government's control by attempting to maintain a substantial part of the Congo Free State as a separate crown property . When the Belgian government took over the administration in 1908, the situation in the Congo improved in certain respects. The brutal exploitation and arbitrary use of violence, in which some of
1650-454: A cottage there. The successful operation soon expanded into Rhodes Fruit Farms , and formed a cornerstone of the modern-day Cape fruit industry. In 1873, Rhodes left his farm field in the care of his business partner, Rudd, and sailed for England to study at university. He was admitted to Oriel College, Oxford , but stayed for only one term in 1874. He returned to South Africa and did not return for his second term at Oxford until 1876. He
1815-511: 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 the exploration and colonization of Africa. After Henry Morton Stanley had explored the region in a journey that ended in 1878, Leopold courted
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#17327945763581980-537: A direct rail line to the sea at Beira . World War I increased demand for copper, and production soared from 997 tons in 1911 to 27,462 tons in 1917, then fell off to 19,000 tons in 1920. Smelters operated at Lubumbashi . Before the war the copper was sold to Germany; but the British purchased all the wartime output, with the revenues going to the Belgian government in exile . Diamond- and gold-mining also expanded during
2145-429: A few thousand Congolese who had successfully obtained the civil merit diploma or been granted "immatriculation". The supposed benefits attached to it—including equal legal status with the white population—proved often more theory than reality and led to open frustration with the évolués . When Governor-General Pétillon began to speak about granting the native people more civil rights, even suffrage, to create what he termed
2310-666: A key argument the civilizing influence of the European culture. The civilizing mission in the Congo went hand-in-hand with the economic and educational development. Conversion to Catholicism , basic Western-style education, and improved health-care were objectives in their own right, but at the same time helped to transform what Europeans regarded as a primitive society into the Western capitalist model, in which workers who were disciplined and healthy, and who had learned to read and write, could be assimilated into labour market . Some of
2475-649: A major player—, attracted the majority of private investments (copper and cobalt in Katanga, diamonds in Kasai, gold in Ituri). This allowed, in particular, the Belgian Société Générale to build up an economic empire in the Belgian Congo. Huge profits were generated by the private companies and for a large part siphoned off to European and other international shareholders in the form of dividends. During
2640-474: A major technological challenge. France had a somewhat rival strategy in the late 1890s to link its western and eastern African colonies, namely Senegal to French Somaliland . Southern Sudan and Ethiopia were in the way, but France sent expeditions in 1897 to establish a protectorate in southern Sudan and to find a route across Ethiopia. The scheme foundered when a British flotilla on the Nile river confronted
2805-784: A meeting with the remaining Ndebele chiefs. Rhodes and a few colleagues walked unarmed into the Ndebele stronghold in Matobo Hills . In a series of meetings between August and October, he persuaded the Impi to lay down their arms, thus ending the Second Matabele War. In the aftermath of the war in Matabeleland, but whilst the uprising in Mashonaland was being suppressed, Rhodes returned to London to give evidence to
2970-593: A member of the Cape Parliament , the chief goal of the assembly was to help decide the future of Basutoland . The ministry of Sir Gordon Sprigg was trying to restore order after the 1880 rebellion known as the Gun War . The Sprigg ministry had precipitated the revolt by applying its policy of disarming all native Africans to those of the Basotho nation, who resisted. In 1890, Rhodes became Prime Minister of
3135-419: A mining partner with Rudd and Rhodes. On 13 March 1888, Rhodes and Rudd launched De Beers Consolidated Mines after the amalgamation of a number of individual claims. With £200,000 of capital, the company, of which Rhodes was secretary, owned the largest interest in the mine (£200,000 in 1880 = £22.5m in 2020 = $ 28.5m USD). Rhodes was named the chairman of De Beers at the company's founding in 1888. De Beers
3300-455: A police officer to "kill all you can", even those Ndebele who begged for mercy and threw down their arms. Shortly after learning of the assassination of the Ndebele spiritual leader, Mlimo, by the American scout Frederick Russell Burnham , and after participating in the cavalry charge at one of the last pitched battles of this phase of the war, Rhodes' associate Johan Colenbrander arranged for
3465-401: A proof of "civil merit", or, one step up, 'immatriculation' (registration), i.e., official evidence of their assimilation with European civilisation. To acquire this status, the applicant had to fulfill strict conditions (monogamous matrimony, evidence of good behaviour, etc.) and submit to stringent controls (including house visits). This policy was a failure. By the mid-1950s, there were at best
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#17327945763583630-675: A strategic partnership with the London-based Diamond Syndicate. They agreed to control world supply to maintain high prices. Rhodes supervised the working of his brother's claim and speculated on his behalf. Among his associates in the early days were John X. Merriman and Charles Rudd . Rudd later became his partner in the De Beers Mining Company and the Niger Oil Company. During the 1880s, Cape vineyards had been devastated by
3795-780: A transshipment hub was built at Kidatu in southern Tanzania to connect the metre gauge Central Line (Tanzania) with the Cape gauge TAZARA line. This also shortened the distance. The railway is connected to the Mozambican, Zimbabwean and South African systems through the Beira-Bulawayo railway , the Limpopo railway and the Pretoria-Maputo railway , reaching the ports of Maputo and Beira. The Court Treatt expedition , an attempt to travel from Cape to Cairo by road,
3960-578: A vote. ... If the whites maintain their position as the supreme race, the day may come when we shall be thankful that we have the natives with us in their proper position." He once stated "I prefer land to niggers" and referred to the 'Anglo-Saxon race' as "the best, most human, most honourable race the world possesses". He thought that those lands which were occupied by the "most despicable specimens of human beings" should be inhabited by Anglo-Saxons. However others have disputed these views. For example, historian Raymond C. Mensing notes that Rhodes has
4125-426: Is 5,625 kilometres (3,495 mi) out of total 10,489 kilometres (6,518 mi). The operational status of sections of the railway is as follows: East Africa has a network of narrow gauge 1,000 mm ( 3 ft 3 + 3 ⁄ 8 in ) railways that historically grew from ports on the Indian Ocean and went westward, built in parallel under British and German colonial rule. The furthest string north
4290-467: Is James Rhodes ( fl. 1660) of Snape Green, Whitmore, Staffordshire . Cecil's siblings included Frank Rhodes , a British Army officer. Rhodes attended the Bishop's Stortford Grammar School from the age of nine, but, as a sickly, asthmatic adolescent, he was taken out of grammar school in 1869 and, according to Basil Williams , "continued his studies under his father's eye ..." At age seven, he
4455-585: Is a matter of debate to this day. Critics cite his confiscation of land from the black indigenous population of the Cape Colony , and false claims that southern African archeological sites such as Great Zimbabwe were built by European civilisations. Rhodes was born in 1853 in Bishop's Stortford , Hertfordshire, England, the fifth son of the Reverend Francis William Rhodes (1807–1878) and his wife, Louisa Peacock. Francis
4620-829: Is said that he wanted to develop an American elite of philosopher-kings who would have the United States rejoin the British Empire. As Rhodes also respected and admired the Germans and their Kaiser , he allowed German students to be included in the Rhodes scholarships. He believed that eventually the United Kingdom (including Ireland), the US, and Germany together would dominate the world and ensure perpetual peace. Rhodes's views on race have been debated; he supported
4785-513: Is to be treated as a child and denied the franchise. We must adopt a system of despotism, such as works in India, in our relations with the barbarism of South Africa". Rhodes advocated the governance of indigenous Africans living in the Cape Colony "in a state of barbarism and communal tenure" as "a subject race. I do not go so far as the member for Victoria West, who would not give the black man
4950-625: The British South Africa Police , which was used to control Matabeleland and Mashonaland , in present-day Zimbabwe . The company had hoped to start a "new Rand " from the ancient gold mines of the Shona . Because gold deposits weren't as plentiful as they had hoped, many of the white settlers who accompanied the BSAC to Mashonaland became farmers rather than miners. White settlers and their locally-employed Native Police engaged in widespread indiscriminate rape of Ndebele women in
5115-703: The Congo Basin , which no European power had claimed. In November 1884, Otto von Bismarck convened a 14-nation conference (the Berlin Conference ) to find a peaceful resolution to the Congo situation. 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 )
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5280-457: The Congo–Arab War against African and Arab slavers like Zanzibari / Swahili strongman Tippu Tip . Following the 1904 Casement Report on misdeeds and conditions, European (British included) and American press exposed the conditions in the Congo Free State to the public in the early 1900s. In 1904 Leopold II was forced to allow an international parliamentary commission of inquiry entry to
5445-636: The East African Arab-Swahili slave trade . Rhodes paid much of the cost so that the British Central Africa Commissioner Sir Harry Johnston , and his successor Alfred Sharpe , would assist with security for Rhodes in the BSAC's north-eastern territories. Johnston shared Rhodes's expansionist views, but he and his successors were not as pro-settler as Rhodes, and disagreed on dealings with Africans. The BSAC had its own police force,
5610-576: The Force Publique —over more local (but also more ancient) indigenous languages such as Lomongo and others. In 1940 the schooling rates of children between 6 and 14 years old was 12%, reaching 37% in 1954, one of the highest rates in sub-Saharan Africa . Secondary and higher education for the indigenous population were not developed until relatively late in the colonial period. Black children, in small numbers, began to be admitted to European secondary schools from 1950 onward. The first university in
5775-555: The Glen Grey Act of 1894, Rhodes further disenfranchised the black population. To quote Richard Dowden , most would now "find it almost impossible to get back on the list because of the legal limit on the amount of land they could hold". In addition, Rhodes was an early architect of the Natives Land Act, 1913 , which would limit the areas of the country where black Africans were allowed to settle to less than 10%. At
5940-591: The Great North Road to Kimberley through a part of Botswana to Bulawayo . From this junction the link proceeded further north. The Victoria Falls Bridge was completed in 1905. The British Empire possessed the political power to complete the Cape to Cairo Railway, but economics, including the Great Depression of the 1930s, prevented its completion before World War II . After World War II,
6105-405: The International African Association . The state included the entire area of the present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo , and existed from 1885 until 1908, when the government of Belgium reluctantly annexed the area. Under Leopold II's administration, the Congo Free State became a humanitarian disaster. The lack of accurate records makes it difficult to quantify the number of deaths caused by
6270-554: The Sudan rather than a completely rail one. Imperialist and entrepreneur Cecil Rhodes was instrumental in securing the southern states of the continent for the British Empire and envisioned a continuous "red line" of British dominions from north to south. A railway would be a critical element in this scheme to unify the possessions, facilitate governance, enable the military to move quickly to hot spots or conduct war, help settlement and enable an internal and external trade of continental goods. The construction of this project presented
6435-609: The Zambezi River flowing through the middle, comprised an area of 1,143,000 km between the Limpopo River and Lake Tanganyika . In May 1895, its name was officially changed to "Rhodesia", reflecting Rhodes's popularity among settlers who had been using the name informally since 1891. The designation Southern Rhodesia was officially adopted in 1898 for the part south of the Zambezi, which later became Zimbabwe; and
6600-516: The city centers were reserved to the white population only, while the black population was organized in cités indigènes (indigenous neighbourhoods called 'le belge'). Hospitals, department stores and other facilities were often reserved for either whites or blacks. In the Force Publique , black people could not pass the rank of non-commissioned officer. The black population in the cities could not leave their houses from 9 pm to 4 am. This type of segregation began to disappear gradually only in
6765-760: The decolonisation of Africa and the establishment of independent countries removed the colonial rationale for the project and increased the difficulties, effectively ending it. South Sudan became independent in 2011. The border between Sudan and South Sudan is closed, and the railways in South Sudan are no longer operational. Most of Sudan's railway network is in disrepair due to political turmoil and US sanctions . A Khartoum–Atbara railway service began running in 2014 after China provided equipment and supplies. Other railway services have been put into place in Khartoum and surrounding areas. Currently operational length
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6930-589: The 'prophet' Simon Kimbangu , who was imprisoned by the Belgians). Apart from active and passive resistance among the Congolese, the colonial regime over time also elicited internal criticism and dissent. Already in the 1920s, certain members of the Colonial Council in Brussels (among them Octave Louwers) voiced criticism regarding the often brutal recruitment methods employed by the major companies in
7095-420: The 1940s and 1950s, the Belgian Congo experienced extensive urbanisation and the colonial administration began various development programs aimed at making the territory into a "model colony". One result saw the development of a new middle-class of Europeanised African " évolués " in the cities. By the 1950s, the Congo had a wage labour force twice as large as that in any other African colony. In 1960, as
7260-413: The 1950s, but even then the Congolese remained or felt treated in many respects as second-rate citizens (for instance in political and legal terms). Because of the close interconnection between economic development and the ' civilizing mission ', and because in practice state officials, missionaries and the executives of the private companies always lent each other a helping hand, the image has emerged that
7425-489: The 21st century. Rhodes entered the Cape Parliament at the age of 27 in 1881, and in 1890, he became prime minister. During his time as prime minister, Rhodes used his political power to expropriate land from black Africans through the Glen Grey Act , while also tripling the wealth requirement for voting under the Franchise and Ballot Act , effectively barring black people from taking part in elections. After overseeing
7590-491: The African workforce in the capitalist colonial economy played a crucial role in spreading the use of money in the Belgian Congo. The basic idea was that the development of the Congo had to be borne not by the Belgian taxpayers but by the Congolese themselves. The colonial state needed to be able to levy taxes in money on the Congolese, so it was important that they could make money by selling their produce or their labour within
7755-510: The Atlantic port of Matadi . The Great Depression of the 1930s affected the export-based Belgian Congo economy severely because of the drop in international demand for raw materials and agricultural products (for example, the price of peanuts fell from 1.25 francs to 25 centimes (cents)). In some areas, as in the Katanga mining region, employment declined by 70%. In the country as a whole,
7920-557: The BSAC administration, who asked that the firing party should not discharge their rifles as this would disturb the spirits. Then, for the first time, they gave a white man the Matabele royal salute, Bayete. Rhodes is buried alongside Leander Starr Jameson and 34 British soldiers killed in the Shangani Patrol . Despite occasional efforts to return his body to the United Kingdom, his grave remains there still, "part and parcel of
8085-540: The BSAC charter. But three Tswana kings, including Khama III , travelled to Britain and won over British public opinion for it to remain governed by the British Colonial Office in London. Rhodes commented: "It is humiliating to be utterly beaten by these niggers." The British Colonial Office also decided to administer British Central Africa owing to the activism of David Livingstone trying to end
8250-462: The Belgian Congo , established in 1934, with its large experimental fields and laboratories in Yangambe, played an important role in crop selection and in the popularization of agronomic research and know-how. During World War II, industrial production and agricultural output increased drastically. The Congolese population bore the brunt of the "war effort" – for instance, through a reinforcement of
8415-540: The Belgian Congo was governed by a "colonial trinity" of King-Church-Capital, encompassing the colonial state, the Christian missions, and the Société Générale de Belgique . The paternalistic ideology underpinning colonial policy was summed up in a catchphrase used by Governor-General Pierre Ryckmans (1934–46): Dominer pour servir ("Dominate to serve"). The colonial government wanted to convey images of
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#17327945763588580-712: The Belgian Congo, the Catholic Jesuit Lovanium University , near Léopoldville, opened its doors to black and white students in 1954. Before the foundation of the Lovanium, the Catholic University of Louvain already operated multiple institutes for higher education in the Belgian Congo. The Fomulac (Fondation médicale de l'université de Louvain au Congo), was founded in 1926, with the goal of forming Congolese medical personnel and researchers specialized in tropical medicine. In 1932
8745-644: The Belgian Congo. The highest-ranking representative of the colonial administration residing in the Belgian 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 1923, the colonial capital moved to Léopoldville , some 300 km further upstream in the interior. Initially, the Belgian Congo
8910-506: 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 called upon – and advanced to Kigali (now the capital of Rwanda ). Kigali was taken by 6 May 1916, and the army went on to take Tabora (now part of Tanzania ) on 19 September after heavy fighting . In 1917, after Mahenge (now in Tanzania ) had been conquered,
9075-444: The Belgian conscript workers; when Belgian Congo was established, chattel slavery was legally abolished in 1910, but prisoners were nevertheless conscripted as force laborers for both public and private work projects. Congolese opposition against colonialism was continuous, sustained and took many different forms. It became more likely as modern ideas and education spread. Armed risings occurred sporadically and localized until roughly
9240-430: The Belgian government in exile in London. The Belgian Congo and the rest of the Free Belgian forces 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
9405-465: The Belgian government tried to resist what it described as 'interference' with its colonial policy. Colonial authorities discussed ways to ameliorate the situation of the Congolese. Since the 1940s, the colonial government had experimented in a very modest way with granting a limited elite of so-called évolués more civil rights, holding out the eventual prospect of a limited amount of political influence. To this end "deserving" Congolese could apply for
9570-636: The British army in the Burma campaign . The economic exploitation of the Congo was one of the colonizer's top priorities. An important tool was the construction of railways to open up the mineral and agricultural areas. Rubber had long been the main export of the Belgian Congo, but its importance fell in the early 20th century from 77% of exports (by value) to only 15% as British colonies in Southeast Asia like British Malaya began to farm rubber. New resources were exploited, especially copper mining in Katanga province. The Belgian-owned Union Minière du Haut-Katanga , which would come to dominate copper mining, used
9735-403: The Cape Colony. He introduced various Acts of Parliament to push black people from their lands and make way for industrial development. Rhodes's view was that black people needed to be driven off their land to "stimulate them to labour" and to change their habits. "It must be brought home to them", Rhodes said, "that in future nine-tenths of them will have to spend their lives in manual labour, and
9900-483: The Cape to Cairo Railway was completed. In an early chapter the protagonist travels in comfort the whole route from South Africa to Egypt. Cecil Rhodes Cecil John Rhodes ( / ˈ s ɛ s əl ˈ r oʊ d z / SES -əl ROHDZ ; 5 July 1853 – 26 March 1902) was an English mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. He and his British South Africa Company founded
10065-404: The Catholic University of Louvain founded the Cadulac (Centres agronomiques de l'université de Louvain au Congo) in Kisantu . Cadulac was specialized in agricultural sciences and formed the basis for what was later to become Lovanium University . In 1956 a state university was founded in Elisabethville . Progress was slow though; until the end of the 1950s, no Congolese had been promoted beyond
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#173279457635810230-401: The Colonies Joseph Chamberlain . The raid was a catastrophic failure. It forced Cecil Rhodes to resign as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, sent his oldest brother Col. Frank Rhodes to jail in Transvaal convicted of high treason and nearly sentenced to death, and contributed to the outbreak of the Second Boer War . In 1899, Rhodes was sued by a man named Burrows for falsely representing
10395-415: 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 (2,344,000 km (905,000 sq mi)) to be organized as the Congo Free State . The Congo Free State operated as a corporate state, privately controlled by Leopold II through a non-governmental organization,
10560-402: The Congo Free State to the Belgian Congo was a turning point, but it was also marked by a considerable continuity. The last Governor-General of the Congo Free State, Baron Wahis, remained in office in the Belgian Congo, and the majority of Leopold II's administration with him. While conditions were improved somewhat relative to rule under King Leopold, reports by doctors such as Dr. Raingeard show
10725-480: The Congo Free State. By 1908, public pressure and diplomatic manoeuvres led to the end of Leopold II's personal rule and to the annexation of the Congo as a colony of Belgium, known as the "Belgian Congo". On 18 October 1908, the Belgian Parliament voted in favour of annexing the Congo as a Belgian colony. A majority of the socialists and the radicals firmly opposed this annexation and reaped electoral benefits from their anti-colonialist campaign, but some believed that
10890-440: The Congo, particularly after the Second World War, through the creation of the Institut pour la Recherche Scientifique en Afrique Centrale (IRSAC, 1948). 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
11055-472: The English, "I contend that we are the first race in the world, and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race. I contend that every acre added to our territory means the birth of more of the English race who otherwise would not be brought into existence." Rhodes bemoaned that there was little land left to conquer and said "to think of these stars that you see overhead at night, these vast worlds which we can never reach. I would annex
11220-454: The French expedition at the point of intersection between the French and British routes, leading to the Fashoda Incident and eventual French retreat. The Portuguese considered an Angola to Mozambique railway to link west with east and produced the " Pink Map " representing their claims to sovereignty in Africa (to link Angola and Mozambique). These plans ended after the 1890 British Ultimatum . Opposition to British rule in South Africa
11385-453: The German Empire. The British continued to rule the territory after the war, which was a League of Nations mandate from 1922. The continuous line of colonies necessary were gained. The southern section was completed during British rule before the First World War and has an interconnecting system of national railways using the Cape gauge of 1,067 mm ( 3 ft 6 in ). Construction started from Cape Town and went parallel to
11550-410: The Italian colonial army in Italian East Africa , and were victorious in Asosa , Bortaï and in the Siege of 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 Publique . A Congolese unit also served in the Far Eastern Theatre with
11715-434: The Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. After World War II, the colonial state became more active in the economic and social development of the Belgian Congo. An ambitious ten-year plan was launched by the Belgian government in 1949. It put emphasis on house building, energy supply, rural development and health-care infrastructure. The ten-year plan ushered in a decade of strong economic growth, from which, for
11880-722: The Rudd Concession, in 1889 Rhodes obtained a charter from the British Government for his British South Africa Company (BSAC) to rule, police, and make new treaties and concessions from the Limpopo River to the great lakes of Central Africa. He obtained further concessions and treaties north of the Zambezi , such as those in Barotseland (the Lochner Concession with King Lewanika in 1890, which
12045-674: The Rudd and Lochner Concessions. Rhodes had already tried and failed to get a mining concession from Lobengula , King of the Ndebele of Matabeleland . In 1888 he tried again. He sent John Smith Moffat , son of the missionary Robert Moffat , who was trusted by Lobengula, to persuade the latter to sign a treaty of friendship with Britain, and to look favourably on Rhodes's proposals. His associate Charles Rudd, together with Francis Thompson and Rochfort Maguire, assured Lobengula that no more than ten white men would mine in Matabeleland. This limitation
12210-680: The Soviet Union) during the Cold War led to a five-year-long period of war and political instability, known as the Congo Crisis , from 1960 to 1965. This ended with the seizure of power by Joseph-Désiré Mobutu in November 1964. 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
12375-816: The UK House of Commons Select Committee of Enquiry into the Jameson Raid. As Rhodes had incriminating telegrams demonstrating the complicity and foreknowledge of the Raid by Joseph Chamberlain, the Colonial Secretary, he and his solicitor were able to blackmail Chamberlain into retaining the BSAC Charter, leaving the Company in charge of administering the territory north of the Limpopo even as it became
12540-436: The administrative reforms of 1933). Each province was in turn divided into a few districts (24 districts for the whole Congo) and each district into a handful of territories (some 130–150 territories in all; some territories were merged or split over time). A territory was managed by a territorial administrator, assisted by one or more assistants. The territories were further subdivided into numerous "chiefdoms" ( chefferies ), at
12705-506: The army of the Belgian Congo, by now 25,000 men, occupied one-third of German East Africa. After World War I, under the Treaty of Versailles , Germany ceded control of the western section of the former German East Africa to Belgium, and Ruanda-Urundi would go on to become a League of Nations mandate territory , under Belgian administration. These areas did not become part of the Belgian Congo. Ruanda-Urundi would later become independent as
12870-478: The basis for the apartheid system, he is best seen as a cultural or minimal racist ". In a 2016 opinion piece for The Times , Oxford University professor Nigel Biggar argued that although Rhodes was a committed imperialist , the charges of racism against him are unfounded. In a 2021 article, Biggar further argued that: Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo ( French : Congo belge , pronounced [kɔ̃ɡo bɛlʒ] ; Dutch : Belgisch-Congo )
13035-670: The boom of the private companies in the colony. The Belgian government also privatised many of the government-owned companies that were active in the colony (the Kilo-Moto mines, La Société Nationale des transport fluviaux,..). After the First World War, priority was given to investments in transport infrastructure (such as the rail lines between Matadi and Léopoldville and Elisabethville and Port Francqui ). From 1920 to 1932, 2,450 km of railroads were constructed. The government also invested heavily in harbour infrastructure in
13200-485: The cities of Boma, Matadi, Leopoldville and Coquilhatville. Electricity and waterworks in the main cities were also funded. Airports were built and a telephone line was funded that connected Brussels with Leopoldville. The government accounted for about 50% of the investments in the Belgian Congo; commercial companies accounted for the other 50%. The mining industry—with the Union Minière du Haut Katanga (U.M.H.K.) as
13365-434: The colonial government used maximum quotas of "able-bodied workers" that could be recruited from every area in the Belgian Congo. In this way, tens of thousands of workers from densely populated areas were employed in copper mines in the sparsely populated south (Katanga). In agriculture, too, the colonial state forced a drastic rationalisation of production. The state took over so-called "vacant lands" (land not directly used by
13530-453: The colonial period, with a comparatively high availability of hospital beds relative to the population and with dispensaries set up in the most remote regions. In 1960 the country had a medical infrastructure that far surpassed any other African nation at that time. The Belgian Congo had 3,000 health care facilities, of which 380 were hospitals. There were 5.34 hospital beds for every 1000 inhabitants (1 for every 187 inhabitants). Great progress
13695-483: The colony in 1955, Governor-General Léon Pétillon (1952–1958) worked to create a "Belgian-Congolese community", in which blacks and whites were to be treated as equals. Regardless, anti-miscegenation laws remained in place, and between 1959 and 1962 thousands of mixed-race Congolese children were forcibly deported from the Congo by the Belgian government and the Catholic Church and taken to Belgium. In 1957,
13860-589: The coming years through what has been described as a " suppressio veri ... which must be regarded as one of Rhodes's least creditable actions". Contrary to what the British government and the public had been allowed to think, the Rudd Concession was not vested in the British South Africa Company , but in a short-lived ancillary concern of Rhodes, Rudd and a few others called the Central Search Association , which
14025-535: The competing imperial schemes of the French, Portuguese and Germans. In 1891, Germany secured the strategically critical territory of German East Africa , which, along with the mountainous rainforest of the Belgian Congo , precluded the building of a Cape to Cairo railway. In 1916, during World War I , British, African, and Indian soldiers won the Tanganyika Territory (now modern-day Tanzania) from
14190-443: The concessionary companies had excelled, were curbed. The crime of "red rubber" was put to a stop. Article 3 of the new Colonial Charter of 18 October 1908 stated that: "Nobody can be forced to work on behalf of and for the profit of companies or privates", but this was not enforced, and the Belgian government continued to impose forced labour on the indigenous people of the area, albeit by less obvious methods. The transition from
14355-615: The cost of administering the territories to the north of South Africa against his future mining profits. The Colonial Office did not have enough funding for this. Rhodes promoted his business interests as in the strategic interest of Britain: preventing the Portuguese , the Germans or the Boers from moving into south-central Africa. Rhodes's companies and agents cemented these advantages by obtaining many mining concessions, as exemplified by
14520-664: The country should annex the Congo and play a humanitarian role to the Congolese population. Eventually, two Catholic MPs and half of the Liberal MPs joined the socialists in rejecting the Colonial Charter (forty-eight votes against) and nearly all the Catholics and the other half of the Liberal MP's approved the charter (ninety votes for and seven abstentions). This way, on 15 November 1908 the Belgian Congo became
14685-402: The country, which it did by creating the Belgian Congo in 1908. Belgian rule in the Congo was based on the "colonial trinity" ( trinité coloniale ) of state , missionary and private-company interests. The privileging of Belgian commercial interests meant that large amounts of capital flowed into the Congo and that individual regions became specialised . On many occasions, the interests of
14850-566: The designations North-Western and North-Eastern Rhodesia were used from 1895 for the territory which later became Northern Rhodesia , then Zambia . He built a house for himself in 1897 in Bulawayo. Rhodes decreed in his will that he was to be buried in Matopos Hills (now Matobo Hills). After his death in the Cape in 1902, his body was transported by train to Bulawayo . His burial was attended by Ndebele chiefs, now paid agents of
15015-565: The disastrous effects of erosion and soil exhaustion brought about by the mandatory cultivation scheme. This policy began to be implemented on a large scale throughout the Congo after the Second World War, by the colonial government. The scheme aimed to modernize indigenous agriculture by assigning plots of land to individual families and by providing them with government support in the form of selected seeds, agronomic advice, fertilizers, etc. The National Institute for Agronomic Study of
15180-664: The early 1890s. The Ndebele and the Shona —the two main, but rival, peoples—took advantage of the absence of most of the BSAP for the Jameson Raid in January 1896; they separately rebelled against the coming of the European settlers, and the BSAC defeated them in the Second Matabele War . Rhodes went to Matabeleland after his resignation as Cape Colony Premier, and appointed himself Colonel in his own column of irregular troops moving from Salisbury to Bulawayo to relieve
15345-449: The economic boom of the 1920s, many young Congolese men left their often impoverished rural villages and were employed by companies located near the cities; the population of Kinshasa nearly doubled from 1920 to 1940, and the population of Elizabethville grew from approximately 16,000 in 1923, to 33,000 in 1929. The necessary work-force was recruited by specialised recruiting firms (Robert Williams & Co, Bourse du Travail Kasaï,..) and
15510-524: The end of the Second World War (e.g., revolt of the Pende in 1931, mutiny in Luluabourg 1944). From the end of the Second World War until the late 1950s, the era of what colonial propaganda called a " Pax belgica " prevailed. Until the end of colonial rule in 1960, passive forms of resistance and expressions of an anti-colonial sub-culture were nevertheless manifold and widespread (e.g., Kimbanguism , after
15675-424: The establishment of the international Rhodes Scholarship at University of Oxford , the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. Every year it grants 102 full postgraduate scholarships. It has benefited prime ministers of Malta, Australia, and Canada, United States President Bill Clinton , and many others. With the strengthening of international movements against racism, such as Rhodes Must Fall , Rhodes' legacy
15840-441: The explorer and hired him to help his interests in the region. Leopold II had been keen to acquire a colony for Belgium even before he ascended to the throne in 1865. The Belgian civil government showed little interest in its monarch's dreams of empire-building. Ambitious and stubborn, Leopold decided to pursue the matter on his own account. European rivalry in Central Africa led to diplomatic tensions, in particular with regard to
16005-548: The factories and mines. The Empire, as I have always said, is a bread and butter question. If you want to avoid civil war, you must become imperialists". Rhodes wanted to develop a Commonwealth in which all of the British-dominated countries in the empire would be represented in the British Parliament . Rhodes explicitly stipulated in his will that all races should be eligible for the scholarships. It
16170-707: The farm. After purchasing the land in 1839 from David Danser, a Koranna chief in the area, David Stephanus Fourie, forebear of Claudine Fourie-Grosvenor, had allowed the de Beers and various other Afrikaner families to cultivate the land. The region extended from the Modder River via the Vet River up to the Vaal River . In 1874 and 1875, the diamond fields were in the grip of depression, but Rhodes and Rudd were among those who stayed to consolidate their interests. They believed that diamonds would be numerous in
16335-592: The first municipal elections open to black voters took place in a handful of the largest cities — Léopoldville, Élisabethville, and Jadotville. In the Belgian Free State, the Belgians had freed thousands of men, women and children slaves from Swaihili Arab slave owners and slave traders in Eastern Congo in 1886–1892, enlisted them in the militia Force Publique or where given as prisoners to allied local chiefs, who in turn gave them as laborers for
16500-539: The first notable missions into Africa were conducted by David Livingstone and John M. Springer during the late 19th century into the early 20th century. The educational system was dominated by the Catholic Church —as was the case for the rest of Belgium at the time—and, in some rare cases, by Protestant churches. Curricula reflected Christian and Western values. Even in 1948, 99.6% of educational facilities were run by Christian missions. Indigenous schooling
16665-451: The first time, the Congolese began to benefit on a substantial scale. At the same time, the economy had expanded and the number of Belgian nationals in the country more than doubled, from 39,000 in 1950 to more than 88,000 by 1960. In 1953, Belgium granted the Congolese the right – for the first time – to buy and sell private property in their own names. In the 1950s a Congolese middle class, modest at first, but steadily growing, emerged in
16830-417: The formation of Rhodesia during the early 1890s, he was forced to resign in 1896 after the disastrous Jameson Raid , an unauthorised attack on Paul Kruger 's South African Republic (or Transvaal). Rhodes's career never recovered; his heart was weak, and after years of ill health he died in 1902. He was buried in what is now Zimbabwe; his grave has been a controversial site. In his last will, he provided for
16995-568: The framework of the colonial economy. The economic boom of the 1920s turned the Belgian Congo into one of the leading copper-ore producers worldwide. In 1926 alone, the Union Minière exported more than 80,000 tons of copper ore, a large part of it for processing in Hoboken (Belgium). In 1928 King Albert I visited the Congo to inaugurate the so-called 'voie national' that linked the Katanga mining region via rail (up to Port Francqui ) and via river transport (from Port Francqui to Léopoldville ) to
17160-520: The goal of bringing the entire world under British rule. During his years at Oxford, Rhodes continued to prosper in Kimberley . Before his departure for Oxford, he and C.D. Rudd had moved from the Kimberley Mine to invest in the more costly claims of what was known as old De Beers ( Vooruitzicht ). It was named after Johannes Nicolaas de Beer and his brother, Diederik Arnoldus, who occupied
17325-703: The good effects of a sea voyage and a better climate in South Africa. When he arrived in Africa, Rhodes lived on money lent by his aunt Sophia. After a brief stay with the Surveyor-General of Natal , P.C. Sutherland , in Pietermaritzburg , Rhodes took an interest in agriculture. He joined his brother Herbert on his cotton farm in the Umkomazi valley in Natal. The land was unsuitable for cotton, and
17490-554: The government and of private enterprise became closely linked, and the state helped companies to break strikes and to remove other barriers raised by the indigenous population. The colony was divided into hierarchically organised administrative subdivisions and run uniformly according to a set "native policy" ( politique indigène ). This differed from the practice of British and French colonial policy, which generally favoured systems of indirect rule , retaining traditional leaders in positions of authority under colonial oversight. During
17655-668: The grand picture of the Cape to Cairo Railway, the TAZARA fills a critical link. This connection uses the 1,067 mm ( 3 ft 6 in ) gauge of the southern part of Africa . In the city of Tenke , in the Democratic Republic of Congo , there is an interconnection of the Cape-Cairo Railway with the Katanga-Benguela railway linking it to the port of Lobito in Angola , on the Atlantic coast. In 1998,
17820-414: The hard blue ground that had been exposed after the softer, yellow layer near the surface had been worked out. During this time, the technical problem of clearing out the water that was flooding the mines became serious. Rhodes and Rudd obtained the contract for pumping water out of the three main mines. After Rhodes returned from his first term at Oxford, he lived with Robert Dundas Graham, who later became
17985-421: The head of which the Belgian administration appointed "traditional chiefs" ( chefs coutumiers ). The territories administered by one territorial administrator and a handful of assistants were often larger than a few Belgian provinces taken together (the whole Belgian Congo was nearly 80 times larger than the whole of Belgium and was roughly twice the size of Germany and France combined). The territorial administrator
18150-453: The history of Zimbabwe" and attracts thousands of visitors each year. One of Rhodes's dreams was for a "red line" on the map from the Cape to Cairo (on geo-political maps, British dominions were always denoted in red or pink). Rhodes had been instrumental in securing southern African states for the Empire. He and others felt the best way to "unify the possessions, facilitate governance, enable
18315-632: The independent Boer Republic of the Transvaal . He often disagreed with the Transvaal government's policies, which he considered unsupportive of mine-owners' interests. In 1895, believing he could use his influence to overthrow the Boer government, Rhodes supported the Jameson Raid , an unsuccessful attempt to create an uprising in the Transvaal that had the tacit approval of Secretary of State for
18480-661: The irresistible and compelling force of the colonial state. The Belgian Congo was directly involved in the two world wars. During World War I , 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,
18645-416: The local population) and redistributed the territory to European companies, to individual white landowners ( colons ), or to the missions . In this way, an extensive plantation economy developed. Palm-oil production in the Congo increased from 2,500 tons in 1914 to 9,000 tons in 1921, and to 230,000 tons in 1957. Cotton production increased from 23,000 tons in 1932 to 127,000 in 1939. The mobilization of
18810-585: The low importance the Belgian government placed on healthcare and basic education of the natives. Opening up the Congo and its natural and mineral riches for the Belgian economy remained the motive for colonial expansion. The governance of the Belgian Congo was outlined in the 1908 Colonial Charter . Executive power rested with the Belgian Minister of Colonial Affairs , assisted by a Colonial Council ( Conseil Colonial ). Both resided in Brussels. The Belgian Parliament exercised legislative authority over
18975-464: The main cities ( Léopoldville , Elisabethville , Stanleyville , and Luluabourg ). There was rapid political development, forced by African aspirations, in the last years of the 1950s, culminating in the 1960 Belgian Congo general election . Justifications for colonialism in Africa, taking as a given that tribal wars, cannibalism, human sacrifice, display of human trophies, bigamy, and other "primitive" practices were common place, often invoked as
19140-524: The main obstacles to the British objective until the United Kingdom conquered and seized Tanganyika from the Germans as a League of Nations mandate in World War I . Rhodes wanted to expand the British Empire because he believed that the Anglo-Saxon race was destined to greatness. In what he described as "a draft of some of my ideas" written in 1877 while a student at Oxford, Rhodes said of
19305-642: The majority (1,359,118) were enrolled in Catholic mission schools, 322,289 in Protestant mission schools and 68,729 in educational institutions organized by the state. Health care, too, was largely supported by the missions, although the colonial state took an increasing interest. In 1906 the Institute of Tropical Medicine was founded in Brussels. The ITM was, and still is, one of the world's leading institutes for training and research in tropical medicine and
19470-659: The mandatory cultivation policy. After Malaya fell to the Japanese (January 1942), the Belgian Congo became a strategic supplier of rubber to the Allies . The Belgian Congo became one of the major exporters of uranium to the US during World War II (and the Cold War ), particularly from the Shinkolobwe mine. The colony provided the uranium used by the Manhattan Project , including in atomic bombs dropped on
19635-510: The military to move quickly to hot spots or conduct war, help settlement, and foster trade" would be to build the "Cape to Cairo Railway". This enterprise was not without its problems. France had a conflicting strategy in the late 1890s to link its colonies from west to east across the continent and the Portuguese produced the " Pink Map ", representing their claims to sovereignty in Africa. Ultimately, Belgium and Germany proved to be
19800-428: The mining districts. The stagnation of population growth in many districts—in spite of spectacular successes in the fight against endemic diseases such as sleeping sickness—was another cause for concern. Low birth rates in the countryside and the depopulation of certain areas were typically attributed to the disruption of traditional community life as a result of forced labour migration and mandatory cultivation. Response
19965-722: The most powerful indigenous chiefs . Rhodes' competitive advantage over other mineral prospecting companies was his combination of wealth and astute political instincts, also called the "imperial factor," as he often collaborated with the British Government. He befriended its local representatives, the British Commissioners , and through them organized British protectorates over the mineral concession areas via separate but related treaties. In this way he obtained both legality and security for mining operations. He could then attract more investors. Imperial expansion and capital investment went hand in hand. The imperial factor
20130-611: The nations of Rwanda and Burundi , and the Belgian-controlled portions of German East Africa would join the nation of Tanganyika, followed by Tanzania. 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 of Belgium by the Nazis . Following the occupation of Belgium by the Germans in May 1940, the Belgian Congo declared itself loyal to
20295-490: The organisation of health care in developing countries. Endemic diseases, such as sleeping sickness , were all but eliminated through large-scale and persistent campaigns. In 1925 medical missionary Dr. Arthur Lewis Piper was the first person to use and bring tryparsamide, the Rockefeller Foundation's drug to cure sleeping sickness, to the Congo. The health-care infrastructure expanded steadily throughout
20460-472: The planets if I could; I often think of that. It makes me sad to see them so clear and yet so far". Furthermore Rhodes saw imperialism as a way to alleviate domestic social problems - "In order to save the 40,000,000 inhabitants of the United Kingdom from a bloody civil war, we colonial statesmen must acquire new lands to settle the surplus population, to provide new markets for the goods produced in
20625-428: The population of the Congo before the twentieth century and estimates like 20 million are purely guesses. Most of the interior of the Congo was literally unexplored if not inaccessible." Leopold's Force Publique , a private army that terrorized natives to work as forced labour for resource extraction, disrupted local societies and killed and abused natives indiscriminately. The Force Publique also became involved in
20790-630: The primary schools, disease prevention campaigns were implemented, and disease prevention classes were part of the curriculum. There was an "implicit apartheid ". The colony had curfews for Congolese city-dwellers and similar racial restrictions were commonplace. Léopoldville's system of racist curfews was particularly notable and was used as a blueprint in other European colonies, such as nearby French Equatorial Africa . Though there were no specific laws imposing racial segregation and barring blacks from establishments frequented by whites, de facto segregation operated in most areas. For example, initially,
20955-405: The purpose of the raid and thereby convincing him to participate in the raid. Burrows was severely wounded and had to have his leg amputated. His suit for £3,000 in damages was successful. Rhodes used his wealth and that of his business partner Alfred Beit and other investors to pursue his dream of creating a British Empire in new territories to the north by obtaining mineral concessions from
21120-575: The rank of non-commissioned officer in the Force Publique , nor to a responsible position in the administration (such as head of bureau or territorial administrator). In the late 1950s, 42% of the youth of school-going age was literate, which placed the Belgian Congo far ahead of any other country in Africa at the time. In 1960, 1,773,340 students were enrolled in schools around the Belgian Congo, of which 1,650,117 in primary school, 22,780 in post-primary school, 37,388 in secondary school and 1,445 in university and higher education. Of these 1,773,340 students,
21285-509: The regular Belgian army—were posted in the Belgian Congo (for instance in Kamina). The colonial state—and any authority exercised by whites in the Congo—was often referred to by the Congolese as bula matari ("break rocks"), one of the names originally given to Stanley . He had used dynamite to crush rocks when paving his way through the lower-Congo region. The term bula matari came to signify
21450-409: The reputation as the most flamboyant exemplar of the British imperial spirit, and always believed that British institutions were the best. Mensing argues that Rhodes quietly developed a more nuanced concept of imperial federation in Africa, and that his mature views were more balanced and realistic. According to Mensing, "Rhodes was not a biological or maximal racist . Despite his support for what became
21615-473: The result of a widespread and increasingly radical pro-independence movement , the Belgian Congo achieved independence, becoming the Republic of the Congo under Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba and President Joseph Kasa-Vubu . Poor relations between political factions within the Congo, the continued involvement of Belgium in Congolese affairs, and the intervention by major parties (mainly the United States and
21780-491: The rights of indigenous Africans to vote, but critics have labelled him as an "architect of apartheid " and a " white supremacist ", particularly since 2015. According to Magubane, Rhodes was "unhappy that in many Cape Constituencies, Africans could be decisive if more of them exercised this right to vote under current law [referring to the Cape Qualified Franchise]," with Rhodes arguing that "the native
21945-454: The ruthless exploitation and the lack of immunity to new diseases introduced by contact with European colonists – like the 1889–1890 influenza pandemic , which caused millions of deaths on the European continent, including Prince Baudouin of Belgium , who died in 1891. William Rubinstein wrote: "More basically, it appears almost certain that the population figures given by Hochschild are inaccurate. There is, of course, no way of ascertaining
22110-529: The siege of whites there. He remained Managing Director of the BSAC (with power of attorney to take decisions without reference back to the Board in London) until June 1896, defying Chamberlain's calls to resign, and he gave instructions that no mercy be shown in putting down the rebellion, telling officers that "Your instructions are" he told a major, to "do the most harm you can to the natives around you." He ordered
22275-532: The sooner that is brought home to them the better." In 1892, Rhodes's Franchise and Ballot Act raised the property requirements from a relatively low £25 to a significantly higher £75 which had a disproportionate effect on the previously growing number of enfranchised black people in the Cape under the Cape Qualified Franchise that had been in force since 1853. By limiting the amount of land which black Africans were legally allowed to hold in
22440-487: The southern African territory of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe and Zambia ), which the company named after him in 1895. He also devoted much effort to realising his vision of a Cape to Cairo Railway through British territory. Rhodes set up the Rhodes Scholarship , which is funded by his estate. The son of a vicar , Rhodes was born at Netteswell House , Bishop's Stortford , Hertfordshire . A sickly child, he
22605-450: The study and preservation of Congolese cultural and linguistic traditions and artefacts. One example among many is that of Father Gustaaf Hulstaert (1900–1990), who in 1937 created the periodical Aequatoria devoted to the linguistic, ethnographic and historical study of the Mongo people of the central Congo basin. The colonial state took an interest in the cultural and scientific study of
22770-412: The task of supervising and, if necessary, sanctioning those peasants who evaded the hated mandatory cultivation. Two distinct periods of investment in the Congo's economic infrastructure stand out during the period of Belgian rule: the 1920s and the 1950s. In 1921, the Belgian government provided 300 million francs of loans to the Belgian Congo, to fund public infrastructure projects in support of
22935-585: The then-largely unexploited Congo Basin . Their ambivalence resulted in Leopold establishing a colony himself. With support from a number of Western countries , Leopold achieved international recognition of the Congo Free State in 1885. By the turn of the century, the violence used by Free State officials against indigenous Congolese and a ruthless system of economic exploitation led to intense diplomatic pressure on Belgium to take official control of
23100-554: The time, Rhodes would argue that "the native is to be treated as a child and denied the franchise. We must adopt a system of despotism, such as works in India , in our relations with the barbarism of South Africa." Rhodes also introduced educational reform to the area. His policies were instrumental in the development of British imperial policies in South Africa, such as the Hut tax . Rhodes did not, however, have direct political power over
23265-405: The venture failed. In October 1871, 18-year-old Rhodes and his 26-year-old brother Herbert left the colony for the diamond fields of Kimberley in Northern Cape Province. Financed by N M Rothschild & Sons , Rhodes succeeded over the next 17 years in buying up all the smaller diamond mining operations in the Kimberley area. His monopoly of the world's diamond supply was sealed in 1890 through
23430-456: The wage labour force decreased by 72,000 and many such labourers returned to their villages. In Leopoldville, the population decreased by 33%, because of this labour migration. In order to improve conditions in the countryside, the colonial government developed the so-called " indigenous peasantry programme ", aimed at supporting the development of a stronger internal market that was less dependent of fluctuations in export demand, but also to combat
23595-516: The war. The British firm of Lever Bros. greatly expanded the palm oil business during the war, and output of cocoa, rice and cotton increased. New rail and steamship lines opened to handle the expanded export traffic. During the First World War (1914–1918), the system of "mandatory cultivation" ( cultures obligatoires ) was introduced, forcing Congolese peasants to grow certain cash crops (cotton, coffee, groundnuts) destined as commodities for export. Territorial administrators and state agronomists had
23760-403: 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;
23925-414: Was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville) . The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964. Colonial rule in the Congo began in the late 19th century. King Leopold II of the Belgians attempted to persuade the Belgian government to support colonial expansion around
24090-524: Was a Church of England clergyman who served as perpetual curate of Brentwood, Essex (1834–1843), and then as vicar of nearby Bishop's Stortford (1849–1876), where he was well known for never having preached a sermon longer than ten minutes. Francis was the eldest son of William Rhodes (1774–1855), a brick manufacturer from Hackney, Middlesex . The family owned significant estates in London's Hackney and Dalston which Cecil would later inherit. The earliest traceable direct ancestor of Cecil Rhodes
24255-417: Was a double-edged sword: Rhodes did not want the bureaucrats of the Colonial Office in London to interfere in the Empire in Africa. He wanted British settlers and local politicians and governors to run it. This put him on a collision course with many in Britain, as well as with British missionaries , who favoured what they saw as the more ethical direct rule from London. Rhodes prevailed because he would pay
24420-431: Was administratively divided into four provinces: 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 territorial service was the true backbone of the colonial administration. The colony was divided into four provinces (six after
24585-452: Was also made in the fight against endemic diseases; the numbers of reported cases of sleeping sickness went from 34,000 cases in 1931 to 1,100 cases in 1959, mainly by eradicating the tsetse fly in densely populated areas. All Europeans and Congolese in the Belgian Congo received vaccinations for polio , measles and yellow fever . Vast disease prevention programmes were rolled out, aimed at eradicating polio, leprosy and tuberculosis . In
24750-464: Was established with funding from N.M. Rothschild & Sons in 1887. In 1880, Rhodes prepared to enter public life at the Cape. With the earlier incorporation of Griqualand West into the Cape Colony under the Molteno Ministry in 1877, the area had obtained six seats in the Cape House of Assembly . Rhodes chose the rural and predominately Boer constituency of Barkly West , which would remain loyal to Rhodes until his death. When Rhodes became
24915-425: Was expected to inspect his territory and to file detailed annual reports with the provincial administration. In terms of the legal system , two systems co-existed: a system of European courts and one of indigenous courts ( tribunaux indigènes ). These indigenous courts were presided over by the traditional chiefs but had only limited powers and remained under the firm control of the colonial administration. In 1936 it
25080-411: Was greatly influenced by John Ruskin 's inaugural lecture at Oxford , which reinforced his own attachment to the cause of British imperialism . Among his Oxford associates were James Rochfort Maguire , later a fellow of All Souls College and a director of the British South Africa Company , and Charles Metcalfe. Due to his university career, Rhodes admired the Oxford tutorial system. Eventually, he
25245-459: Was in some cases supported by governmental recruiting offices (Office de Travail-Offitra,..). In Katanga the main labour force were seasonal migrant workers from Tanganyika , Angola , Northern Rhodesia , and after 1926, also from Ruanda-Urundi. In many cases, this huge labour migration affected the economic viability of rural communities: many farmers left their villages, which resulted in labour shortages in these areas. To counter these problems,
25410-471: Was inspired to develop his scholarship scheme: "Wherever you turn your eye—except in science—an Oxford man is at the top of the tree". While attending Oriel College, Rhodes became a Freemason in the Apollo University Lodge . Although initially he did not approve of the organisation, he continued to be a South African Freemason until his death in 1902. The shortcomings of the Freemasons, in his opinion, later caused him to envisage his own secret society with
25575-459: Was left out of the document, known as the Rudd Concession , which Lobengula signed. Furthermore, it stated that the mining companies could do anything necessary to their operations. When Lobengula discovered later the true effects of the concession, he tried to renounce it, but the British Government ignored him. During the company's early days, Rhodes and his associates set themselves up to make millions (hundreds of millions in current pounds) over
25740-411: Was made in 1924 using two cars. The Cape to Cairo Road was planned to roughly connect the same countries. That plan was updated with the Cairo–Cape Town Highway plan, large sections of which are paved and passable. John Crowley 's science fiction novella Great Work of Time features an alternative history in which the British Empire survived to the end of the 20th century and beyond, and
25905-475: Was mainly religious and vocational. Children received basic education such as learning how to read, write and some mathematics. The Belgian Congo was one of the few African colonies in which local languages ( Kikongo , Lingala , Tshiluba and Swahili ) were taught at primary school. Even so, language policies and colonial domination often went hand in hand, as evidenced by the preference given to Lingala —a semi-artificial language spread through its common use in
26070-534: Was often made that that had been the point of the policies, and pointed to the increase of population in the cities, as well as the improvement in health and lifespan due to modern medicine and living conditions. Many missionaries who were in daily contact with Congolese villagers, took their plight in the transition at heart and sometimes intervened on their behalf with the colonial administration (for instance in land property questions). The missions and certain territorial administrators also played an important role in
26235-411: Was quietly formed in London in 1889. This entity renamed itself the United Concessions Company in 1890, and soon after sold the Rudd Concession to the Chartered Company for 1,000,000 shares. When Colonial Office functionaries discovered this chicanery in 1891, they advised Secretary of State for the Colonies Viscount Knutsford to consider revoking the concession, but no action was taken. Armed with
26400-417: Was recorded in the 1861 census as boarding with his aunt, Sophia Peacock, at a boarding house in Jersey , where the climate was perceived to provide a respite for those with conditions such as asthma . His health was weak and there were fears that he might be consumptive (have tuberculosis), a disease of which several of the family showed symptoms. His father decided to send him abroad for what were believed
26565-421: Was recorded that there were 728 administrators controlling the Congo from Belgium. Belgians living in the Congo had no say in the government and the Congolese did not either. No political activity was permitted in the Congo whatsoever. Public order in the colony was maintained by the Force Publique , a locally recruited army under Belgian command. It was only in the 1950s that metropolitan troops—i.e., units of
26730-461: Was sent to South Africa by his family when he was 17 years old in the hope that the climate might improve his health. He entered the diamond trade at Kimberley in 1871, when he was 18, and with funding from Rothschild & Co , began to systematically buy out and consolidate diamond mines. Over the next two decades he gained a near-complete monopoly of the world diamond market. His diamond company De Beers , formed in 1888, retains its prominence into
26895-423: Was settled after the First and Second Boer Wars (the wars ended in 1902, but the new Union of South Africa did not incorporate its two states until 1910). Egypt has a rail system that, as early as 1854, connected Port Said , Alexandria and Cairo , and now currently goes as far south as Aswan . In Egypt the railway is 1,435 mm ( 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ) standard gauge . After
27060-435: Was similar to the Rudd Concession); and in the Lake Mweru area ( Alfred Sharpe 's 1890 Kazembe concession). Rhodes also sent Sharpe to get a concession over mineral-rich Katanga , but met his match in ruthlessness: when Sharpe was rebuffed by its ruler Msiri , King Leopold II of Belgium obtained a concession over Msiri's dead body for his Congo Free State . Rhodes also wanted Bechuanaland Protectorate incorporated in
27225-432: Was the Uganda Railway . Eventually these networks were linked, so that today there is a continuous rail connection between Kampala , Uganda , on Lake Victoria to the coastal cities of Mombasa in Kenya and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania . Up to the break-up of the East African Community in 1977, these companies operated as East African Railways , but operate today as different national companies. From Dar es Salaam,
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