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102-781: Katanga was one of the four large provinces created in the Belgian Congo in 1914. It was one of the eleven provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between 1966 and 2015, when it was split into the Tanganyika , Haut-Lomami , Lualaba , and Haut-Katanga provinces. Between 1971 and 1997 (during the rule of Mobutu Sese Seko when Congo was known as Zaire ), its official name was Shaba Province . Katanga's area encompassed 497,000 square kilometres (192,000 sq mi). Farming and ranching are carried out on

204-567: 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

306-557: 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 In the 1950s the most blatant discriminatory measures directed at the Congolese were gradually withdrawn (among these: corporal punishment by means of the feared chicote —Portuguese word for whip).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

408-585: 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

510-511: 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

612-537: 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

714-429: 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

816-666: 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

918-649: 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

1020-401: 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

1122-703: 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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1224-457: 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

1326-576: 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

1428-405: 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

1530-468: The Katanga Crisis (or "Congo Crisis"), which lasted from 1960 to 1965. The breakaway State of Katanga existed from 1960 to 1963, then was reintegrated. In 2005, the new constitution specified that Katanga was to be split up into separately administered provinces. Militias such as Mai Mai Kata Katanga led by Gédéon Kyungu Mutanga fought for Katanga to secede, and his group briefly took over

1632-468: The Katanga Plateau . The eastern part of the province is a rich mining region which supplies cobalt , copper , tin , radium , uranium , and diamonds . The region's former capital, Lubumbashi , is the second-largest city in the Congo. Copper mining in Katanga dates back over 1,000 years, and mines in the region were producing standard-sized ingots of copper for international transport by

1734-516: 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

1836-589: 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

1938-420: 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

2040-413: 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

2142-491: 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

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2244-510: 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,

2346-462: 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

2448-540: 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

2550-712: 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

2652-492: The Belgian Congo. After 1900, the Societe Generale de Belgique practically controlled all of the mining in the province through Union Minière du Haut Katanga (UMHK). This included uranium , radium , copper, cobalt , zinc , cadmium , germanium , manganese , silver , gold , and tin . In 1915, a deposit of pitchblende and other uranium minerals of a higher grade than had ever been found before anywhere in

2754-644: 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

2856-561: 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,

2958-444: 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

3060-832: 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

3162-465: 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

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3264-751: 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

3366-646: 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

3468-541: 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,

3570-402: 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

3672-548: 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

3774-562: 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

3876-708: 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

3978-490: 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

4080-680: 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

4182-696: The administration of the province was taken over in 1966 by the central government. It was finally merged into the restored Katanga Province by the Mobutu government, where it was administered as the Tanganyika district. In 2015, Tanganyika was restored to full provincial status. In July 2006, during the Second Congo War , Katanga province was divided by fighting between the Rally for Congolese Democracy – Goma (RCD-G) faction, supported by Rwanda , and

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4284-436: 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

4386-506: 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

4488-670: 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

4590-485: 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

4692-434: 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

4794-453: 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

4896-483: 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,

4998-403: The colony seemed to be thriving and calm. A notable exception was the young King Baudouin , who had succeeded his father, King Leopold III, under dramatic circumstances in 1951, when Leopold III was forced to abdicate . Baudouin took a close interest in the Belgian Congo. Tanganyika Province The new province's territory corresponds to the historic Nord-Katanga province that existed in

5100-443: 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

5202-664: 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

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5304-402: 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

5406-498: 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

5508-538: The early period of post-colonial Democratic Republic of the Congo between 1962 and 1966. Tanganyika province was the scene of a rebellion by the Luba -Katanga people against the independent state of Katanga . In 1961, it was reconquered by the Katanga state, only to be taken back by the Kinshasa government later that year. From July 11, 1962, to December 28, 1966, this area was known as the province of Nord-Katanga , but

5610-449: 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

5712-464: The end of the 10th century CE. In the 1890s, the province was beleaguered from the south by Cecil Rhodes ' Northern Rhodesia , and from the north by the Belgian Congo , the personal possession of King Leopold II of Belgium . Msiri , the King of Katanga, (no such title exist, Msiri is a title for local authority in area controlled by Kazembe) held out against both, but eventually Katanga was subsumed by

5814-524: 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

5916-399: The entire Congolese border with Zambia. It also bordered Tanzania – although on Lake Tanganyika rather than on land. Katanga has a wet and dry season. Rainfall is about 1,200 mm (49 in). The province was divided in 2015 into five successor provinces, based on the districts of Katanga at that time: The University of Lubumbashi , located in the northern part of Lubumbashi city, is

6018-514: The ex-government faction, supported by local Mai Mai troops. While the RCD-G and some Mai Mai militia have been subsumed into the Congolese army ( FARDC ), many Mai Mai elements remain outside of government control. According to UN forces ( MONUC ) in Kalemie , an estimated 5,000–6,000 Mai Mai militia were still active in the Tanganyika region and have strongholds around Nyunzu - Kabalo -Kongolo and

6120-441: 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

6222-592: 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

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6324-539: 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

6426-451: 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

6528-568: 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

6630-554: 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

6732-421: 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

6834-661: 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,

6936-422: The largest university in the province and one of the largest in the country. TESOL, the English Language School of Lubumbashi, is a secondary school that serves the expatriate community. It was founded in 1987 on the grounds of the French School, Lycée Français Blaise Pascal, which suspended operations in 1991 with a new French School starting in 2009. Katanga province has the highest rate of infant mortality in

7038-416: 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

7140-518: 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

7242-464: 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

7344-642: 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

7446-651: 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

7548-428: 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

7650-666: 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

7752-490: 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

7854-477: The overall standard of living . The local provincial budget was US$ 440 million in 2011. Lubumbashi , the mining capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, is a hub for many of the country's biggest mining companies. The Democratic Republic of Congo produces "more than 3 percent of the world’s copper and half its cobalt , most of which comes from Katanga". Major mining concessions include Tilwezembe and Kalukundi . The province bordered Angola and formed

7956-428: 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

8058-630: 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,

8160-421: The provincial capital Lubumbashi in 2013. In 2015, Katanga Province was split into the constitutional provinces of Tanganyika , Haut-Lomami , Lualaba , and Haut-Katanga . Copper mining is an important part of the economy of Katanga province. Cobalt mining by individual contractors is also prevalent. A number of reasons have been advanced for the failure of the vast mineral wealth of the province to increase

8262-575: 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,

8364-509: 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

8466-536: 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

8568-454: 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

8670-524: The so-called "death triangle" of Manono - Mitwaba - Pweto . MONUC officials said at the time that the majority of these Mai Mai form small, unstructured units with no chain of command and have largely devolved into common bandits. The capital of Tanganyika is Kalemie . Territories are: 2022.jpg|thumb|Governor Julie Ngungwa and UN Special Representative Bintou Keita in Kelamie prior to MONUSCO's withdrawal in 2022]] Presidents (from 1965, governors) of

8772-450: 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

8874-412: 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

8976-519: 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

9078-456: 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

9180-516: 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

9282-462: The world and higher than any found since were discovered at Shinkolobwe . The discovery was kept secret by UMHK. After World War I ended a factory was built at Olen ; the secrecy was lifted at the end of 1922 with the announcement of the production of the first gram of radium from the pitchblende. By the start of World War II , the mining companies "constituted a state within the Belgian Congo ". The Shinkolobwe mine near Jadotville (now Likasi )

9384-474: The world, with 184 of 1000 babies born expected to die before the age of five. The Congo Railway provides Katanga Province with limited railway service centered on Lubumbashi . Reliability is limited. Lubumbashi International Airport is located northeast of Lubumbashi. In April 2014, a train derailment killed 63 people. Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo ( French : Congo belge , pronounced [kɔ̃ɡo bɛlʒ] ; Dutch : Belgisch-Congo )

9486-591: 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;

9588-547: 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

9690-506: 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

9792-452: 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

9894-621: Was at the centre of the Manhattan Project . In 1960, after the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then called Republic of the Congo) gained independence from Belgium, the UMHK, Moise Tshombe and Godefroid Munongo supported the secession of Katanga province from the Congo. This was supported by Belgium but opposed by the Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba . This led to the assassination of Lumumba and

9996-425: 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

10098-459: 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,

10200-475: 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

10302-534: 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

10404-421: 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

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