BELGIAN INFLUENCE IN THE
CONGO
Alice Alexander, 1A
THE CONGO CRISIS
•The Congo was uninhabited until the late 19 th Century
•Congo River Basin largely unclaimed
•Dispute over territory declared the Congo Crisis
•Berlin Conference occurred in 1884
•Convened by Otto von Bismarck to solve the Congo
Crisis peacefully
KING LEOPOLD II
•King of the Belgians, he thought that the land might provide his
kingdom with steady income
•He ruled over Belgian Congo from 1885 to 1908
•His dream was to obtain and colonize territory, even before he
was king
•Emerging victorious from the conference, he received over
2,000,000 km2 of land
•This was deemed the Congo Free State
ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES
•Twice, Leopold II requested loans so that his state wouldn’t go
bankrupt
•Actions such as the exploration and settlement of the territory
became financially straining for the king
•However, he stumbled upon multiple sources of rubber and
copper, among other minerals
•These resources were exploited and sold
•This saved both the territory and his seat of power
TROUBLES IN THE RUBBER
TRADE
•King Leopold II found that the resources he’d discovered had
brought great wealth
•He spent his money unwisely
•He used it to embellish his home country of Belgium, building
galleries and palaces
•The product was harvested through the mistreatment of locals
and the unauthorized plunder of natural resources
•One of the worst man-made disasters of the turn of the century
COLONY IN BELGIAN
CONGO
•Established by Belgian Parliament in 1908
•Divided into districts and territories
•Many aspects of the colony were improved after the colonial
state took over from Leopold II
•Belgian leaders called “Bula matari”, which means “to break
rocks”
•The office governor general remained present through the free
state and the colony
CONGOLESE RESISTANCE
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Many Congolese showed dissent to colonies
Armed resistance was common and widespread
This went on until after World War II
In the late 1950’s “pax belgica” was enacted
Most missionaries sympathized with Congolese discontent
CONCERNS IN THE
COLONIES
• Fight against sleeping sickness was in the peoples’ favour
• Even so, the population remained stagnant
• Congolese forced into labour and mandatory cultivation
INTEREST IN
CONGOLESE CULTURE
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Congolese culture was disappearing
Missions wanted to preserve native culture
Father Gustaaf Hulstaert created the Aequatoria in 1937
The Aequatoria was devoted to the linguistic, ethnographic
and historical study of Congolese people
• Greater interest in culture took place after WWII