Congo
before 1885 		History of Central Africa Belgian Congo
1908-1918








The Congo Free State, 1885-1908



A.) The Establishment of the Free State

Governors General
1892-1912 Theophile Wahis, Baron

The seat of administration of the Congo Free State was BOMA. The State administration soon became aware that the lower Congo valley had an inhospitable climate and was of limited economic use (Congo inutile); the better lands for agriculture as well as for mining (Congo utile) lay upriver, in the interior. In 1891, the mineral-rich province of KATANGA, acquired by the separate Katanga Company, was integrated.
Along the rivers, the State organised a network of STATIONS, with many of which military - the so-called PUBLIC FORCE - was stationed. The public force originally consisted of white officers and black mercenaries, recruited in Zanzibar, Lagos, Accra and Sierra Leone. Over time, these (expensive) recruits were replaced by indigenous Congolese (who were paid much less). The Congo Free State adopted INDIRECT RULE, with the chiefs being used as intermediaries between the State and the local tribes.
Among the problems to deal with were the establishment of an infrastructure - railway lines were constructed to circumvent not navigable tracts of the Congo river, at MATADI and at STANLEY FALLS. A State administration had to be established, with capital, a justice system etc.
The establishment of the Congo Free State partially had been legitimized with the intention to introduce civilization to the inhabitants regarded savages. In this context, the Congo Free State strove to put an end to CANNIBALISM or the practice of the POISON PROOF (somebody accused of a crime, according to native custom, was asked to drink poison - if he died, that was regarded evidence of his guilt). The practice of POLYGAMY was discouraged.
Regarding the tasks of introducing civilization, as well as education and basic health care, missionaries of various confessions and organizations were instrumental.


B.) Establishment of State Authority

The Public Force was expanded so that it was able to end the Arab slave raids (1894-1895) which had struck terror in much of the eastern Congo. Only after an uprising of native soldiers from the BATETELA tribe was suppressed in 1894/1897, the State had established it's authority throughout the territory.



C.) Establishment of the State Borders

Concerning the border of the Congo Free State and the French colony of Moyen Congo, agreements had been signed in 1885, 1887 and 1894, the latter fixing the border on the river Mbomu.
With Britain, a treaty was signed in 1890 (the so-called MacKinnon Treaty) according to which the Congo Free State leased the BAHR-EL-GHAZAL from Britain and vice versa leasing a stretch of land between Lake Albert Edward and Lake Tanganyika to Britain. The purpose of this lease was for the British to link up the Cape and Cairo railways, which could be connected by a steamer crossing Lake Tanganyika. However, the Germans protested; the treaty was not ratified by Britain; in 1894 a new treaty was signed renewing the lease for the LADO ENCLAVE, a fragment of the Bahr-el-Ghazal (the remainder falling back to Britain) for the lifetime of King Leopold, to the Free State. The treaty also redrew the southeastern border of the colony, ceding stretches of Congolese territory on the banks of Lake Bangweolo and Lake Moero to British Rhodesia. King Leopold died in 1909; the enclave was retransferred to Britain in 1910.
In 1891 the Independent State and Portugal agreed on redrawing the border, between the State and Portuguese WSeat Africa (Angola), the State gaining a huge stretch of territory on the upper Kassai river.
In 1897, France and the Independent State agreed on redrawing their mutual border, the State giving up its claim on the left bank of the Congo river, France agreeing to a border following the Congo - Ubangi - Mbomu rivers.


King Leopold of Belgium, Sovereign of the Congo Free State


D.) The Congo Free State's Economy

Congo Free State, Imports and Exports, 1887-1903
after H.W. Wack, The Story of the Congo Free State, N.Y. : Putnams, 1905, pp.281, 286
sums given Belgian Francs; figures for "Special Commerce" given (excluding transit goods)
Year

1887
1888
1889
1890
1891
1892
1893
1894
1895 		Exports

1,980,441
2,609,300
4,297,543
8,242,199
5,353,519
5,487,632
6,106,134
8,761,622
10,943,019 		Imports

no data
no data
no data
no data
no data
no data
9,175,103
11,104,723
10,685,848 		Year

1896
1897
1898
1899
1900
1901
1902
1903 		Exports

12,389,600
15,146,976
22,163,482
36,061,959
47,377,401
50,488,394
50,069,515
54,597,835 		Imports

15,227,776
22,181,462
23,084,447
22,325,847
24,724,109
23,102,064
18,080,909
20,896,331
The costs for opening up the country (railroads etc.), pacification and administration were immense. On the other hand, the Belgians (which formed the vast majority of the Congo Free State's white emplotees) found little commerce going on, when they arrived.
The Free State had declared all uncultivated lands state property, a part of which was administrated as state domain, a part of which was given out to private enterprises in form of concessions. A RUBBER TAX was imposed on the native population - they had to collect latex from wild growing rubber lianes and deliver a certain amount of rubber every month. The natives were asked to also plant rubber vines so that future harvests could be secured. RUBBER was the single most important export product of the Congo Free State. In 1903, 47.3 million Franks worth of rubber were exported by the state, which made up for about 90 % of the State's entire exports; the Free State was the world's leading exporter of rubber.


The conditions under which this prosperity was achieved gave rise to criticism; the form in which the rubber was collected was interpreted as both a STATE MONOPOLY virtually excluding commercial competitors and as a form of FORCED LABOUR - the country's jungle was declared state property, and the natives had, in lieu of paying taxation, to collect and deliver natural rubber.
In England the CONGO REFORM ASSOCIATION, presided by E.D. MOREL, vociferously criticized the administration of the Congo Free State. Human rights were systematically abused in the Congo, as the Africans had to regularly deliver certain quotas of rubber, and if they failed to do so, their families were taken hostage; even atrocities (cases of mutilation) were reported. The Africans were not paid appropriate prices for the rubber they delivered.
While the Congo Free State long attempted to describe abuses as singular events, which would be investigated and dealt with, both exaggerated and made-up stories on atrocities in the Congo and their consequences were published by the Anti-Congo Campaign. Writers such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Joseph Conrad and Mark Twain held King Leopold II. personally responsible.
The main historical document frequently quoted is the report by British Consul ROGER CASEMENT. Britain, at that time, was very critical of the Congo administration, regarding the factual Congolese rubber collecting monopoly a violation of the principle of Free Trade; British merchant houses were eager to secure a share in the Congo basin's lucrative rubber export.
The Congo Free State, due to it's large share in the world rubber production, was a profitable enterprise, in contrast to most colonies in Africa, and the (enforced) use of natives as workforce provided the foundation of that wealth. The campaign against the atrocities, real as well as alleged, in the Congo Free State served not only philanthropist goals; it was supported by Liverpool trade houses keen on gaining a share in the Congolese rubber trade, and by the British foreign office (which in the Boer war of 1899-1902 just had annexed two other lucrative Free States in Africa - Orange Free State and the Transvaal).


Despite the huge income generated by the export of rubber, the Congo Free State was heavily indebted to Belgium. The transfer of the Congo Free State into Belgian property (and responsibility) had been planned by King Leopold as early as 1889; in 1908, the King ailing, Belgium took over the Congo Free State which was renamed Belgian Congo.







EXTERNAL
FILES 		The Congo Free State, from Democratic Republic of Congo Homepage
Library of Congress, Country Studies : Zaire
Bertrand Russell on the Congo Free State, from Bertrand Russell Ring
Links to the History of Zaire/Congo, from Looksmart, Virtual Library : History
The MacKinnon Treaty (1890), by Hugh Fergusson
History of the Lado Enclave, in : South Sudan : A History of Political Domination - A Case of Self-Determination, by Riek Machar Teny-Dhurgon, UPenn; scroll down
Histoire de la colonisation belge du Congo, 1876-1910, from CoBelCo
De Norske Kongofarerne 1895-1908, from Fritt og Vilt, in Norwegian; on exploitation of Congolese natives
The Congo Project, from Etnografisk Samling, in Danish; has material on Congo Free State
Mede dankzij de Rotterdammer Pincoffs kreeg Leopold II zijn prive kolonie Kongo-Vrijstaat (Partly thanks to the Rotterdam citizen Pincoffs did Leopold II acquire his private colony Congo Free State), posted by Aad Engelfriet, in Dutch
Histoire de la colonisation belge du Congo, 1876 - 1910, from CoBelCo, in French
Resistance and Collaboration at the Beginning of the Colonization in Mbandaka (1883-1893), by Honore Vinck, in French (aequatoria.be)
FLAGS, MAPS Flag of the Congo Free State, from FOTW, of the Lado Enclave from FOTW
Map of Africa 1890, from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Am. edition, 1890
Map of Africa 1892, from Gardiner's Atlas of English History
Map : Carte de l'organisation administrative en 1888, from CoBelCo
DOCUMENTS General Act of the Berlin Conference, 1885, from Australian Treaty Series
Declaration of the General Act of the Brussels Conference, 1890 , posted at this site; also from Australian Treaty Series
Edward Morel, The Black Man's Burden, 1903, from Modern History Sourcebook
M. de Mandat-Grancey 1900 : Temoignages de la brutalite de la domination coloniale, from cliotexte, scroll down
Temoignages recueillis a Boma et a Mopolenge, 1904, from CoBelCo
Commission d'Enquete, 1904 : Proces Verbal, posted by CoBelCo
Treaty with Ngombi and Mafela, posted by J. O'Brien
Online Stamp & Post Card Catalogue Congo Free State, by Guy van Rijn, in French
Chefs et Patriarches de Mbandaka, posted by Aequatoria.be, in French
Independent State of the Congo, pp.1004-1012 in vol.6 of Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States of America 1776-1949, 1971, GB
REFERENCE Henry Wellington Wack, The Story of the Congo Free State , New York & London : Putnam 1905, 634 pp., illustrations, map, appendix of documents; writes in defense of the Congo Free State against accusations of abuses against the natives
Arthur Conan Doyle, The Crime of the Congo, from boondocksnet
Mark Twain : King Leopold's Soliloquy, from about.com
W.T. Stead, Leopold - Emperor of the Congo, from American Monthly Review of Reviews, July 28th 1903, posted at boondocksnet
Ought King Leopold be hanged ? 1905 interview with W.T. Stead, from boondocksnet
The History of Zaire as told and painted by Tshibumba Kanda Matulu in conversation with Johannes Fabian, from Archives of Popular Swahili, interview (1974) posted bilingual Swahili/English, very extensive
Robert Cornevin, Histoire du Congo des origines prehistoriques a la Republique Democratique du Congo, Paris : Berger Levrault 1970, 391 pp. [G]
Article : Congo Free State, in : Statesman's Year Book 1895 pp.439-440 [G]
Article : Congo Independent State, in : Statesman's Year Book 1898 pp.439-441, 1901 pp.504-509, 1905 pp.551-557 [G]
Article : Congo Free State, in : International Year Book 1898 pp.209-212 [G]
Article : Congo Free State, in : Appleton's Annual Cyclopedia and Register of Important Events 1886 pp.202-203, 1894 pp.151-155 [G]
M.R.Ph. Dorman, A Journal of a Tour in the Congo Free State, posted by Gutenberg Library Online
Hans Meyer, Die Eisenbahnen im Tropischen Afrika (The Railroads in Tropical Africa), Leipzig : Duncker & Humblot 1902, in German, posted by DTBSWS, chapter Kongostaat, pp.48-64



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2001, last revised on September 6th 2007

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