Msiri's Kingdom, 1856-1891 History of Central Africa






The Katanga Company



In the 18th/early 19th century, Katanga was part of the Luba respectively Lunda kingdoms. In 1856, MSIRI A NYAMWEZI, a Swaheli slave trader, had set up a kingdom of his own, until he was defeated and killed by a Belgian expedition headed by Lt. BIA and FRANCQUI in 1891.
In 1891/1892, Captain William G. Stairs, a Briton, undertook an expedition into Katanga where he acquired concessions for the Katanga Company. Politically, the Katanga region was soon included into the CONGO FREE STATE. Within Congolese administration, Katanga was given a special status in 1900 when the SPECIAL COMMITTEE FOR KATANGA was founded in 1900; thwo thirds of the committee members represented the Congo Free State, one third the Katanga Company. The seat of administration was located at LUKONZOLWA on Lake Mweru.
In 1908 the Congo Free State was annexed by Belgium. Within the BELGIAN CONGO, Katanga was given the status of a VICE GOVERNMENT, with seat in ELISABETHVILLE (modern Lubumbashi). The area consisted of 4 districts, LOMAMI, TANGANIKA-MOERO, LULUA, HAUT-LUAPULA, seats at Kabinda, Kongolo, Kafakumbu, Kambove.

Elisabethville, modern Lubumbashi, became the administrative and economic center of the Katanga region, which was highly attractive for the colonial power because of it's location in the COPPERBELT. The Congo Free State (for Katanga) and the British South Africa Company (for Northern Rhodesia) signed a treaty fixing the mutual border. The mineral wealth of Katanga caused a number of entrepreneurs to construct railways aiming at connecting Katanga with the coast; when this was achieved (in 1911), copper production, by UNION MINIERE, took off. In 1915, pitchblende was found in Upper Katanga, containing the highest concentration of RADIUM discovered so far, an extremely rare and therefore very expensive substance; the discovery lead to the emergence of a radium extracting industry in Belgium.






EXTERNAL
FILES 		Review of Victorian Explorer: The African Diaries of Captain William G. Stairs, 1887-1892, edited by Janina M. Konczacki by William Denton
Historical Notes on Northern Rhodesia, from Catalogue published at Empire Exhibition, Johannesburg 1936/37, posted by Great North Road, mentions Katanga Company and British involvement in it
Democratic Republic of Congo, History of, from Infoplease
Uranium's Scientific History, from World Nuclear Association
La Naissance du Katanga, history 1876-1906, in French
Travail force pour le cuivre du Katanga, from CoBelCo, in French
De eerste Europese ontdekkingsreizen in Katanga 1797-1897 (The European Journeys of Discovery in Katanga 1797-1897), by Pieter de Coster, diss. Gent 1997, in Dutch
DOCUMENTS Map of Katanga/Congo, from Congo Pages
Letter by Mr. Grey on the situation and recent history of Katanga, Morning Post (London), January 20th 1903, printed by H.W. Wack, The Story of the Congo Free State, NY 1905, pp.435-438
Description of Katanga's mineral riches in 1914, in : Roland / Duchesne, Courts Complet de Geographie : Le Congo Belge , 1914, chapter : production, pp.36-37, posted at this site
Katanga in 1920, from South and East African Year Book and Guide, 26th edition 1920 p.144
Katanga cross ingot (primitive currency), from Joel's Coins, a commercial site; also from Museum of American History
Belgiska Kongo, from susning.nu, geographical-historical, in Swedish; has lists of company bosses Union Miniere at Katanga
REFERENCE A. de Bauw, Katanga, Het Land, zijn Hulpbronnen en Toekomst (K., the land, its resources and future), Antwerpen : Het Nederlandsche Boekhandel 1920



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2001, last revised on April 16th 2005

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