HoD Timeline-Jean Urbieta

Congo (Kongo)

Apr 1, 1200

Rise of Kongo empire, centred in modern northern Angola and including extreme western Congo and territories round lakes Kisale and Upemba in central Katanga (now Shaba).

The Congo

Period: Apr 1, 1200 to Apr 1, 2011

European Discovery

Apr 1, 1482

Captain Diego Cao sailed south along the African coast and landed at the mouth of the Congo River. He was the first European to sight the Congo river., He left four crew members and took four africans home to his king.

European Relations

Apr 1, 1483

Captain Diogo Cao visited the capital, Mbanza, and persuaded the king to open his country to the Portuguese. The capital Ambezi was the first to accept the Portuguese protectorate.

King Afonso

Jul 6, 1526

King Afonso of Congo sent a letter of complaint to Portugal regarding the impact of slave trade in his country.

Joseph Conrad

Period: Apr 1, 1855 to Apr 1, 1925

Birth Of Joseph Conrad

Dec 3, 1857

Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski born of Polish aristocratic parents in the Russian occupied Ukraine

Hard Times

Apr 1, 1862

1862 Conrad's parents exiled by Russian authorities to Vologda, Siberia
1865 Conrad's mother dies in bleak climate.

Bobrowski

Apr 1, 1869

Upon the death of Count Apollo Korzeniowski in Krakow, Poland, Conrad is taken under the protection his maternal uncle, the indulgent Tadeusz Bobrowski.

Context

Apr 1, 1874

Sponsored by London Daily Telegraph and New York Herald, British explorer Henry Morton Stanley embarks on a 999-day journey, returning to Europe with reports of vast untapped wealth. .

Attempted suicide

Mar 1, 1878

March: Conrad attempts suicide, shooting himself in the chest, but recovers. As a result, his uncle clears Conrad's gambling debts. April: Conrad, having lost his French mariner's ticket, joins his first British-registered ship, the ‘ Mavis', and transfers afterwards to ‘The Skimmer of the Sea'. He would have become liable for Russian military service had he remained in the French merchant service.

Leopold

Apr 1, 1878

Belgian King Leopold II sets up a private venture to colonize the Congo.

Colonization

Apr 1, 1878

King Leopold II of Belgium forms consortium of bankers to finance exploration and colonisation of region. Stanley employed to travel up Congo and sign favourable treaties with local rulers. Stays in Africa until 1887, obtaining 450 treaties.

Catholicism

Apr 1, 1880

Catholicism became established in Congo.

Beginning Downfall

Apr 1, 1880

1880-1920 The population of Congo was halved due to murder, starvation, exhaustion, exposure, disease, and a lowered birth rate due to the exploitation by King Leopold II

Claims of Congo

Apr 1, 1884

1884-85 - European powers at the Conference of Berlin recognise Leopold's claim to the Congo basin.

MINE!!!

Apr 1, 1885

Leopold announces the establishment of the Congo Free State, headed by himself.

Congo Trip

Apr 1, 1890

Conrad, desperate for command, takes a mate's position on a river steamer for the Societe Anonyme pour le Commerce du Haut-Congo , the experience so vividly reflected in Conrad's Congo Journal and eventually in Heart of Darkness .

Jessie George

Apr 1, 1891

While officer of the clipper ‘Torrens' Conrad meets John Galsworthy. In England, Conrad meets Jessie George, his future wife.

Cannibalism

Mar 8, 1893

Congo cannibals killed 1000s of Arabs.

Eastern Congo Gained

Apr 1, 1894

Eastern Congo wrested from the control of East African Arab and Swahili-speaking traders.

Heart Of Darkness

Apr 1, 1898

Heart of Darkness runs serially in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine , which Conrad calls simply “ Maga .”

Jessie Disabled

Apr 1, 1904

Jessie Conrad, injuring her knees, is disabled for life. Nostromo published

Annexation

Apr 1, 1908

Belgian state annexes Congo amid protests over killings and atrocities carried out on a mass scale by Leopold's agents. Millions of Congolese are said to have been killed or worked to death during Leopold's control of the territory.

Chance

Apr 1, 1914

Conrad's Chance leads to recognition for his other work and has excellent sales in America. Visiting Poland, the Conrads are nearly trapped there when World War One breaks out in August.

Death

May 1, 1924

Conrad declines an offered knighthood. On the 3rd of August, Conrad dies of a heart attack.

Riots

Apr 1, 1959

Belgium begins to lose control over events in the Congo following serious nationalist riots in Leopoldville (now Kinshasa).

Independence

Jun 1, 1960

Congo becomes independent with Patrice Lumumba as prime minister and Joseph Kasavubu as president.

Coup

Sep 1, 1960

September - Kasavubu dismisses Lumumba as prime minister.
December - Lumumba arrested.
1961 February - Lumumba murdered, reportedly with US and Belgian complicity.

Coup d'etat

Apr 1, 1965

Kasavubu and Tshombe ousted in a coup led by Joseph Mobutu.

Mobutu Regime

Apr 1, 1994

Mobutu agrees to end the ban on multiparty politics and appoints a transitional government, but retains substantial powers.
1991 - Following riots in Kinshasa by unpaid soldiers, Mobutu agrees to a coalition government with opposition leaders, but retains control of the security apparatus and important ministries.
1993 - Rival pro- and anti-Mobutu governments created.
1994 - Mobutu agrees to the appointment of Kengo Wa Dondo, an advocate of austerity and free-market reforms, as prime m