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Leopold named King
King Leopold II ascended to the throne in 1865 -
King Leopold II of the Belgians
During 1876 King Leopold II organizes the International African Association -
Henry Morton Stanley
During the year 1878 Henry Morton Standley completed a journey in the region of the Congo. Upon his return King Leopold II hired him to help his interests in the region. -
Otto Von Bismarck
After rivalry over the unclaimed land of the Congo Basin, Otto Von Bismarck convened a 14-nation conference to settle the rivalry in November of 1884. A larger portion of the settlement was given to King Leopold II to be made into the Congo Free State. -
The Congo Free....
The Congo Free State operated as a corporate state privately controlled by Leopold II through a non-governmental organization, the Association Internationale Africaine. The state included the entire area of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo and existed from 1885 to 1908, when the government of Belgium annexed the area. -
First Year the Governor-general and his administration resided in Boma
First Year the Governor-general and his administration resided in Boma -
Belgians residing in the Belgian Congo
1,187 -
international parliamentary commission
In 1904, Leopold II was forced to allow an international parliamentary commission of inquiry entry to the Congo Free State. -
The Belgian Congo
By 1908, public pressure and diplomatic maneuvers 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. -
The Congo Free...
The Congo Free State operated as a corporate state privately controlled by Leopold II through a non-governmental organization, the Association Internationale Africaine.[6] The state included the entire area of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo and existed from 1885 to 1908, when the government of Belgium annexed the area. -
Belgian Goverment takes over the Administration
Belgian Goverment takes over the Administration -
The Belgian Parliament
The government of the Belgian Congo was arranged by the 1908 Colonial Charter. Executive power rested with the Belgian Minister of Colonial Affairs, assisted by a Colonial Council.The Belgian Parliament held authority over the Belgian Congo, with the highest ranking being the Governor-general. -
Belgian Parliament
On 18 October 1908, the Belgian parliament voted in favor of annexing the Congo as a Belgian colony. -
Goernors-General
Baron Théophile Wahis (November 1908 – May 1912) -
Belgians residing in the Belgian Congo
1,928 -
Governors-General
Félix Alexandre Fuchs (May 1912 – January 1916) -
WWI and WWII
The Belgian Congo was directly involved in the two world wars. During World War One, an initial stand-off between the Force Publique and the German colonial army in German East-Africa turned into open warfare with a joint Anglo-Belgian invasion of German colonial territory in 1916 and 1917 during the East African Campaign. -
Governors-General
Eugène Joseph Marie Henry (January 1916 – January 1921) -
Victory
The Force Publique gained a notable victory when it marched into Tabora in September 1916 under the command of general Charles Tombeur after heavy fighting. -
Belgians residing in the Belgian Congo
3,615 -
Boom of 1920s
the 1920s turned the Belgian Congo into one of the leading copper ore producers worldwide -
Governs-General
Maurice Eugène Auguste Lippens (January 1921 – January 1923 -
Governs-General
Martin Joseph Marie René Rutten (January 1923 – December 1927) -
Colonia Capital moves to Léopoldville
Colonia Capital moves to Léopoldville. The Congo was split into four parts, Léopoldville, Equateur, Orientale and Katanga. Each division had a vice-Governor-general. -
Governs-Gerneral
Auguste Constant Tilkens (December 1927 – September 1934) -
Connection was built
the Katanga mining region via rail and river transport to the Atlantic port of Matadi were connected. -
MNC
the MNC established itself in October 1958 as a national political party that supported the idea of a unitary and centralised Congolese nation after independence -
Belgians residing in the Belgian Congo
17,676 -
The Great depression
he export-based Belgian Congo economy was severely hit by the world crisis, because of the drop of international demand of raw materials and agricultural products -
Reform
In 1932 the Congo was split into six parts and the vice-Governor-generals became provincial governors. Each Province was divided into districs controlled by a territorial administrator and assisted by one or more assistants. -
Governors-General
Pierre Marie Joseph Ryckmans (September 1934 – July 1946) -
728 recorded administrators
In 1936 it 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. -
Belgians residing in the Belgian Congo
17,536 -
Congo decalres Loyality
After the occupation of Belgium by the Germans in May 1940, the Congo declared itself loyal to the Belgian government in exile in London to continue the war on the Allied side in the Battle of Britain. -
Governors-General
Eugène Jacques Pierre Louis Jungers (July 1946 – January 1952) -
Ten year Plan
A ten-year plan was launched in 1949. It put emphasis on house building, energy supply and health care infrastructure. The ten-year plan ushered in a decade of strong economic growth, -
metropolitan troops
In the 1950s, metropolitan troops began being posted -
Belgians residing in the Belgian Congo
39,006 -
Governors-General
Léon Antoine Marie Pétillon (January 1952 – July 1958) -
The right to buy and sell private property
In 1953, the Congolese were granted the right to buy and sell private property in their own names -
Catholic University
The first university in the Belgian Congo, the Catholic University of Lovanium, near Léopoldville, opened its doors to black and white students in 1954 -
Belgians residing in the Belgian Congo
69,813 -
State University
In 1956 a state university was founded in Elisabethville -
Strive for Independce
In 1957 the colonial government organised in three urban centres (Léopoldville, Elisabethville and Jadotville) the first municipal elections in which Congolese people were allowed to stand for office and cast their vote. -
Governors-General
Henri Arthur Adolf Marie Christopher Cornelis (July 1958 – June 1960) -
Belgians residing in the Belgian Congo
88,913 -
Rebellion
Rebellion ran through the Congo -
President Kasa-Vubu
In September 1960, President Kasa-Vubu declared prime minister Lumumba deposed from his function -
Mobutu reomoved from power
in 1997 Mobutu was chased from power by a rebel force headed by Laurent-Désiré Kabila, who declared himself president and renamed Zaïre into the Democratic Republic of the Congo -
Assassination
Assassinated in 2001, Laurent-Désiré Kabila was succeeded by his son Joseph Kabila -
Apologised
In 2002 Belgium officially apologised for its role in the elimination of Lumumba -
Laurent-Désiré Kabila
In 2006 Laurent-Désiré Kabila was confirmed as president through the first nation-wide free elections in the Congo