Belgian Congo

BELGIAN CONGO (formerly the Congo Free State, q.v.), a Belgian colony in equatorial Africa. It occupies the major part of the basin of the Congo and a small part of the basin of the Upper Nile. The area is approximately 910,000 square miles. According to the latest general census the native population num bered 9,467,503 while the whites on January 1, 1934 totalled 17,588, of whom 11,423 were Belgians.

Bounded on the west by the Atlantic and by Angola, it has a coastline of 25m. only, extending north from the mouth of the Congo, but the northern bank of the Congo estuary is also part of the colony; the southern bank is Portuguese territory. On the north the colony is bounded by French equatorial Africa; north-east by the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan; east by Uganda and Tanganyika Territory; south-east by Northern Rhodesia; south west by Angola. East and north-east of Tanganyika are the territories of Ruanda-Urundi (q.v.) administered by Belgium under mandate.

Physical Features.

The Congo basin is a relatively low plateau, at its lowest point by Lake Leopold II. being only some I,Iogft. above sea level. This plateau is bordered by much higher ground which east and west forms mountain chains. On the west the Congo breaks through the Crystal mountains in a succession of rapids and cataracts on its way to the sea; the small coast zone of the colony includes the hill country of Mayumbe. South west is the northern escarpment of the Angolan plateau where rise the headstreams of the Kasai ; south-east is another high, rugged plateau, that of Katanga (q.v.), famous for its copper deposits. Here are the head waters of the main Congo. On the east, beginning south of Lake Tanganyika and going north to Lake Albert (Albert Nyanza), the Mitumba mountains—a range with many local names—mark the limit of the Congo basin. This range, which has heights of io,000ft., forms the western edge of the eastern or Albertine Rift valley, in which lie Lakes Tangan yika, Kivu, Edward and Albert. On the north-east is a plateau like stretch of country 3,00o to 4,00of t. above sea level, namely the Congo-Nile divide Only in the north does the Congo basin extend beyond the limits of Belgian Congo ; there the colony is for the most part separated from French territory by the river Congo itself and by its affluent, the Ubangi (q.v.).

The great central zone of the Congo, bordered as described, is a country of alluvial plains, with few marked elevations, abun dantly watered by the Congo river and its effluents and in large part covered with forests both "primitive" and "secondary." The forests occupy the river valleys and are densest in the east and north-east. The forests are, however, exceeded in area by wooded savannahs, which have often a park-like appearance. In these equatorial forests the vegetation is excessively rank ; pas sage has to be forced through thick underwood and creeping plants, between giant trees, whose foliage shuts out the sun's rays ; and the land teems with animal and insect life of every form and colour. Describing the forests of the Manyema country, west of Lake Tanganyika, David Livingstone wrote : "Into these primaeval forests the sun, though vertical, cannot penetrate, ex cepting by sending down at mid-day a thin pencil of rays into the gloom. The rain water stands for months in stagnant pools made by the feet of elephants. The climbing plants, from the size of a whipcord to that of a man-of-war hawser, are so numer ous, that the ancient path is the only passage. When one of the giant trees falls across the road it forms a wall breast high to be climbed over, and the mass of tangled ropes brought down makes cutting a path round it a work of time which travellers never undertake." This description holds good to-day save that the administration has cut a highway or two through the forests. With the same reservation the description applies equally to the forest eastward from the mouth of the Aruwimi almost to Al bert Nyanza. This forest covers some 25,000sq.m., and into a great part of it the sunshine never enters. It is known variously as the Pygmy forest (from the races inhabiting it) , the Aruwimi or Ituri forest (from the rivers traversing it), the Stanley forest (from its discoverer), or the Great Congo forest. By the banks of the rivers occur the "gallery" formations; i.e., in what appears an impenetrable forest are found avenues of trees "like the colonnades of an Egyptian temple," veiled in leafy shade, and opening "into aisles and corridors musical with many a murmur ing fount" (Schweinfurth).

The part of the colony within the Nile basin includes some of the volcanic peaks which, north of Lake Kivu, stretch across the rift-valley, Lake Edward, the western shore of Lake Albert, and part of the Semliki river; also part of Ruwenzori (q.v.), the so-called "Mountains of the Moon," with snow-clad heights ex ceeding 16,50o feet. The colony also includes the western shores of Lakes Tanganyika and Kivu.

The chief geological formation is that known as the Lubilash. It consists, with few exceptions, of red or white sandstone and soft schists. It covers the greater part of the Congo basin or central zone and in places extends into the higher region of older rocks which surround that zone. The Lubilash formation has a thickness of i .000 or more feet and is believed to have been de posited in a rather shallow sea. In the Kasai region there are underlying rocks of pre-Cambrian and Palaeozoic age; these last named rocks also form the Crystal mountains. The Mayumbe region (north of the lower Congo) is mainly granite. Only in the coastal zone are there rocks of the Cretaceous and Tertiary ages. Katanga presents a more varied structure than other parts of the colony. Granites form the southern part of the Mitumba range. The other rocks of Katanga range from pre-Cambrian to permo carboniferous. In the dolomite rocks of the Kambove series which consist of dolomites, sandstones and shales, are the extensive cop.

per deposits for which the Katanga is chiefly noted. The Kun delungu beds, which cover a large area, are formed mainly of coarse arkose sandstones and compact felspathic quartzites with bands of shale interspersed. In the higher parts of the Kunde lungo and Biano plateau these beds are overlain unconformably by the Lubilash formation.

On and about the equator the temperature varies little from day to day and the mean annual figure at Eala (o° 5' N.) is 76 F., the hottest month being February. Northwards the temper ature increases in range and average. The rainfall maxima are in April-May and in October-November, and the precipitation at Eala is 65-7oin.; farther north the double maximum is very strongly marked, December is very dry, and the total rainfall is slightly less. In the coast region and the east highlands there is a marked dry season, July-October. July and August are the coolest months. The climate is quite unsuitable for Europeans in most parts and it clearly has bad effects on the natives as well. Farther south on the Katanga plateau, there is a wider range (16° F.) of temperature and a somewhat lower actual tempera ture (mean 68° F.) ; the total rainfall may be 55in.; little falls between May and September, but the double maximum is not well marked. The Katanga can be inhabited by Europeans.

Flora and Fauna.

The vegetation of this area is still but partially known. The rubber tree (Funtumia elastica) and rub ber vines (Landolphia) of several species are abundant; in the Kasai region are found aberrant landolphias which creep a few inches below the soil for 8o to i oof t. and throw up tufts above ground in the rainy season. Of several species L. thollonii is the most valuable. Of plantation rubber, Ceara (Manihot) and Hevea brasiliensis are now cultivated to a small extent. The oil palm is common in many districts as are also the raphia palm and copal tree. There are many timber trees such as mahogany, ebony, teak, lignum vitae, African cedars and planes, redwood and camwood. Gum and resin-yielding trees and plants (such as the acacia) are numerous. Euphorbias attain great size and orchillas are characteristic forest weeds. There are innumerable kinds of moss and lichens, and ferns with leaves i 2ft. in length. Of the creepers, a crimson-berried variety is known as the pep per climber. Orchids and aloes are common. In the savannahs are gigantic baobab trees. In the densest forests the trees struggling through the tangle of underwood to the light are often r5oft. and sometimes 2o0ft. in height. The undergrowth itself rises fully r 5f t. above the ground. In many districts the coffee and cotton plants are indigenous and luxuriant. Of fruit trees the banana and plantain are plentiful and of unusual size. Of grasses the Imperata cylindrica, which grows to a height of 6ft., is widely distributed. Peculiar to the maritime zone are mangoes and the coconut palm. Papyrus is found by the river banks; the banks of the lower Congo are often fringed with mangroves.

A broad distinction may be made between the animals of the forests and those of the savannahs, but the elephant is found in both regions, as is the leopard, though one variety of leopard is confined to the forests. Like the elephant, the lion inhabits both the open and the wooded country, though rarely found in the dense forests. The forests are particularly the home of anthropoid apes and of many kinds of monkeys. The chimpanzee is fairly widely distributed in the northern and eastern parts of the coun try; the gorilla is found in the Kivu region and some other forest districts. In the forests also, but not confined to them, are the wild hog, wolf, lemur and jackal, the python, tree-cobra, tree viper, and many other snakes. Among animals peculiar to the forest regions are the rare okapi, a tiger-cat about the size of a leopard, the honey-badger (or black Ituri ratel) and the elephant shrew. The rhinoceros is widely distributed, except in the south. Hippopotami and crocodiles are common in the rivers; otters make their home by the river banks. The rivers are well stocked with fish, including varieties resembling perch and bream. The manati is confined to the lower Congo.

The savannahs are the special home of many kinds of antelope and other large ungulates, such as the buffalo, giraffe, zebra and wild ass. Some of the antelopes, including the bongo, are, how ever, dwellers in the forests. 'The red dwarf buffalo (Bos nanus) is found in the Ituri forest as well as in the savannahs. The spotted hyena, of ten of large size and very fierce, is also an in habitant of the savannahs. Wild cats are very common.

Insects, including bees and wasps, beetles, butterflies and dragon-flies (of gorgeous colouring) are innumerable, also centi pedes and spiders. Termites and ants, including the driver ant, are common, and the "ant-hills" of the termites are a character istic feature of many parts of the country. Mosquitoes are plenti ful and include the disseminator of malaria ; tse-tse fly is also widely distributed, including Glossina palpalis, the carrier of sleeping sickness.

Bird life is abundant, though few of the birds are peculiar to the Congo. Flamingoes and pelicans frequent the larger rivers; herons, hawks, tern, Egyptian geese, fish ing vultures (Gypohierax), the weaver and the whydak bird are more or less common, as are also starlings, cuckoos, eagle-owls and hoopoes. The spur-winged plover is the companion of the crocodile. There are over 20 species of sunbirds and three or four species of parrots, the grey parrots being extremely common.

Administration.

The colony has no representative institutions and is under the control of the Belgian parliament, the direction of affairs being entrusted to the minister for the colonies, assisted by an advisory colonial council which is partly nominated by the Crown, partly by the legislature. The budget has to be voted by parliament. At the head of the local government is a governor-general who has the oversight of matters of common in terest. The colony is divided into prov inces, each (1928) under a governor, the provinces into districts presided over by commissioners. Native chiefs exercise a large measure of authority over their tribes. But there is, on the one hand, the danger of these becom ing simply State officials, and on the other hand, danger in per mitting unpleasing customs to persist, such for example as trial by ordeal. Apart from this native jurisdiction there is an inde pendent judicature, with courts of appeal. As reformed after 1910, the working of the courts has given no cause for complaint. For defence the colony has a force, all infantry, of some 16,00o men, the officers and N.C.Os. numbering about 400, being Euro peans.

Education is mainly in the hands of Christian missions, both Roman Catholic and Protestant; some of the mission schools are inspected and aided by the State, which itself maintains a few technical and training schools. The class of educated natives is small, and found mainly in the chief towns. For scientific stud ies the State maintains a number of agricultural laboratories, experimental farms and botanic gardens, and at these a limited number of natives receive instruction. A native medical service is also trained, as an auxiliary to the European medical service. This service carries out most valuable work among the people, especially in combating sleeping sickness and syphilis.

Towns and Communications.

Just within the mouth of the Congo is Banana, with a fine harbour. It is the oldest trad ing station in the Congo, European merchants having been es tablished there since the 16th century. On the north bank of the estuary is Boma, formerly the administrative capital. It is the port of the Mayumbe country, with which it is connected by railway. Further up and 93m. from Banana is Matadi (close to H. M. Stanley's old station of Vivi) . Matadi is the furthest point reached by ocean-going ships and is the port for the greater part of the colony. From it a railway runs past the cataract region to Stanley Pool, where is Leopoldville-Kinshasa, the capital, with a white pop. (1926) of some 2,000. About i,000m. up river from Leopoldville is Stanleyville, chief town of the eastern prov ince ; roughly midway between Leopoldville and Stanleyville is Coquilhatville (at the Ruki-Congo confluence), chief town of the equatorial province. Leopoldville has many of the amenities of a European town, but is surpassed in that respect by Elisabeth ville, the capital of the province of Katanga (q.v.).

The Congo and its affluents have over 5,000m. of navigable waters, and there were in 1928 some 2,500m. of railway in the colony. To open up trade the first task was to join the navigable Congo to the ocean by the building of the Matadi-Leopoldville line. There was difficult work in crossing the Crystal mountains, but after nine years' labour the railway, 248m. long, was com pleted in 1898. With the growth of trade the railway became in adequate, and in 1927 the rebuilding of the line, with better gradients and a shorter track, was begun. Other railways connect navigable stretches of the Upper Congo, and from 1918 it was possible to travel by steamer or rail from the mouth of the Congo to Cape Town. In 1915 a railway was completed from Kabalo, on the Upper Congo, to Albertville, on the west coast of Lake Tanganyika. From Albertville steamers ply to Kigoma, on the other side of the lake, whence traffic passes over the Tan ganyika Central railway to Dar-es-Salaam. By this route the eastern and southern parts of the colony have an outlet to the Indian ocean. Another chain of railways gives Katanga direct access to the sea. From the northern terminus of the Rhodesian railways the line was continued (1910-18) via Elisabethville and Kambove (a centre for the copper mines) to Bukama, on the navigable waters of the Lualaba (Upper Congo) . This line put Katanga in direct communication not only with Cape Town but with Beira (1,600m. by rail from Elisabethville), and to Beira the Katanga copper was sent. In 1928 however the last link of a railway to connect Katanga with the west coast at Lobito bay was begun. (See ANGOLA.) By this route Elisabethville is only ',loom. from a seaport. The year 1928 also witnessed the com pletion of a railway from Bukama to Ilebo (Port Francqui), on the Kasai river, thus opening up large and fertile agricultural and pastoral regions. Funds were provided for continuing this line from Ilebo to Leopoldville. Several motor and other roads have been made. They are of only local importance except the road from Buta to the Nile at Rijaf (whence steamers go to Khar toum) ; on this road there is a regular passenger and goods serv ice. The telegraphic system was neither very extensive nor (up to 192 7) very efficient ; it was mainly carried on by a small range wireless station. There are air services between Boma and Leopold ville and between Leopoldville and Bukama (via the Kasai river). The colony is in cable communication with Europe.

Economic Conditions.

Under the Free State rule no dis tinction was made between the State as administrator and as trader and landlord, whether working estates directly or through concessionaires. Great efforts were made to obtain the maximum output of the two products most easily available, namely rubber and ivory. (See CONGO FREE STATE.) At the same time the needs of transport and the task of bringing the country under control entailed the raising of large loans. During this period 75% of the revenue was derived from the exploitation of rubber, and much of the remainder from ivory. In 1910, the country having meanwhile been annexed to Belgium, the Free State methods of exploitation were abandoned. In 1908, the last year of the Free State administration, the value of exports, which besides rubber and ivory included palm-nuts, palm-oil, copal and cocoa was some £4,000,000 and the value of imports £2,300,000. The more rational policy adopted by Belgium on its acquisition of the country led to a great amelioration of the condition of the natives, but, not unnaturally in view of their previous experience, did not for some time tend to increase production. It happened that the abandonment of the compulsory collection of wild rub ber by the natives coincided with a fall in prices in Europe, and later on plantation rubber from Malaya and the Dutch East Indies very largely supplanted wild rubber. Thus the Belgian author ities were forced to look to other sources for the development of commerce. While wild rubber continued to be collected to a diminishing extent, rubber plantations were started, with fairly good results. Cotton cultivation was tried, but after ten or 12 years was still in the experimental stage; cocoa, mainly pro duced in Mayemba, was disappointing; sugar cane planting began in 1926 in the region between Matadi and Stanley Pool and gave good promise; coffee cultivation began about 192o in the Kivu and Uele (Welle) districts and proved a success. Rice became an important crop, mainly for home consumption by the natives. The gum-copal industry declined, the natives becoming increas ingly unwilling to remain in the swamps for the long period es sential for the gathering of the copal.

All these were minor undertakings in place of rubber, but the oil-palm became the most important commercial asset of the colony, mining excepted. The quantity and value of palm-nuts and palm-oil exported grew steadily. While still obtained chiefly from wild trees and in the wasteful native manner, better methods have been introduced by a company using large British capital. Of animal products ivory alone was of importance for many years. Elephants continued plentiful—they were still in some dis tricts so numerous as to be a pest—good tusks were obtained, and as a rule the ivory fetched high prices on the Antwerp market. But by 1925 cattle rearing, undertaken first by some settlers in Katanga, had passed the experimental stage and the industry rapidly grew, there being large areas free from tsetse fly in Katanga, in the region of the great lakes, the Lomani and in eastern Kasai. The colony passed through very trying times in the years of re-organization which followed the annexation by Belgium, and suffered also by the dislocation caused by the World War, but it emerged successfully. Commercial prosperity came with the development of the mineral wealth of Katanga. That province produces large quantities of tin, has both gold and diamonds, controls the world's supply of radium, and has ore sufficient to control the world's supply of cobalt (it produced 75o tons of copper-cobalt alloy in 1925). But it is chiefly famous for its copper. In 1911 the production of copper by the Union Miniere, the company which controls the richest fields, was 998 tons ; in 1914, with the railway available, the output was over I o,000 tons, and in 1925 it had grown to 89,000—with the capacity, given more and improved machinery, of producing 200, 00o tons annually for many years. Besides the mineral wealth of Katanga, gold is worked at Kilo and Moti (which lie towards the Uganda border) and diamonds are obtained from the Upper Kasai region. Diamonds were dis covered in 1907 ; the stones are alluvial, small but of good qual ity. In 1923 the output was 5oo, 00o carats; in 1924 it was carats. Currency in the Congo is that of Belgium, and as the franc was subjected to the same fluctuation as in Belgium, statis tics in pounds sterling would be misleading, but the relative prog ress in the export trade can be seen by comparing the figures for 1913 and 1924. In the first named year exports were valued at 55,000,000 francs; in 1924 at 477,000,000 (of which 223,000,00o francs was the value of the copper; 43,000,00o francs the value of the gold; 87,000,00o francs the value of palm-nuts and palm-oil, and 31,000,00o francs the value of the ivory exported). Import trade is of a general char acter, cotton, clothing, provisions and machinery predominating. Over half the total trade is with Belgium; but Great Britain— which takes the copper output—has over 40% of the exports from the colony, and the British empire as a whole over So%. Of the imports taken by the colony the share of Great Britain is some 15 % ; of the British empire about 2 5 %. Germany, France and the United States are all considerable exporters to the colony, but take little of its produce, at least directly. Shipping using the colony's ports is largely Belgian; next in tonnage come the French ships. An accurate survey of State finances has been rendered very difficult by the defective system of accounting adopted; complete budget figures for 1918 had not appeared by 1926; the following are, however, given as the figures for the 1924 budget—revenue 18 2,000,000 francs ; expenditure i 7 7,000, 00o francs. The consolidated debt in 1925 was 310,000,000 francs, and the floating debt considerably larger. Practically the whole of the consolidated debt is a burden taken over from the Congo Free State. Revenue is derived mainly from direct tax ation (including income tax and a poll tax on male adult natives), customs, royalties on minerals, and the sale or lease of lands. By the terms of the Brussels Act of 1910, import duties must not ex ceed io% ad valorem; they are in some cases specific. The main expenditure is on administration proper, the postal, public debt, educational and medical services and the defence force.

On Nov. 15, 1908, the Independent State of the Congo (CoNco FREE STATE, q.v.) of which Leopold II., King of the Belgians, was sovereign, was annexed to Belgium and the personal rule of Leo pold gave place to control by the Belgian Parliament, exercised through a Colonial Minister. The Belgian Government took measures to remedy the abuses which had grown up on the Congo, its task being rendered easier by the death of Leopold and the accession of Albert I. in 1909. The restrictions on freedom of trade were removed and most of the monopolies held by Leopold were abandoned. The native administration was thoroughly re organized. The ancient right of user of the land was restored to the natives and the principle of freedom of labour recognized. The chiefs were granted, with necessary safeguards, much of their tra ditional authority and judicial reforms were carried through. Mis sionary efforts were encouraged, further restrictions placed on the liquor traffic, and strenuous efforts were made to combat disease. The thoroughness of the reforms was cordially recognized by Great Britain, the United States, and other interested parties. During the Great War, Congo troops aided the French in the Cameroons; they helped in the defence of Northern Rhodesia, and in 1916 they conquered a considerable area of German East Africa. In 1919 by agreement with Great Britain the mandate over Ruanda and Urundi, part of the region conquered by the Congolese, was assigned to Belgium (see RUANDA-URUNDI). By an earlier agree ment (1910) Great Britain had ceded to Belgium the western shores of Lake Albert, thus securing to the colony access to the Nile system, which would otherwise have been lost through the retrocession of the Lado Enclave (q.v.).

Apart from an enlightened native policy the efforts of the ad ministration were largely devoted to the development of means of communication and of local government. In 191 o the province of Katanga (q.v.) was placed under a vice-governor-general with extensive powers. In 1926 the title was changed to governor simply. In 1928 a special committee was formed to develop the Kivu region. To the governor-general of the whole colony was left, however, financial control and matters affecting the colony as a whole. The depression following the war had its effect on the Congo and in 192o there was a partial strike in the civil service and unrest among several native tribes. These troubles passed with the development of commerce and careful attention to the needs of the natives. By a convention with Portugal, signed in Sept. 1927, Belgium ceded to Angola some 48osq.m. in the south-west of the Congo colony (an area known as the Dilolo Boot), receiving in exchange something over one sq.m. of territory near Matadi. This strip of land was of much value as it was needed in the re building of the Matadi-Stanley Pool railway—the principal means of communication between the interior and the coast. The ex tension of the Benguella railway begun in 1928 opened up another route to the sea for the southern part of the colony (see ANGOLA). In June 1928 King Albert I. visited the colony for the opening of the completed Bas Congo-Katanga line, 695 miles long, which now connects Katanga with Leopoldville by the Kasai river.