BOMA (properly MBOMA), port on the north bank of the Congo about 6om. from its mouth, the administrative capital of Belgian Congo up to 1927. Pop. about 40o whites and 2, 50o na tives. It was founded as a slave mart and entrepot for the lower Congo in the 16th century, chiefly by the Dutch, though British, French and Portuguese had factories and the last put forward claims to sovereignty (see AFRICA). In 1884 the natives of Boma granted a protectorate of their country to the International Asso ciation of the Congo.
See H. M. Stanley, The Congo and the Founding of its Free State (London, 1885) .