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Prior to the creation of the Congo Free State, the International Association of the Congo (IAC) had signed treaties with over 300 native Congolese chiefs and in effect exercised sovereignty over a large area of the Congo Basin. The IAC was headquartered in Belgium and run by a committee under the presidency of Maximilien Strauch.
The Belgian Congo (French: Congo belge, pronounced [kɔ̃ɡo bɛlʒ]; Dutch: Belgisch-Congo) [a] was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964.
Roughly 98% of Belgium's overseas territory was just one colony (about 76 times larger than Belgium itself) – known as the Belgian Congo. The colony was founded in 1908 following the transfer of sovereignty from the Congo Free State , which was the personal property of Belgium's king, Leopold II .
Colonial rule in the Congo began in the late 19th century. King Leopold II of Belgium attempted to persuade the government to support colonial expansion around the then-largely uncharted Congo Basin. The Belgian government's ambivalence resulted in Leopold's creating a colony on his own account.
Belgium assumes sovereignty of the Congo under the Colonial Charter on the Belgian annexation of the Congo Free State: 1909: 17 December: Death of Leopold II, King of the Belgians 23 December: Accession of Albert I as King of the Belgians 1910: 23 April to 1 November: Exposition Universelle et Internationale (world's fair) held in Brussels. 22 May
King Leopold II, whose rule of the Congo Free State was marked by severe atrocities, violence and major population decline.. Even before his accession to the throne of Belgium in 1865, the future king Leopold II began lobbying leading Belgian politicians to create a colonial empire in the Far East or in Africa, which would expand and enhance Belgian prestige. [2]
Belgium portal; Colonial government officials of the Belgian Congo. Subcategories. This category has the following 4 subcategories, out of 4 total. ...
Yielding to international pressure, the parliament of Belgium annexed the Congo Free State and took over its administration on 15 November 1908, as the colony of the Belgian Congo. The governance of the Belgian Congo was outlined in the 1908 Colonial Charter . [ 103 ]