From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1879 Belgium body for exploiting the Congo
2°52′48″S
23°39′22″E
/
2.88°S 23.656°E
/
-2.88; 23.656
The
International Association of the Congo
(
French
:
Association internationale du Congo
), also known as the
International Congo Society
, was an association founded on 17 November 1879 by
Leopold II of Belgium
to further his interests in the
Congo
.
[1]
[
dubious
–
discuss
]
It replaced the Belgian
Committee for Studies of the Upper Congo
(
Comite d'Etudes du Haut-Congo
[
fr
]
)
[2]
which was part of the
International African Association
front organisation
created for the exploitation of the Congo. The goals of the International Congo Society was to establish control of the
Congo Basin
and to exploit its economic resources.
[3]
The
Berlin Conference
recognised the society as sovereign over the territories it controlled and on August 1, 1885, i.e. four and half months after the closure of the Berlin Conference, King Leopold's Vice-Administrator General in the Congo, announced that the society and the territories it occupied were henceforth called "the
Congo Free State
".
[4]
[5]
[6]
Ownership and control
[
edit
]
The official stockholders of the Committee for the Study of the Upper Congo were Dutch and British businessmen and a Belgian banker who was holding shares on behalf of Leopold. Colonel
Maximilien Strauch
, president of the committee, was an appointee of Leopold. It was not made clear to
Henry Morton Stanley
, who signed a five-year contract to establish bases in the Congo in 1878, whether he was working for the International African Association, the
Committee for Studies of the Upper Congo
, or Leopold himself. Stanley's European employee contracts
forbade disclosure
of the true nature of their work.
[7]
Berlin Conference
[
edit
]
The
Berlin Conference
or Congo Conference of 1884?85 regulated
European colonisation
and trade in
Africa
.
King
Leopold II
was able to convince the powers at the conference that common trade in Africa was in the best interests of all countries.
[8]
[
self-published source
]
The
General Act
of the conference divided Africa between the main powers of Europe
[9]
and confirmed the territory controlled by the Congo Society as its private property, which essentially made it the property of Leopold II.
[10]
On 10 April 1884 the
United States Senate
authorised
President
Chester A. Arthur
"to recognize the flag of the AIC as the equal of that of an allied government".
[11]
On 8 November 1884
Germany
recognised the sovereignty of the society over the Congo.
[12]
See also
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Association Internationale du Congo"
.
Encyclopædia Britannica
. 22 March 2007.
- ^
Memo from Belgium
. 1978. p. 210.
- ^
Rorison, Sean (20 July 2012).
Congo: Democratic Republic - Republic
. Bradt Travel Guides. p. 63.
ISBN
9781841623917
.
- ^
Cornelis, S. (1991). "Stanley au service de Leopold II: La fondation de l'Etat Independant du Congo (1878-1885)".
In Cornelis, S. (Ed.), H.M. Stanley: Explorateur Au Service du Roi. Pp. 41-60. Tervuren: Royal Museum for Central Africa.
: 53?54.
- ^
Simmonds, R. (6 December 2012).
Legal problems arising from the United Nations military operations in the Congo
. Springer. p. 26.
ISBN
9789401192675
.
- ^
Katzenellenbogen, S. (1996). "It didn't happen at Berlin: Politics, economics and ignorance in the setting of Africa's colonial boundaries.". In Nugent, P.; Asiwaju, A. I. (eds.).
African Boundaries: Barriers, Conduits and Opportunities
. London: Pinter. pp. 21?34.
- ^
Hochschild, Adam (13 May 2011).
King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa
. Pan Macmillan. p. 81.
ISBN
9780330469944
.
- ^
V, Dom Pedro (22 December 2011).
The Quantum Vision of Simon Kimbangu: Kintuadi in 3D
. Xlibris Corporation. p. 128.
ISBN
9781469140360
.
- ^
Ndahinda, Felix Mukwiza (27 April 2011).
Indigenousness in Africa: A Contested Legal Framework for Empowerment of 'Marginalized' Communities
. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 304.
ISBN
9789067046091
.
- ^
Pinder, Kymberly N. (2002).
Race-ing Art History: Critical Readings in Race and Art History
. Psychology Press. p. 237.
ISBN
9780415927604
.
- ^
Forster, Stig; Mommsen, Wolfgang Justin; Robinson, Ronald Edward (1988).
Bismarck, Europe and Africa: The Berlin Africa Conference 1884-1885 and the Onset of Partition
. Oxford University Press [for] German Historical Institute. p. 240.
ISBN
9780199205004
.
- ^
Nzongola-Ntalaja, Georges
(18 July 2013).
The Congo from Leopold to Kabila: A People's History
. Zed Books Ltd. p. 29.
ISBN
9781780329406
.