Congo (99 page)

I found a nuanced view of officials, traders, and soldiers in the Free State in L. H. Gann and Peter Duignan,
The Rulers of Belgian Congo, 1884–1914
(Princeton, NJ, 1979). The catalogue for the exhibition
Het geheugen van Congo: De koloniale tijd
(Tervuren, Belgium, 2005) does its best, in the able hands of its editor Jean-Luc Vellut, to avoid old and new clichés concerning the Free State. Two scholars have carried out true pioneering work in the extremely fragmentary archives dealing with the rubber policies: Daniel Vangroenweghe with his
Du sang sur les lianes
[
Rood rubber
] (Brussels, 1985) and
Voor rubber en ivoor
(Leuven/Louvain, Belgium, 2005) and Jules Marchal with his
E. D. Morel tegen Leopold II en de Kongostaat
(Berchem, 1985) and
De Kongostaat van Leopold II
(Antwerp, Belgium, 1989, published under his nom de plume, A. M. Delathuy).

The story of the Free State, however, involves more than just the atrocities produced by the rubber policies. A good overview can be found in Jean Stengers and Jan Vansina, “King Leopold’s Congo, 1886–1908,” in
The Cambridge History of Africa
, vol. 6:
From 1870 to 1905
, edited by R. Oliver and G. N. Sanderson (Cambridge, UK, 1985), 315–58. It was from them that I adopted the dividing line of pre-1890 and post-1890. Analyses concerning international diplomacy and border issues are dealt with in the classic standard works (Cornevin, Stengers, and Ndaywel). Concerning the pacification of the region and the rise of local resistance, I consulted Allen Isaacman and Jan Vansina, “Initiatives et résistances africaines en Afrique centrale de 1880 et 1914,” in
Histoire générale de l’Afrique
, vol. 7:
L’Afrique sous domination coloniale
, edited by A. Adu Boahen (Paris, 1987), 191–216. Jean-Luc Vellut wrote a thoughtful analysis of the role of violence in the Free State, “La violence armée dans l’État Indépendant du Congo,”
Cultures et développement
(1984).

This chapter also depicts the Africans’ growing familiarity with Europeans and their lifestyle. For information about the Africans who went to Europe as part of the world exhibition, see Maarten Couttenier,
Congo tentoongesteld: Een geschiedenis van de Belgische antropologie en het museum van Tervuren (1882–1925)
(Leuven/Louvain, Belgium, 2005), and Maurits Wynants,
Van hertogen en Kongolezen: Tervuren en de koloniale tentoonstelling 1897
(Tervuren, Belgium, 1997). Concerning the development of the state administration at Boma, the CD-ROM by Johan Lagae, Thomas de Keyser and Jef Vervoort proved a real gold mine:
Boma 1880–1920: Koloniale hoofdstad of kosmopolitische handelspost
(Ghent, Belgium, 2006). For the passages concerning the encounter between colonials and Congolese women, I consulted the fascinating study by Amandine Lauro,
Coloniaux, ménagères, et prostituées au Congo belge (1885–1930)
(Loverval, Belgium, 2005).

A few key works dealing with the Protestant missionaries were already mentioned under Chapter 1 above. The distinctions between their working methods and those of the Catholic missions were taken from Ruth Slade,
King Leopold’s Congo: Aspects of the Development of Race Relations in the Congo Independent State
(London, 1962). A huge amount has been published concerning the person of Grenfell, most of it hagiographic in nature. The most important work is the two-volume biography by Harry Johnston,
George Grenfell and the Congo
(London, 1908). Concerning the role of native catechists, see the thesis by Paul Serufuri Hakiza, “Les auxiliaires autochtones des missions protestantes au Congo, 1878–1960: Étude de cinq Sociétés missionaires” (Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, 1984). A critical approach to the relations between the Catholic Church and the state can be found in the works of A. M. Delathuy (a pseudonym of above-mentioned author Jules Marchal):
Jezuïeten in Kongo met zwaard en kruis
(Berchem, 1986) and his two-volume
Missie en staat in Oud-Kongo
(Berchem, Belgium, 1992 and 1994). Vincent Viaene unpublished paper, “Leopold II en de Heilige Stoel” (2009), taught me a great deal about the ties between the royal house and the Vatican.

The earliest days of the Force Publique are described with military precision and visible pride by Lieutenant-Commander F. Flament in
La Force Publique de sa naissance à 1914: Participation des militaires à l’histoire des premières années du Congo
(Brussels, 1952), which proved nonetheless useful despite its partisan nature considering its age and point of view. See Philippe Marechal’s ambitious study
De “Arabische” campagne in het Maniema-gebied (1892–1894)
(Tervuren, Belgium, 1992). Veterans like Oscar Michaux and Joseph Meyers have recounted their experiences with the mutiny in
Au Congo: Carnet de campagne
(Namur, Belgium, 1913) and
Le prix d’un empire
(Brussels, 1964), respectively. The soldiers’ uprising has been the subject of much documentation, including Marcel Storme,
La mutinerie militaire au Kasai en 1895
(Brussels, 1970), Auguste Verbeken,
La révolte des Batetela en 1895
(Brussels, 1958), and Pierre Salmon,
La révolte des Batetela de l’expédition du Haut-Ituri (1897)
(Brussels, 1977).

The building of the first railroad is discussed and illustrated extensively in Charles Blanchart et al.,
Le rail au Congo belge, 1890–1920
(Brussels, 1993). And despite the passage of time, René J. Cornet’s
La bataille du rail: La construction du chemin de fer de Matadi au Stanley Pool
(Brussels, 1947) remains highly readable. Concerning the financing of the railroad and the rest of the Free State, I consulted
Combien le Congo a-t-il couté à la Belgique
(Brussels, 1957) by Jean Stengers. As institutional and diplomatic historian, he also wrote the standard work on Leopold’s transfer of the Free State to Belgium,
Belgique et Congo: L’élaboration de la Charte coloniale
(Brussels, 1963). That crucial transaction was recently subjected to new review by Vincent Viaene, who examined its cultural impact in “Reprise-remise: De Congolese identiteitscrisis van België rond 1908,” in
De overname van België door Congo: Aspecten van de Congolese “aanwezigheid” in de Belgische samenleving
,
1908–1958
, edited by V. Viaene, D. Van Reybrouck, and B. Ceuppens (Leuven/Louvain, Belgium, 2009), 43–62.

CHAPTER 3

The period 1908–21 is, without a doubt, the most sparsely documented in all of Congolese history. The literature about the early years of Belgian colonialism is as scanty as the literature on the Free State is prolific. Fortunately for me, I had a few recent and excellent studies at my disposal. Concerning the social consequences of the fight against sleeping sickness, Maryinez Lyons wrote the classic
The Colonial Disease: A Social History of Sleeping Sickness in Northern Zaire, 1900–1940
(Cambridge, UK, 1992). I took information about the pharmaceutical experiments from a paper by Myriam Mertens, “Chemical Compounds in the Congo: A Belgian Colony’s Role in the Chemotherapeutic Knowledge Production during the 1920s,” presented at the Third European Conference on African Studies, in Leipzig, Germany, on June 5, 2009.

For the development of colonial anthropology, I refer the reader to the above-mentioned work by Maarten Couttenier (see Chapter 2). With specific regard to the compilation of the
Collection des Monographies ethnographiques
, see the doctoral dissertation by Fien Danniau, “‘Il s’agit d’un peuple’: Het antropologisch onderzoek van het Bureau international d’ethnographie (1905–1913)” (University of Ghent, 2005). Concerning the broader context of colonial science, see Mark Poncolet
L’invention des sciences coloniales belges
(Paris, 2008).

This chapter takes a look at the rise of tribalism in early colonial Congo. The information about education at the Catholic missions and ideological representation of “tribes” in textbooks and school songs I drew from Marc Depaepe, Jan Briffaerts, Pierre Kita Kyankenge Masandi, and Honoré Vinck’s
Manuels et chansons scolaires au Congo Belge
(Leuven/Louvain, Belgium, 2003). Honoré Vincks’s online publication
Colonial Schoolbooks (Belgian Congo): Anthology
proved a true gold mine (www.abbol.com). A great deal has, of course, been written from a Catholic perspective about the first African priest, Stefano Kaoze. The most interesting study, however, is that by Allen F. Roberts, “History, Ethnicity, and Change in the ‘Christian Kingdom’ of Southeastern Zaire,” in
The Creation of Tribalism in Southern Africa
, edited by Leroy Vail (Berkeley, CA, 1989). In that article, Roberts links the history of missions to Kaoze’s own political ideals.

In the sections on industrialization, proto-urbanization, and proletarization, I was pleased to make use of the fascinating writings of André Yav. These sources can be consulted on line, including an integral English translation by Johannes Fabian: “Vocabulaire de la ville de Elisabethville,”
Archives of Popular Swahili
4 (2001): 29, http://www2.fmg.uva.nl/lpca/aps/vol4/vocabulaireshabaswahili.html.

There are a few excellent English-language studies of the social aspects of the earliest mining activities. Concerning the gold mines of Kilo-Moto, see David Northrup,
Beyond the Bend in the River: African Labor in Eastern Zaire, 1865–1940
(Athens, OH, 1988). For mining in Katanga, see John Higginson,
A Working Class in the Making: Belgian Colonial Labor Policy, Private Enterprise, and the African Mineworker, 1907–1951
(Madison, WI, 1989), and certainly also Charles Perrings,
Black Mineworkers in Central Africa: Industrial Strategies and the Evolution of an African Proletariat in the Copperbelt 1911–41
(London, 1979). For social conditions in Équateur, not including mining, see Samuel H. Nelson,
Colonialism in the Congo Basin, 1880–1940
(Athens, OH, 1994). With regard to the various forms taken by the recruitment of mineworkers, Aldwin Roes sent me his unpublished but extremely lucid lecture entitled “Thinking with and Beyond the State: The Sub- and Supranational Perspectives on the Exploitation of Congolese Natural Resources, 1885–1914,” presented at the conference entitled The Quest for Natural Resources in Central Africa: The Case of the Mining Sector in DRC held in Tervuren, Belgium, on December 8–9, 2008. Bruno De Meulder also wrote the particularly interesting
De kampen van Kongo: Arbeid, kapitaal, en rasveredeling in de koloniale planning
(Amsterdam, 1996), concerning the housing of Katangan mineworkers. Labor conditions at William Lever’s Huileries du Congo Belge have been described by the indefatigable Jules Marchal in
L’histoire du Congo 1910–1945
, vol. 3:
Travail forcé pour l’huile de palme de Lord Leverhulme
(Borgloon, Belgium 2001).

Concerning World War I, the reader may with pleasure consult Hew Strachan,
The First World War in Africa
(Oxford, 2004), and Edward Peace,
Tip and Run: The Untold Tragedy of the Great War in Africa
(London, 2007). For the administrative aspects of that period, see Guy Vanthemsche,
Le Congo belge pendant la Première Guerre mondiale: Les rapports du ministre des Colonies Jules Renkin au roi Albert I
^er
, 1914–1918
(Brussels, 2009). Concerning the armed struggle for Lake Tanganyika, Giles Foden wrote the successful
Mimi and Toutou Go Forth: The Bizarre Battle of Lake Tanganyika
(London, 2004). For more about the taking of Tabora, see Georges Delpierre, “Tabora 1916: De la symbolique d’une victoire,”
Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Nieuwste Geschiedenis
(2002). I learned a great deal about the human side of the German East Africa campaign from Jan De Waele, “Voor vorst en vaderland: zwarte soldaten en dragers tijdens de Eerste Wereldoorlog in Congo,”
Militaria Belgica
(2007–2008). The reader will learn more about the African presence on the European battlefields during World War I from the lovely exhibition catalogue assembled by Dominiek Dendooven and Piet Chielens,
Wereldoorlog I: Vijf continenten in Vlaanderen
(Tielt, Belgium, 2008), which includes an article about the ethnographic recordings made among prisoners of war in Berlin. Zana Aziza Etambala also deals with this subject in his
In het land van de Banoko: De geschiedenis van de Kongolese/Zaïrese aanwezigheid in België van 1885 tot heden
(Leuven/Louvain, Belgium, 1993). The most recent study is that by Jeannick Vangansbeke, “Afrikaanse verdedigers van het Belgisch grondgebied, 1914–1918,”
Belgische Bijdragen tot de Militaire Geschiedenis
4 (2006): 123–34. For more about Rwanda and Burundi under German and Belgian colonial rule, see Helmut Strizek,
Geschenkte Kolonien: Ruanda und Burundi unter deutscher Herrschaft
(Berlin, 2006), and Ingeborg Vijgen,
Tussen mandaat en kolonie: Rwanda, Burundi en het Belgische bestuur in opdracht van de Volkenbond (1916–1932)
(Leuven/Louvain, Belgium, 2005).

CHAPTER 4

That the period in Africa between the wars was anything but peaceful was recently illustrated in Jonathan Derrick’s impressive overview
Africa’s “Agitators”: Militant Anti-Colonialism in Africa and the West, 1918–1939
(London, 2008), in which he, naturally, gives attention to the events in Congo. A great deal has been written about Simon Kimbangu, by historians, anthropologists, and also by his followers. In 1959 Jules Chomé rocked the colonial boat with his
La passion de Simon Kimbangu, 1921–1951
(Brussels, 1959). The best historical study is that by Susan Asch,
L’église du prophète Simon Kimbangu: De ses origines à son rôle actuel au Zaïre
(Paris, 1982). Jean-Luc Vellut recently wrote a meaty but extremely worthwhile introduction to the first volume of his source book
Simon Kimbangu, 1921: De la prédication à la déportation
(Brussels, 2005). The writings of Kimbangu’s followers and sympathizers often include a historical perspective as well. The movement’s former spiritual leader, Joseph Diangienda Kuntima, wrote his own extensive overview,
L’histoire du Kimbanguisme
(Châtenay-Malabry, France, 2007). One would also do well to consult the seminal work by Marie-Louise Martin,
Simon Kimbangu: Un prophète et son église
(Lausanne, Switzerland, 1981), and the much more recent work by Aurélien Mokoko Grampiot,
Kimbanguisme et identité noire
(Paris, 2004). I also found a thoroughgoing study dealing with the deportations in Munayi Muntu-Monji, “La déportation et le séjour des Kimbanguistes dans le Kasaï-Lukenié (1921–1960),”
Zaïre-Afrique
(1977).