Editing Belgian Congo (section)

==Economic policy==
The economic exploitation {{Clarify|reason=Exploit means "To benefit from to the greatest possible extent," but it is sometimes also used to mean "To rob/racketeer."|date=January 2025}} of the Congo was one of the colonizer's {{Who|date=January 2025}} top priorities. An important tool was the construction of railways to open up the mineral and agricultural areas.<ref>See ''Le Rail au Congo Belge, 1890–1920 (Volume 1).'' (1993, Ediblanchart). {{ISBN|2872020101}}.</ref>
[[File:Shinkakasa05.jpg|thumb|right|A steam boat arriving at Boma on the Congo River in 1912]]

===World War I===
[[File:Intocht-tabora-19-september-1916.jpg|thumb|right|Belgo-Congolese troops of the Force Publique after the [[Battle of Tabora]], 19 September 1916]]
Rubber had long been the main export of the Belgian Congo, but its importance fell in the early 20th century{{when|date=June 2015}} from 77% of exports (by value) to only 15% as British colonies in Southeast Asia like British Malaya began to farm rubber. New resources were exploited, especially copper mining in Katanga province. The Belgian-owned [[Union Minière du Haut-Katanga]], which would come to dominate copper mining, used a direct rail line to the sea at [[Beira, Mozambique|Beira]]. World War I increased demand for copper, and production soared from 997 tons in 1911 to 27,462 tons in 1917, then fell off to 19,000 tons in 1920. Smelters operated at [[Lubumbashi]]. Before the war the copper was sold to Germany; but the British purchased all the wartime output, with the revenues going to the [[De Broqueville government in exile|Belgian government in exile]]. Diamond- and gold-mining also expanded during the war. The British firm of [[Lever Brothers|Lever Bros.]] greatly expanded the [[palm oil]] business during the war, and output of cocoa, rice and cotton increased. New rail and steamship lines opened to handle the expanded export traffic.<ref>
{{cite EB1922 |wstitle=Belgian Congo |volume=30 |page=429 |first=Frank Richardson |last=Cana}}
</ref> During the First World War (1914–1918), the system of "mandatory cultivation" (''cultures obligatoires'') was introduced, forcing Congolese peasants to grow certain cash crops (cotton, coffee, groundnuts) destined as commodities for export.<ref>Mulambu, M. (1974), "Cultures obligatoires et colonisation dans l'ex-Congo belge", In ''Les Cahiers du CEDAF'', 6/7</ref> Territorial administrators and state agronomists had the task of supervising and, if necessary, sanctioning those peasants who evaded the hated mandatory cultivation.<ref>Likaka, Osumaka (1997), ''Rural Society and Cotton in Colonial Zaire'', Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.</ref>

===Interbellum===
Two distinct periods of investment in the Congo's economic infrastructure stand out during the period of Belgian rule: the 1920s and the 1950s.<ref>Vanthemsche, Guy (2007), ''La Belgique et le Congo'', Brussels: Editions Complexe.{{page needed|date=September 2014}}</ref>
[[File:Kisanga-mijn Ruandese arbeiders einde-jaren 1920.JPG|right|thumb|[[Ruanda-Urundi|Ruandan]] migrant workers at the Kisanga mine in Katanga, ca. 1920]]

In 1921, the Belgian government provided 300&nbsp;million francs of loans to the Belgian Congo, to fund public infrastructure projects in support of the boom of the private companies in the colony. The Belgian government also privatised many of the government-owned companies that were active in the colony (the Kilo-Moto mines, La Société Nationale des transport fluviaux,..).<ref>Foutry V., op. cit., p. 4</ref> After the First World War, priority was given to investments in transport infrastructure (such as the rail lines between [[Matadi–Kinshasa Railway|Matadi and Léopoldville]] and [[Société nationale des chemins de fer du Congo|Elisabethville and Port Francqui]]). From 1920 to 1932, 2,450&nbsp;km of railroads were constructed.<ref>Anstey R. (1966), King Leopold's Legacy: The Congo under Belgian Rule 1908–1960. Londen, Oxford University Press, pp. 103–104.</ref> The government also invested heavily in harbour infrastructure in the cities of Boma, Matadi, Leopoldville and Coquilhatville. Electricity and waterworks in the main cities were also funded. Airports were built and a telephone line was funded that connected Brussels with Leopoldville. The government accounted for about 50% of the investments in the Belgian Congo; commercial companies accounted for the other 50%. The mining industry—with the Union Minière du Haut Katanga (U.M.H.K.) as a major player—, attracted the majority of private investments (copper and cobalt in Katanga, diamonds in Kasai, gold in Ituri).<ref>Massoz M., Le Congo des Belges 1908–1960, Luik, 1994, p. 318</ref> This allowed, in particular, the [[Société Générale de Belgique|Belgian Société Générale]] to build up an economic empire in the Belgian Congo. Huge profits were generated by the private companies and for a large part siphoned off to European and other international shareholders in the form of dividends.<ref>Buelens, Frans (2007), ''Congo 1885–1960, Een financiëel-economische geschiedenis'', Berchem: EPO.</ref>
[[File:Belgian Congo Railway Network pre-1960.svg|thumb|280px|left|Railways and navigable waterways in the Belgian Congo]]

During the economic boom of the 1920s, many young Congolese men left their often impoverished rural villages and were employed by companies located near the cities; the population of [[Kinshasa]] nearly doubled from 1920 to 1940, and the population of [[Lubumbashi|Elizabethville]] grew from approximately 16,000 in 1923, to 33,000 in 1929.<ref>David van Reybrouck. Congo: The Epic History of a People. HarperCollins, 2014.</ref> The necessary work-force was recruited by specialised recruiting firms (Robert Williams & Co, Bourse du Travail Kasaï,..) and was in some cases supported by governmental recruiting offices (Office de Travail-Offitra,..). In Katanga the main labour force were seasonal migrant workers from [[Tanganyika (territory)|Tanganyika]], [[Portuguese Angola|Angola]], [[Northern Rhodesia]], and after 1926, also from Ruanda-Urundi.<ref>De Meulder B., op. cit., p. 37</ref>

In many cases, this huge labour migration affected the economic viability of rural communities: many farmers left their villages, which resulted in labour shortages in these areas. To counter these problems, the colonial government used maximum quotas of "able-bodied workers" that could be recruited from every area in the Belgian Congo. In this way, tens of thousands of workers from densely populated areas were employed in copper mines in the sparsely populated south (Katanga). In agriculture, too, the colonial state forced a drastic rationalisation of production. The state took over so-called "vacant lands" (land not directly used by the local population) and redistributed the territory to European companies, to individual white landowners (''colons''), or to the [[Mission (station)|missions]]. In this way, an extensive [[plantation economy]] developed. [[Palm-oil]] production in the Congo increased from 2,500 tons in 1914 to 9,000 tons in 1921, and to 230,000 tons in 1957. Cotton production increased from 23,000 tons in 1932 to 127,000 in 1939.<ref name=a>{{cite book |last=Boahen |first=A. Adu |year=1990 |title=Africa Under Colonial Domination, 1880–1935 |page=171}}</ref>

The mobilization of the African workforce in the capitalist colonial economy played a crucial role in spreading the use of money in the Belgian Congo.<ref>{{Citation |last=Seibert |first=Julia |title=Policy and Practice of Forced Labor in the Congo Free State and the Belgian Congo |date=2024-08-21 |work=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History |url=https://oxfordre.com/africanhistory/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-846?d=/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-846&p=emailAKBIGahtbi8Os |access-date=2025-03-09 |language=en |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-846?d=/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-846&p=emailakbigahtbi8os |isbn=978-0-19-027773-4}}</ref> The basic idea was that the development of the Congo had to be borne not by the Belgian taxpayers but by the Congolese themselves.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Ndekendek: The Man Who Runs Like a Bird |last1=Wyatt |first1=Bob |last2=Flasschoen |first2=George |publisher=Xlibris |year=2017 |isbn=9781543414301}}</ref> The colonial state needed to be able to levy taxes in money on the Congolese, so it was important that they could make money by selling their produce or their labour within the framework of the colonial economy.{{citation needed|date=November 2013}}

[[File:Congo belge Allez-y propaganda jaren 1920.JPG|thumb|upright|Propaganda leaflet produced by the Ministry of the Colonies in the early 1920s]]
The economic boom of the 1920s turned the Belgian Congo into one of the leading copper-ore producers worldwide. In 1926 alone, the Union Minière exported more than 80,000 tons of copper ore, a large part of it for processing in [[Hoboken, Antwerp|Hoboken]] (Belgium).<ref>Brion, René and Jean-Louis Moreau (2006), ''De la Mine à Mars: la genèse d'Umicore'', Tielt: Lannoo.</ref> In 1928 King Albert I visited the Congo to inaugurate the so-called 'voie national' that linked the [[Katanga Province|Katanga]] mining region via rail (up to [[Ilebo|Port Francqui]]) and via river transport (from Port Francqui to [[Kinshasa|Léopoldville]]) to the Atlantic port of [[Matadi]].

===Great Depression===
The [[Great Depression]] of the 1930s affected the export-based Belgian Congo economy severely because of the drop in international demand for raw materials and agricultural products (for example, the price of peanuts fell from 1.25 francs to 25 centimes (cents)). In some areas, as in the [[Katanga Province|Katanga]] mining region, employment declined by 70%. In the country as a whole, the wage labour force decreased by 72,000 and many such labourers returned to their villages. In Leopoldville, the population decreased by 33%, because of this labour migration.<ref>Anstey R., op.cit., p. 109</ref> In order to improve conditions in the countryside, the colonial government developed the so-called "[[National Institute for Agronomic Study of the Belgian Congo|indigenous peasantry programme]]", aimed at supporting the development of a stronger internal market that was less dependent of fluctuations in export demand, but also to combat the disastrous effects of erosion and soil exhaustion brought about by the mandatory cultivation scheme. This policy began to be implemented on a large scale throughout the Congo after the Second World War, by the colonial government. The scheme aimed to modernize indigenous agriculture by assigning plots of land to individual families and by providing them with government support in the form of selected seeds, agronomic advice, fertilizers, etc.<ref>Clement, Piet (2014), "Rural development in the Belgian Congo: the late-colonial indigenous peasantry programme and its implementation in the Equateur District", In ''Bulletin des Scéances de l'Académie Royale des Sciences d'Outre-mer'', Brussels, 60 (2), pp. 251–286</ref> The [[National Institute for Agronomic Study of the Belgian Congo]], established in 1934, with its large experimental fields and laboratories in Yangambe, played an important role in crop selection and in the popularization of agronomic research and know-how.<ref>Drachoussoff, V., e.a. (1991), ''Le développement rurale en Afrique Centrale: synthèse et réflexions'', Brussels: Fondation Roi Baudouin</ref>

===World War II===
{{Main|Belgian Congo in World War II}}
[[File:Shinkolobwe.jpg|thumb|The majority of the uranium used in the [[Manhattan Project]] came from the [[Shinkolobwe]] mine.]]
During World War II, industrial production and agricultural output increased drastically. The Congolese population bore the brunt of the "war effort" – for instance, through a reinforcement of the mandatory cultivation policy.<ref>Rubbens, Antoine (1945), ''Dettes de guerre'', Elisabethville: Lovania</ref> After [[British Malaya|Malaya]] [[Malayan Campaign|fell to the Japanese]] (January 1942), the Belgian Congo became a strategic supplier of rubber to the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dumett |first=Raymond |date=1985 |title=Africa's Strategic Minerals During the Second World War |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/181656 |journal=The Journal of African History |volume=26 |issue=4 |pages=381–408 |doi=10.1017/S0021853700028802 |jstor=181656 |s2cid=163040373 |issn=0021-8537 }}</ref> The Belgian Congo became one of the major exporters of [[uranium]] to the US during World War II (and the [[Cold War]]), particularly from the [[Shinkolobwe]] mine. The colony provided the uranium used by the [[Manhattan Project]], including in [[atom bomb|atomic bombs]] dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.<ref name="WP">Compare:{{cite news |last=McCrummen |first=Stephanie |title=Nearly Forgotten Forces of WWII |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/03/AR2009080302959.html |agency=Washington Post Foreign Service |date=4 August 2009 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |quote=References to Congo's involvement in World War II are usually limited to Shinkolobwe, the mine that supplied uranium for the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. |access-date=20 September 2017 |archive-date=14 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014073325/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/03/AR2009080302959.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Post World War II===
[[File:Students in theTeaching laboratory, Medical School, Yakusu Wellcome L0039121.jpg|right|thumb|Students in the Teaching laboratory, Medical School, Yakusu, {{circa}} 1930–1950]]
After World War II, the colonial state became more active in the economic and social development of the Belgian Congo. An ambitious ten-year plan was launched by the Belgian government in 1949. It put emphasis on house building, energy supply, [[National Institute for Agronomic Study of the Belgian Congo|rural development]] and health-care infrastructure. The ten-year plan ushered in a decade of strong economic growth, from which, for the first time, the Congolese began to benefit on a substantial scale.<ref>Jean-Philippe Peemans, "Imperial Hangovers: Belgium – The Economics of Decolonization", Journal of Contemporary History 2, nr., 265–266.</ref><ref>Guy Vanthemsche (2007), Congo. De impact van de kolonie op België. Tielt: Lannoo, pp. 129–131.</ref> At the same time, the economy had expanded and the number of Belgian nationals in the country more than doubled, from 39,000 in 1950 to more than 88,000 by 1960.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

In 1953, Belgium granted the Congolese the right – for the first time – to buy and sell private property in their own names. In the 1950s a Congolese middle class, modest at first, but steadily growing, emerged in the main cities ([[Kinshasa|Léopoldville]], [[Lubumbashi|Elisabethville]], [[Kisangani|Stanleyville]], and [[Kananga|Luluabourg]]).<ref>[[Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja|Nzongola-Ntalaja, G.]] (2002). The Congo: From Leopold to Kabila: A People's History. Londen: Zed Books, pp. 62–63.</ref>

There was rapid political development, forced by African aspirations, in the last years of the 1950s, culminating in the [[1960 Belgian Congo general election]].