I have a few questions about the "Free Congo State" and (secondarily) the early part of "Belgian Congo" from 1908 till the outbreak of the first world war.
Congo appears to have been awarded to King Leopold II of Belgium, following the treaty of Berlin, so as to help negate the tension for european powers going to colonial war between themselves in unclaimed sub-saharan Africa around the line of the Equator.
Leopold II created the facade that his philanthropic company was meaning to develop Congo and better the lives of the natives, along with furthering the ability for trade in the African heartland.
In reality, as became evident pretty quickly, the land was to be run as his personal estate, and his greed and lack of any care for the locals led to massive attrocities, including the routine maiming of workers or their family members as punishment for not getting the rubber quota.
Estimates are that many million people died in the era of colonial controlled Congo, until 1908 when it became officially a colony of the nation of Belgium.
My questions are the following:
1) What was the make-up of the police/army forces of Congo during its control by Leopold II? I read that virtually all of the soldiers were 'askari', that is either locals or other native people from bordering african regions. The officers were european.
2) What was the uniform worn by the officers, and the one of the askari? I saw some images where the officrs wear colonial white clothes with white pith helmets. The askari wear blue clothes and red caps, which mostly are fez-like.
3) Is there any other term for "pith helmet"? I ask this cause it is not readily translatable to Greek. Pith is the softer part of the inside of a plant. Not sure why that hat is called a "helmet"? It has the shape of a helmet, i suppose (largely at least) but obviously is not going to protect one against physical hits; only protects from the heat.
4) How far inside the congo were the small ships able to travel in this timeline? Originally the capital of the colony was Boma, a town very near the only exit of the colony to the sea. The Congo river reaches far inside the country, up to the massive tropical forest.
5) Kautsouk harvesting (natural rubber) seems to have been the main focus of that time in regards to the economy (along with some iron mining). Where was the primary region of this industry? I suspect near the tropical forest border, but i am particularly interested in the distance from the Congo River outside of the forest.
6) How was Kautsouk extracted and prepared? I read that after its extraction from the local plants (which i would really want a name for...) the milky residue was further solidified with the use of Formic acid. Was that happening already in 1908 and shortly before that? Formic acid was in use industrially (but not much, i think) from the end of the 19th century.
I think these are my main questions
I will possibly use the colonial era Congo as the symbolic part of a new story.
Congo appears to have been awarded to King Leopold II of Belgium, following the treaty of Berlin, so as to help negate the tension for european powers going to colonial war between themselves in unclaimed sub-saharan Africa around the line of the Equator.
Leopold II created the facade that his philanthropic company was meaning to develop Congo and better the lives of the natives, along with furthering the ability for trade in the African heartland.
In reality, as became evident pretty quickly, the land was to be run as his personal estate, and his greed and lack of any care for the locals led to massive attrocities, including the routine maiming of workers or their family members as punishment for not getting the rubber quota.
Estimates are that many million people died in the era of colonial controlled Congo, until 1908 when it became officially a colony of the nation of Belgium.
My questions are the following:
1) What was the make-up of the police/army forces of Congo during its control by Leopold II? I read that virtually all of the soldiers were 'askari', that is either locals or other native people from bordering african regions. The officers were european.
2) What was the uniform worn by the officers, and the one of the askari? I saw some images where the officrs wear colonial white clothes with white pith helmets. The askari wear blue clothes and red caps, which mostly are fez-like.
3) Is there any other term for "pith helmet"? I ask this cause it is not readily translatable to Greek. Pith is the softer part of the inside of a plant. Not sure why that hat is called a "helmet"? It has the shape of a helmet, i suppose (largely at least) but obviously is not going to protect one against physical hits; only protects from the heat.
4) How far inside the congo were the small ships able to travel in this timeline? Originally the capital of the colony was Boma, a town very near the only exit of the colony to the sea. The Congo river reaches far inside the country, up to the massive tropical forest.
5) Kautsouk harvesting (natural rubber) seems to have been the main focus of that time in regards to the economy (along with some iron mining). Where was the primary region of this industry? I suspect near the tropical forest border, but i am particularly interested in the distance from the Congo River outside of the forest.
6) How was Kautsouk extracted and prepared? I read that after its extraction from the local plants (which i would really want a name for...) the milky residue was further solidified with the use of Formic acid. Was that happening already in 1908 and shortly before that? Formic acid was in use industrially (but not much, i think) from the end of the 19th century.
I think these are my main questions
I will possibly use the colonial era Congo as the symbolic part of a new story.
