Democratic Republic of the Congo: Encyclopedia II - Democratic Republic of the Congo - History

Democratic Republic of the Congo - History

The earliest inhabitants of the area were Pygmy peoples. They were largely replaced and absorbed by Bantu tribes during Bantu migrations.

Democratic Republic of the Congo - Congolese pre-history

From 2000 BC to AD 500, waves of Bantu migrations moved into what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Although the term "Congo" usually encompasses neighboring Congo-Brazzaville as well) from the northwest, adding to and displacing the indigenous Pygmy populations into the southern regions of the modern DRC state. Subsequent migrations from the Darfur and Kordofan regions of Sudan into the northeast, as well as East Africans migrating into the eastern Congo added to the mix of ethnic groups. The Bantus imported agriculture and iron-working techniques from West Africa into the area, as well as establishing the Bantu language family as the primary set of tongues for the Congolese.

In the fifth century, a society began to develop in a region that initially encompassed only a 200 kilometre (125 mi) area along the banks of the Lualaba River in the modern day Katanga province. This culture, known as the Upemba, would eventually evolve into the more significant Luba kingdom.

The process in which the original Upemba societies transitioned into the Luba kingdom was gradual and complex. This transition ran without interruption, with several distinct societies developing out of the Upemba culture prior to the genesis of the Luba. Each of these kingdoms became very wealthy due mainly to the region's mineral wealth, especially in ores. The civilization began to develop and implement iron and copper technology, in addition to trading in ivory and other goods. The Luba established a strong commercial demand for their metal technologies and were able to institute a primitive but long-range commercial net (the business connections extended over 1,500 kilometres (930 mi), all the way to the Indian Ocean). By the 1500s the kingdom had an established strong central government based on chieftainship.

Democratic Republic of the Congo - Medieval kingdoms

By the fifteenth century, the dominant political force of the Congo region was the Kongo Empire. The Kongo was a highly developed state located primarily in the southwest portion of the modern Congo, in addition to occupying portions of northern Angola and Cabinda. The state was particularly noted by Europeans on their arrival as having developed an intricate system of taxation. At its greatest extent, the empire reached from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Kwango River in the east, and from the Congo River in the north to the Loje River in the south. The kingdom was headed by a king known as the Manikongo who exercised his authority over the Bakongo (Kongo peoples) from his capital in Mbanza-Kongo, which grew into the present day city of Sao Salvador. The empire established itself as the hub of an extensive Central African trade network in which it traded slaves especially, along with other natural resources. The Kongo would eventually sell so many people into slavery that the empire collapsed due to lack of human resources and war with the Portuguese.

There were numerous other, but much smaller states scattered throughout the territory in the north and northeast of the basin, with Pygmies and other primarily hunter-gatherer populations located mostly in the southern portions of the region. Of particular note is that the populations of the Eastern regions of the premordial Congo were heavily disrupted by constant slaving, mainly from Zanzibari slave dealers. The slave trade in this portion of Africa was primarily Arab in nature (as opposed to the European or Atlantic slave trade) and captured persons were typically shipped off to the Middle East or holdings of Arabian kingdoms for labor.

Democratic Republic of the Congo - European exploration and administration 1870–1960

Main articles: Colonisation of the Congo, Congo Free State, and Belgian Congo

European exploration and administration took place from the 1870s until the 1920s. The area was first mapped by the British explorer Henry Morton Stanley. He prepared the region for European colonization. Stanley had undertaken his explorations mainly under the sponsorship of King Leopold II of Belgium, who desired what was to become the Congo as a colony. In a succession of negotiations Leopold, professing humanitarian objectives in his capacity as chairman of the Association Internationale Africaine, played one European rival against the other. The Congo territory was acquired formally by Leopold at the Conference of Berlin in 1885. He made the land his private property and named it the Congo Free State. Leopold's regime began undertaking various development projects, such as the railway that ran from the coast to Leopoldville (now Kinshasa) which took years to complete. Nearly all of these projects were aimed at increasing the capital Leopold and his cohorts could extract from the colony, leading to atrocious exploitation of Africans. In the Free State, the local population was brutalized in exchange for rubber, a growing market with the development of rubber tires. The selling of the rubber made a fortune for Leopold, who built several buildings in Brussels and Ostend to honour himself and his country. During the period between 1885 and 1908, between five and fifteen (the commonly accepted figure is about ten) million Congolese died as a consequence of exploitation and diseases. To enforce the rubber quotas, the Force Publique (FP) was called in. The FP was an army, but its aim was not to defend the country, but to terrorise the local population The Force Publique made the practice of cutting off the limbs of the natives as a means of enforcing rubber quotas a matter of policy; this practice was disturbingly widespread. However, there were international protests spearheaded mainly by E. D. Morel and British diplomat/Irish patriot Roger Casement, whose 1904 report on the Congo condemned the practice, as well as famous writers such as Mark Twain. Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness also takes place in Congo Free State. In 1908, the Belgian parliament bowed to international pressure in order to save their last bit of prestige in Europe, forcibly adopting the Free State as a Belgian colony from the king. From then on, it became the Belgian Congo.

During World War II the small Congolese army achieved several victories against the Italians in north Africa. The Belgian Congo, which was also rich in uranium deposits, supplied the uranium that was used to build the American atom bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, helping bring World War II to an end.

Democratic Republic of the Congo - Political Crises 1960-1965

In 1959, Patrice Lumumba, with the MNC party or Mouvement National Congolais, won the first free legislative elections. He was therefore appointed Prime Minister, while Joseph Kasavubu was elected President by the parliament. His party was the ABAKO (Alliance des Bakongo). Other parties that emerged include the PSA or Parti Solidaire Africain (Antoine Gizenga), the PNP or Parti National du Peuple (Albert Delvaux, Laurent Mbariko). Shortly after independence the provinces of Katanga (with Moise Tshombe) and South Kasai seceded. Subsequent events led to a crisis between the President and the Prime Minister. On September 5th 1960, the President dismissed the Prime Minister, who would later be killed in Katanga on January 17th 1961 by Belgian government and Katangan forces. Several governments successively took over in the widespread confusion. They were led by technicians (College des Commissaires), Joseph Ileo, Cyrille Adoula, Moise Tshombe, and Evariste Kimba.

Democratic Republic of the Congo - Zaire 1965–1996

Following five years of extreme instability and civil unrest, Mobutu, now Lieutenant General, overthrew Kasavubu in a 1965 coup d'état. A one-party system was established, and Mobutu declared himself head of state. He would occasionally hold elections in which he was the only candidate. Relative peace and stability was achieved, but Mobutu's government was accused of human rights violations, repression, a cult of personality (every Congolese bank note displayed his image, his portrait was displayed in all public buildings, most businesses, and on billboards, and it was common for ordinary people to wear his likeness on their clothing) and excessive corruption — in 1984 he was said to have four billion U.S. dollars, an amount close to the country's national debt, stashed away in personal Swiss bank accounts. In an effort to spread African national awareness, starting on June 1, 1966, Mobutu renamed the nation's cities (Leopoldville became Kinshasa [the country was now Democratic Republic of The Congo–Kinshasa], Stanleyville became Kisangani, and Elisabethville became Lumbumbashi). This city-renaming campaign was completed in the 1970s. In 1971, he renamed the country the Republic of Zaire, its fourth name change in eleven years and its sixth overall. The Congo River became the Zaire River. In 1972, Mobutu renamed himself Mobutu Sese Seko. Another way to promote the country's African heritage was to promote old African values and traditions.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, U.S. relations with Kinshasa cooled, as Mobutu was no longer deemed a necessary Cold War ally, and his opponents within Zaire stepped up demands for reform. This atmosphere contributed to Mobutu declaring the Third Republic in 1990, whose constitution was supposed to pave the way for democratic reform. The reforms turned out to be largely cosmetic, and Mobutu's rule continued until conflict forced him to flee Zaire.

Democratic Republic of the Congo - War 1996–present

Main articles: First Congo War and Second Congo War

Since 1994, the Congo has been rent by ethnic strife and civil war, touched off by a massive inflow of refugees from fighting in Rwanda and Burundi. The government of Mobutu Sese Seko was toppled by a rebellion led by Laurent-Désiré Kabila in May, 1997; he changed the country's name back to Democratic Republic of The Congo-Kinshasa. But his former allies soon turned against him, and his regime was challenged by a Rwandan and Ugandan-backed rebellion in August 1998. Troops from Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia, Chad, and Sudan intervened to support the new regime in Kinshasa. See Foreign relations of Congo and First Congo War.

A cease-fire was signed on July 10, 1999; nevertheless, fighting continues apace especially in the eastern part of the country, financed by revenues from the illegal extraction of minerals such as coltan, cassiterite and diamonds. Kabila was assassinated in January 2001 and his son Joseph Kabila was named head of state. The new president quickly began overtures to end the war. Fighting continued, even after an accord signed in South Africa in 2002. But by late 2003, a fragile peace prevailed. Kabila appointed four vice-presidents, two who had been fighting to oust him until July 2003.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki