Congo Free State - Establishment of The Congo Free State

Establishment of The Congo Free State

The Congo Free State was recognized as a neutral independent sovereignty by various European and North American states. Until the middle of the 19th century, the Congo was at the heart of independent Africa, as European colonialists seldom entered the interior. Along with fierce local resistance, the rainforest, swamps, and attendant malaria, and other diseases such as sleeping sickness made it a difficult environment for European invasion forces. Western states were at first reluctant to colonize the area in the absence of obvious economic benefits. In 1876 Leopold II, King of the Belgians organized the International African Association with the cooperation of European and American explorers and the support of several European governments for the promotion of plans to attack independent Central Africa. In 1877, Henry Morton Stanley called attention to the Congo region and was sent there by the association, the expense being defrayed by Leopold. Claiming a great area along the Congo, military posts were established.

Christian de Bonchamps, a French explorer who served Leopold in Katanga, expressed attitudes towards such treaties shared by many Europeans, saying, "The treaties with these little African tyrants, which generally consist of four long pages of which they do not understand a word, and to which they sign a cross in order to have peace and to receive gifts, are really only serious matters for the European powers, in the event of disputes over the territories. They do not concern the black sovereign who signs them for a moment."

After 1879, the work was under the auspices of the Comité d'Études du Haut Congo, which developed into the International Congo Association. This organization sought to combine the numerous small territories acquired into one sovereign state and asked for recognition from the European Powers. On April 22, 1884, the United States decided that the cessions claimed by Leopold from the local leaders were lawful, recognized the International Association of the Congo.