‹ Belgian Congo

Who is behind Belgian Congo?

Shows documented founders, leaders, board members, funders and owners.

Not who made decisions, or why.

2 links · 15 Nov 1908 – 1960

Play Explore

A connection is not evidence of wrongdoing.

Over time
  1. Led by Leopold II (Sovereign) 1885 – 15 Nov 1908

On the record

Sourced links that no one presents as their own account, as recorded so far. Others may exist.

Founded by

Led by

Proof 2 sources
  1. The Story of the Congo Free State, by Henry Wellington Wack (a book friendly to the Free State; it prints the King's speech and letters in full), G. P. Putnam's Sons (Project Gutenberg), 1905. Scholarship & press
    the State founded in Africa by the International Association of the Congo
    His Majesty, Leopold II., King of the Belgians, is authorised to be the chief of the State founded in Africa by the International Association of the Congo.
  2. The Belgian Minister to the Secretary of State, Washington, 4 November 1908 (Foreign Relations of the United States, 1908, doc. 559), U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, 4 Nov 1908. Primary record
    the sovereign powers of the State of the Kongo are now transferred to Belgium
How this answer is built

Lines on the record come first: sourced links that no one presents as their own account, each with its strongest source. Then every account recorded here gets its own column, A to Z, none ranked above another. A column quotes only that account's own words and shows the strength of its own sources. Disputed lines are listed apart, with the reason, and lines still being verified come last. Neither is counted. Withdrawn lines are never shown.

What was recorded about an earlier form of Belgian Congo, the same body under an older name, answers too, and each such line says so.

When a list is longer than the page shows, the links the public methodology ranks strongest stay (methodology 0.3), and the rest open in the explorer.

Know a source we are missing? Propose it with a pull request to content/entities/org/be/belgian-congo.md.