194 



CONGO FREE STATE. 



Area and Population. The area of the 

 Congo State is estimated at 2,091,000 square kil- 

 ometres, or 804,230 square miles. Estimates of 

 population vary from 12,000,000 to 40,000,000. 

 The number of Europeans in 1885 was 254, of 

 whom 46 were Belgians. At the close of 1889 

 there were 420, of whom 175 were Belgians; and 

 on Dec. 31, 1890, the number was 744, of whom 

 338 were Belgians. The mortality among Eu- 

 ropeans has declined from 7'08 per cent, in 1886 

 to 4'80 per cent, in 1890, a result that is ascribed 

 to hygienic progress and experience. 



Commerce. The general export trade in 1887 

 was valued at 7,667,969 francs : in 1888, at 7,392.- 

 348 francs ; in 1889. at 8,572,519 francs. In 1890 

 it leaped to 22,351,980 francs. The special ex- 

 ports, consisting of the produce of the Congo 

 State only, increased from 1,980,441 francs in 

 1887 to 2,609,300 francs in 1888, and 4,297,544 

 francs in 1889, and in 1890 to 8,244.199 francs. 

 Special imports in 1890 were valued at 12,720,000 

 francs. The principal articles in the general 

 export returns for 1889, which include merchan- 

 ^ise brought down from regions outside the lim- 

 its of the State, were ivory of the value of 2,528,- 

 000 francs; caoutchouc, 2,137,000 francs; palm 

 kernels, 1,039,000 francs ; coffee, 1,169,000 francs ; 

 palm oil, 982,000 francs ; gum copal, 149,000 

 francs; ground-nuts, 142,000 francs. In 1889 

 944 vessels, of 208,246 tons, called at the ports of 

 Banana and Boma. 



The Congo is navigable for a distance of 450 

 miles from its mouth to Vivi. Above that point, 

 for a distance of upward of 200 miles, naviga- 

 tion is interrupted by rapids up to Stanley Pool, 

 beyond which the main stream is navigable as 

 far as Stanley Falls, a distance of 1,000 miles, 

 and many of the tributaries are navigable for 

 long distances. About 7,500 miles of river navi- 

 gation have already been opened to the steamers 

 of the State and of the missions and commercial 

 houses. The Congo Railroad Company, consti- 

 tuted under Belgian laws with 25,000,000 francs 

 capital, completed in 1888 the surveys for a rail- 

 road, 250 miles long, between Matadi, on the 

 lower river, and Leopoldville, on Stanley Pool, 

 the route running parallel with the river at an 

 average distance of 30 miles from the south bank. 

 Construction has been begun, and the road is 

 expected to be open for traffic before the close 

 of 1893. 



The Congo State maintains .an armed force of 

 eight companies, commanded by European offi- 

 cers, which are stationed at Boma, Lukungu, 

 Leopoldville, on the upper course of the Lu- 

 kungu, where there are two, one at Bangala, and 

 the other two at the mouth of the Aruwimi.and 

 at Stanley Falls. The total number of soldiers 

 is 2,800, besides whom there is a body of 1,000 

 native militiamen, and at need all the employes 

 and workmen of the Government can be called 

 upon to serve as an auxiliary corps. Belonging 

 to the Government are four steamers on the 

 lower Congo and eleven on the upper course. 



Boundary Questions. The limits of the 

 Congo Free State were fixed by treaty before 

 the scramble for Africa began and the doctrine 

 of effective occupation was laid down. The co- 

 lonial projects of England and Germany on the 

 east side of Africa, and of England and Portugal 

 in the south, forced the Congo Government to 



make efforts not otherwise necessary in the way 

 of exploring and making treaties at the extremi- 

 ties of the region assigned to it in the Congo 

 act. A dispute with Portugal relating to the 

 inclosed territory of Kabinda was referred to the 

 Swiss Federal Council for arbitration. 



In another dispute relating to the Muata Yan- 

 vo's Empire of Lunda or Ulunda, the Portuguese 

 Government refused to admit the arbitration of 

 Switzerland. This native kingdom, the largest 

 and most populous in the Congo basin, embraces 

 the greater part of the territory between the 

 Kwango and the Kassai, containing nearly 100,000 

 square miles, with a population of some 2,000,000, 

 ruled by 300 or more chiefs and kings, who are all 

 vassals of the Muata Yanvo, paying tribute in 

 ivory, skins, corn, cloth, and salt to him and to a 

 queen called the Lukoshesha. The Kalunda im- 

 port textile goods, iron ware, and copper from the 

 south and southeast, and export ivory and slaves, 

 trading with Arab slave-dealers from the east and 

 with the Portuguese on the west. When the 

 Congo State proposed to establish its power in 

 this region and erect a station called the Eastern 

 Kwango, the Portuguese Government objected, 

 asserting that Lunda was within the limits of 

 its sphere. An arrangement was reached by 

 direct negotiation between the two govern- 

 ments whereby the eighth parallel of south lati- 

 tude forms the southern boundary of the terri- 

 tory of the Congo State as far as its intersection 

 of the Kassai, beyond which it follows the right 

 bank of that river. This divides Lunda, leaving 

 the greater part to Portugal. 



A difficulty seemed likely to arise between the 

 Congo State and Great Britain in relation to the 

 right to another powerful native state in the 

 same part of Africa. Msiri's kingdom of Garen- 

 ganze or Katanga, occupying the country be- 

 tween the Luapala and the Lualaba, the head 

 streams of the Congo, to the west of Lake Bang- 

 weolo and Lake Moero, is an elevated region of 

 mountains and table-lands, one of the few spots 

 in the territory assigned to the Congo State t hat- 

 is suitable for European colonization. This coun- 

 try is known to abound in copper, and is sup- 

 posed to be very rich in gold and other minerals. 

 When the British South America Company un- 

 dertook to annex to the British Empire the vast 

 region reaching from the Transvaal to the great 

 lakes, relying chiefly on gold discoveries for re- 

 payment of the expense, this promising mineral 

 district offered much better returns than the 

 neighboring territory in Nyassaland to which 

 England made good her title. Although it was 

 plainly included in the limits of the Congo State 

 secured by the general act of the Congo, Joseph 

 Thomson and other British emissaries visited the 

 country in 1890 and 1891 for the purpose of ac- 

 quiring territorial treaty rights for what they 

 were worth, and, what was of more importance, 

 mineral rghts that would render the prior claim 

 of the Congo State of little value and lead to the 

 eventual transfer of the country to Great Britain. 

 British activity compelled the Congo Govern- 

 ment to send agents to the same district. A 

 Belgian expedition was sent out in the summer 

 of 1890 to reach Katanga by the Lomami river 

 route. In connection with it, in order to fore- 

 stall the British South Africa Company, an An- 

 glo-Belgian company was formed, under the pat- 



