Being Colonized: The Kuba Experience in Rural Congo, 1880–1960

6. Fifty Years of Belgian Rule: An Overview

150 6 Fifty Years of Belgian Rule An Overview Once Belgium had taken over Congo and organized its administration in Upper Congo, further developments of the colony often seem to have been so gradual, at least until the last years before independence , that the entire half century is often perceived as a single, rather uneventful era. Indeed, some authors speak of the unfolding of events during those years as a “placid river.” Yet it was not. From the perspective of 2010, one set of events stands out from all the others in Kasai between 1910 and 1959 in that it produced permanent change whereas the others did not. That event was the building of the railway from 1923 to 1928. When one then takes a closer look at the flow of time, one also finds a succession of other lesser trends. After the first years of the takeover came World War I and its sequel (1914–22). After the building of the railway came the Great Depression (1929–39), followed by World War II with its aftermath (1940–47), and then the Age of Welfare (1947–57) before the final run-up to independence. But none of these lesser trends were comparable to the two decisive turning points: the railway and the coming of independence. Clearly one should not handle the fifty Belgian years as a single era, because that completely erases the role the railway played in Kasai’s history , a role so crucial that it cannot be overlooked. Second, that also erases the nuances in the colonial experience that both colonized and colonizer underwent as the periods succeeded one another during this half century. Hence, and in spite of the importance of a thematic approach to colonial history, one also needs a general chronological overview for the history of the Belgian Congo in general. This chapter does that, and therefore the Kuba do not occupy center stage in it. But the chapter focuses on the colonial context overall as a prelude for the following five thematic chapters that are devoted to Kuba experiences during the same period. The Coming of the Railway Years before Belgium took over Congo, the vast mineral wealth of Katanga and parts of Kasai had been recognized, and several well-financed companies were set up in 1906 to exploit it. They represented the decisive investment in the colony by some of the great international holdings. Belgium’s own holding in that league, the Société générale, launched not only the Mining Union for Upper Katanga to exploit Katanga’s minerals but also the Bas-Congo-Katanga (BCK) Railway Company, as it had been appreciated from the start that a railway from Katanga to Matadi was needed in order to export the minerals along a wholly “national” Congolese route rather than to depend on routes running through other colonies. The BCK’s job would be to build and run such a railway. As a result of these financial commitments in 1906, the landscape of Upper Katanga was completely transformed during the 1910s: its first cities appeared, its first industrial scale mines were opened, and its first railroads were built. Still the BCK project was a huge job, so big that the state and the BCK soon decided to build the railway in two stages. A first section was to connect Bukama temporarily to a point on the Kasai River from which freight could be transferred all year round to be shipped to Kinshasa. That section would carry both food and labor from Kasai to the industrial belt and was expected to be immediately profitable. Once this was finished, the second section from that point on the Kasai River to the Lower Congo would follow. But the outbreak of World War I directed Belgian priorities elsewhere, and plans for the BCK railway were put on hold except for further prospecting to find the most appropriate line of rail. After the war, prospecting resumed. By 1922 most of the railroad line had been set out, but Odon Jadot, the engineer in charge of the prospecting team, was dissatisfied with Djoko Punda (Charlesville) as the provisional terminus on the Kasai River, because he questioned whether the water would be deep enough for shipping all year round. Fifity Years of Belgian Rule 151 Up to that point none of the projected railway lines had even come close to the Kuba kingdom, let alone run through...