The Compagnie de Chemin de fer du Katanga (CFK) was a railway company in the Congo Free State and Belgian Congo between 1902 and 1952. It held the railway concession that linked the port of Bukama on the navigable section of the Lualaba River through the mining region and the town of Elisabethville (Lubumbashi) to Sakania, where it connected with the Rhodesian railway network. Operations were subcontracted to the Compagnie du chemin de fer du bas-Congo au Katanga (BCK).
The Compagnie du Katanga was founded in 1891 to explore the southeast of the Congo Free State. Under agreements of March 1891 and May 1896 the company was to occupy and develop Katanga, and in return gained full ownership of 1/3 of the land in Katanga Province and a 99 license to exploit the minerals in the granted land. Given the difficulty of determining the land boundaries, in 1900 the Compagnie du Katanga and the Congo Free State created the Comité Spécial du Katanga (CSK) to manage all the territory, with profits shared between the Compagnie du Katanga (1/3) and the Free State (2/3).[1]
Katanga had huge mineral potential but was completely isolated from the ocean. Railways were needed to carry exports to overseas markets. To the south, railways were built from South Africa to Bulawayo in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), and from Mozambique to Salisbury (Harare) in Rhodesia, a link from Bulawayo to Salisbury was started and a northern extension was planned.[1]
Creation
Railways in the Congo
The Comité Spécial du Katanga (CSK) created the Compagnie de Chemin de fer du Katanga (CFK) on 11 March 1902.[1][2] It had a capital of 1,000,000 francs. The Congo Free State held 2,400 shares and the businessman and industrialist Robert Williams held 1,600 shares. Théodore Heyvaert was president and Robert Williams was vice-president. The CFK was to build links to the region where the city of Elisabethville (Lubumbashi) would be founded. It would create a line from the south of Katanga and a point to be defined between a confluence of the Lufira and the Lualaba where it would connect to the Rhodesian network.
History
The Commandant Alphonse Jacques, future general and Baron de Dixmude, led an expedition in 1903 to find a route linking the navigable part of the Lualaba to the southern border of Katanga. He decided against using the Lufira valley, and recommended the port of Bukama on the Luulaba as the terminus of the line. The line would pass through what became Elisabethville (Lubumbashi) and connect to the Rhodesian railway at Sakania.[1]
On 31 October 1906 the CSK, the Congo Free State and the Société Générale de Belgique founded the Compagnie du chemin de fer du bas-Congo au Katanga (BCK) to build a rail link from Bukama to Port Franqui on the Kasai River and to carry out mining research in a defined area. Jean Jadot, who had built the 2,215 kilometres (1,376mi)Beijing–Hankou railway in China, was made managing director. The BCK controlled the CFK on behalf of the government. BCK was responsible for all the track in Katanga, and operated the network and equipment as a whole, while CSK owned the concession.[1]
Bobb, F. Scott (2010), "Railways"(PDF), Historical Dictionary of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (3ed.), Scarecrow Press, ISBN978-0-8108-6325-5, retrieved 2021-03-31
Sir Robert Williams, 1st Baronet, was a Scottish mining engineer, pioneering explorer of Africa, entrepreneur, and railroad developer who was chiefly responsible for the discovery of the vast copper deposits in Katanga Province and Northern Rhodesia.
Rail transport is provided in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer du Congo (SNCC), the Société commerciale des transports et des ports (SCTP) (previously Office National des Transports until 2011), and the Office des Chemins de fer des Ueles (CFU).
The Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Zaïrois (SNCZ) was the state railway company in Zaire formed in 1974 by combining several privately owned railways. It suffered from lack of maintenance of the tracks and rolling stock, weak management, and external factors such as the Angolan Civil War and the collapse of the economy of Zaire under President Mobutu Sese Seko. Despite two projects funded by the World Bank, it had virtually ceased to function by the 1990s. It was replaced in 1995 by the short-lived private company SIZARAIL, which in turn was replaced by the present Société nationale des chemins de fer du Congo.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Luapula-Moero District was a district of the pre-2015 Katanga Province in the Belgian Congo and Democratic Republic of the Congo. It roughly corresponded in area to the present Haut-Katanga Province.
The Compagnie du chemin de fer du Congo supérieur aux Grands Lacs africains was a Belgian railway company established in 1902 in the Congo Free State, later the Belgian Congo, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It provided service in the eastern part of the colony south of Stanleyville (Kisangani) to serve the settlers and mining operations in Katanga. It operated a combination of river steamer service along the Lualaba River and railway links where the river was not navigable, including a link to Lake Tanganyika. In 1960 it became the Société congolaise des chemins de fer des Grands Lacs.
The Compagnie du Congo pour le Commerce et l’Industrie (CCCI) was a private enterprise in the Congo Free State, later the Belgian Congo and then the Democratic Republic of the Congo, whose subsidiaries engaged in a wide range of activities in the Congo between 1887 and 1971. These included railway and river transport, mining, agriculture, banking, trading and so on. It was the largest commercial enterprise in the Congo for many years. It went through various mergers in the years that followed before its successor Finoutremer was liquidated in 2000.
The Compagnie du chemin de fer du bas-Congo au Katanga (BCK) was a railway operator in the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo and later in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zaire. Most of the lines were in the southern Katanga Province, with links to the Kasai River for transport of mineral exports down to Kinshasa and onward to the port of Matadi, and a link to the Angolan railway network for transport to Lobito on the Atlantic.
The Société des Chemins de fer Léopoldville-Katanga-Dilolo (LKD) was a railway concession owner in the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo. The network was built, maintained and operated by the Compagnie du chemin de fer du bas-Congo au Katanga (BCK).
The Société des Chemins de fer Katanga-Dilolo-Léopoldville (KDL) was a railway concession owner in the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo. The network was built, maintained and operated by the Compagnie du chemin de fer du bas-Congo au Katanga (BCK).
Jean Jadot (1862–1932) was a Belgian railway engineer who became a leading banker in the early 20th century.
The Special Committee of Katanga was a parastatal body created in 1900 by the Congo Free State and the Compagnie du Katanga. At first it was responsible for administering the huge Katanga Province on behalf of the Free State and for exploiting the province's mineral resources. Mineral exploration and mining were soon delegated to separate companies. After the Belgian Congo took over from the Free State in 1908, the CSK handed over its administrative powers to the provincial government. However, as a parastatal it remained responsible for many aspects of development in Katanga until independence in 1960, when it was dissolved.
Tanganyika Concessions Limited was a British mining and railway company founded by the Scottish engineer and entrepreneur Robert Williams in 1899. The purpose was to exploit minerals in Northern Rhodesia and in the Congo Free State. Partly-owned subsidiaries included the Union Minière du Haut-Katanga (UMHK), which undertook mining in the Katanga portion of the copperbelt, and the Benguela railway, which provided a rail link across Angola to the Atlantic Ocean. Belgian banks eventually took over control of the company. The Angolan railway concession was returned to the state of Angola in 2001.
The Luao River forms part of the boundary between Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is a right tributary of the Kasai River.
The following lists events that happened during 1902 in the Congo Free State.
The Tshilongo River is a river in the southeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Kamatanda is a region just north of Likasi in the Haut-Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It gives its name to an open-pit copper mine, a railway junction, an abandoned airport and a residential area of Likasi.
Odon Jadot was a Belgian railway engineer and administrator. He was responsible for building more than 1,650 kilometres (1,030 mi) of railroad in the Belgian Congo. The lines helped carry copper mined in the Katanga Province to the sea via the ports of Matadi in the Congo, Dilolo in Angola and Beira in Mozambique. They also supported troop movements during World War I (1914–1918) and World War II (1939–1045).
Lambert Paul Jadot was a Belgian civil engineer and executive who was active in railways, mining and other enterprises in China, Canada and the Belgian Congo during the colonial era.
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