The Compagnie du Katanga was a concession company of the Congo Free State that engaged in mining in the Katanga Province. [1]
The Compagnie du Katanga was a concession company of the Congo Free State that engaged in mining in the Katanga Province. [1]
The company was founded by Leopold II in 1891 to occupy part of the Free State in order to dissuade a British claim on the land. [2] It was formed by the Compagnie du Congo pour le Commerce et l'Industrie (CCCI) and a group of English investors. [3] The company received 99-year mineral exploitation right on one third of the land and preferential rights for twenty years on the remainder. The company explored the area and found rich deposits of copper. [2]
In 1899 the company and the Free State government formed the Comité Special du Katanga (CSK) to administer the whole province, with its own police force. In many ways the CSK was independent of the administration at Boma and reported directly Brussels. The CSK hired Robert Williams of Tanganyika Concessions (TCL) to prospect for minerals. In 1906 the Compagnie du Katanga, the CSK and the TCL formed the mining company Union Minière du Haut-Katanga (UMHK). [2]
Katanga was one of the four large provinces created in the Belgian Congo in 1914. It was one of the eleven provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between 1966 and 2015, when it was split into the Tanganyika, Haut-Lomami, Lualaba, and Haut-Katanga provinces. Between 1971 and 1997, its official name was Shaba Province.
The Union Minière du Haut-Katanga was a Belgian mining company which controlled and operated the mining industry in the copperbelt region in the modern-day Democratic Republic of the Congo between 1906 and 1966.
The Banque du Congo Belge (1909-1960), Banque Belgo-Congolaise also known as Belgolaise (1960-2012), Banque du Congo (1960-1971), Banque Commerciale Zaïroise (1971-1997), and Banque Commerciale Du Congo all refer to a banking group that operated mainly in the Belgian Congo from 1909 to 1960, the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville) from 1960 to 1964, the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1964 to 1971, Zaire from 1971 to 1997, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1997 to 2020, going through a number of reorganizations over more than a century. In 2012, Brussels-based Belgolaise was wound down by its then owner Fortis Group, and in 2020, Kinshasa-based BCDC merged with Equity Bank Congo (EBC) to form Equity Banque Commerciale du Congo.
The Compagnie du Kasai was a Belgian company established to exploit the resources of the Kasai River basin in the Congo Free State. At first it was mainly involved in harvesting wild rubber, but later moved into palm oil and mining.
Alexandre Delcommune was a Belgian officer of the armed Force Publique of the Congo Free State who undertook extensive explorations of the country during the early colonial period of the Congo Free State. He explored many of the navigable waterways of the Congo Basin, and led a major expedition to Katanga between 1890 and 1893.
The Compagnie Industrielle et de Transports au Stanley Pool (CITAS) was a Belgian company involved in transport on the Congo River between 1902 and 1955, in what was first the Congo Free State and then the Belgian Congo, today the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The company evolved from owning a shipyard in Léopoldville (now to providing transport services on the Congo, and then to running a port in Léopoldville.
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 Société anonyme belge pour le commerce du Haut-Congo (SAB) was a private enterprise in the Congo Free State, later the Belgian Congo, that operated a string of trading stations in the Congo River basin, and exported ivory, rubber and other local products. The ruthless treatment of the local people by SAB agents inspired Joseph Conrad to write his 1899 novel Heart of Darkness.
The Bus Bloc, or Bloc de la Busira-Momboyo, was a huge concession in the Congo Free State, later the Belgian Congo, operated by the Société anonyme belge pour le commerce du Haut-Congo (SAB). It covered land along and between the Busira River and Momboyo River. In the early days the SAB exploited the local people ruthlessly in their demands for rubber, and many died.
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 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 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).
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.
Géomines was a Belgian mining company active in the Belgian Congo and then in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was established in 1910, and exploited a large deposit in the southeast of the country to become one of the largest tin producers in the world. It was taken over by Zairetain in 1968.
Cominière was a Belgian holding company active in the Belgian Congo. It was involved in plantations, forestry, mining, railways and other activities. The Congo assets were nationalized when the Democratic Republic of the Congo became independent in 1960. What remained of Cominière was acquired by Lonhro in 1971.
The Compagnie Minière des Grands-Lacs (MGL) was a Belgian mining company active in the Belgian Congo and then in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was established in 1923 and in 1976 merged with other companies into the Société Minière et Industrielle du Kivu (SOMINKI). The company was active in the eastern regions of Maniema and Kivu, with its main center at Kamituga in today's South Kivu. It extracted gold, tin and other minerals.
The Empain group was a loose grouping of companies founded by Édouard Empain (1852–1929) of Belgium and controlled by the Empain family. From 1881 until merging with Schneider & Cie in 1969, the companies engaged in a broad range of activities including tramways, railways, electricity generation, construction and mining. The main areas of activity were Belgium and France, but the group also pursued opportunities in Russia, Egypt, China and elsewhere, and played a large role in the development of the eastern Belgian Congo.
The following lists events that happened during 1891 in the Congo Free State.
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.
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