Congo Timeline
Category: Other
Updated: 13 Nov 2017
Contributors
Created byDaniel Medina
Attachments
Events
Bantu people migrated into the region in the 5th century the first time, then again in the 10th centuryThe Kongo Kingdom running along the river was established in the late 1300’sBantu speaking people arrived in the Congo around 1000 BCIn the 1480’s a portuguese explorer was the first European to make contact with the Kongo. European involvement increased over the next 4 centuries.In 1874-77 Henry Morton (british explorer) explored the length of the Congo River and then returned to Europe with reports of the potential wealth to be gained from there.In 1874-77 Henry Morton (british explorer) explored the length of the Congo River and then returned to Europe with reports of the potential wealth to be gained from there.The Congo Free State was recognized under King Leopold II by European powers in 1885 during Conference of Berlin.Reacting to the outcries against the slavery of the Congolese, Belgian parliament took over Congo Free State and renamed it the Belgian Congo in 1908.The Republic of the Congo gained its independence from Belgium on June 30, 1960.First national election winner, Patrice Lumnmba, member of the first nation-wide party, Congolese National Movement, was killed by secessionists on January 16, 1961.The UN sent peacekeepers to the Congo to help the country resist Belgian troops. Belgium was asked to withdraw, but a number of secessionists, from foreigners to Congolese, fought the UN for control. July 1960-June 1964.Mobutu made himself president in November, 1965, and was elected officially in national elections in November, 1970.Mobutu changed the country’s name to Zaire, and foreign interests were nationalized. 1971-1973.Most nationalized property was returned to former owners in 1975.Mobutu was reelected in December 1977.Zairian rebels attempted to raid the Katanga region of Zaire, but were repelled with assistance from French and Belgium from 1977 to 1978.Mobutu allowed legislative elections for the first time in 1982, although the formation of opposing parties still were not allowed.In 1990, Mobutu declared the Third Republic, and promised multi-party elections. However, a number of countries cut off aid to Zaire after some protesting students were killed by government fighters.Initially, the Kongo people exchanged ivory and copper objects they made with luxury goods of Portuguese.[ But, after 1500, the Portuguese had little demand for ivory and copper, they instead demanded slaves in exchange.The settled Portuguese in São Tomé needed slave labor for their sugarcane plantations, and they first purchased labor. Soon thereafter they began kidnapping people from the Kongo society and after 1514, they provoked military campaigns in nearby African regions to get slave labor.Along with this change in Portuguese-Kongo people relationship, the succession system within Kongo kingdom changed under Portuguese influence, and in 1509, instead of the usual election among the nobles, a hereditary European-style succession led to the African king Afonso I succeeding his father, now named João I.The slave raids and volume of trade in enslaved human beings increased thereafter, and by the 1560s, over 7,000 slaves per year were being captured and exported by Portuguese traders to the Americas.The Kongo people and the neighboring ethnic groups retaliated, with violence and attacks, such as the Jaga invasion of 1568 which swept across the Kongo lands, burnt the Portuguese churches, and attacked its capital, nearly ending the Kingdom of Kongo.From the 1570s, the European traders arrived in large numbers and the slave trading through the Kongo people territory dramatically increased.The weakened Kingdom of Kongo continued to face internal revolts and violence that resulted from the raids and capture of slaves, and the Portuguese in 1575 established the port city of Luanda (now in Angola) in cooperation with a Kongo noble family to facilitate their military presence, African operations and the slave trade thereof.The Kingdom of Kongo and its people ended their cooperation in the 1660s.1665, the Portuguese army invaded the Kingdom, killed the Kongo king, disbanded his army, and installed a friendly replacement in his place.In 1991, Mobutu fired his Prime Minister, who opposed him. Western nations thus cut all ties and pulled their citizens from Zaire.From 1996-1997, the Tutsi rebels, with the help of Rwanda, take control of the capital and a large portion of eastern Zaire.In July, 1999, a ceasefire is signed, but the fighting continues.In 2002, DR Congo reached separate peace deals with Rwanda and Uganda, but some troops still remain.In April, 2003, a new constitution was signed, which placed a “provisional” government.May 30, 2003 marks the day the UN voted to send a “multinational peacekeeping force” into DR Congo.On July 30, 2016, millions of ballots were cast in the first multi-party parliamentary and presidential elections since DR Congo became independent from Belgium.Periods
Before ImperialismDuring ImperialismAfter Imperialism
Comments