List of colonial governors of the Congo Free State and Belgian Congo
This is a list of European colonial administrators responsible for the territory of the Congo Free State and Belgian Congo (today the Democratic Republic of the Congo).
International Association of the Congo[edit]
Prior to the creation of the Congo Free State, the International Association of the Congo (IAC) had signed treaties with over 300 native Congolese chiefs and in effect exercised sovereignty over a large area of the Congo Basin. The IAC was headquartered in Belgium and run by a committee under the presidency of Maximilien Strauch. Prior to the creation of the office of Administrator-General, authority on the ground in the Congo had been exercised by a Chief of Expedition, who until April 1884 was Henry Morton Stanley.[1]
| Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) |
Term of office | Title | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Took office | Left office | Time in office | ||||
|
Francis de Winton (1835–1901) |
22 April 1884 | 1 July 1885 | 1 year, 70 days | Administrator-General | |
Congo Free State[edit]
Administrators-General / Governors-General[edit]
| Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) |
Term of office | Title | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Took office | Left office | Time in office | ||||
|
|
Francis de Winton (1835–1901) |
1 July 1885 | April 1886 | 9 months | Administrator-General | |
|
Camille Janssen (1837–1926) |
April 1886 | 17 April 1887 | 6 years, 3 months | ||
| 17 April 1887 | 1 July 1892 | Governor-General | [2] | |||
|
Théophile Wahis (1844–1921) |
1 July 1892 | 15 November 1908 | 16 years, 137 days | Governor-General | |
Vice Governors-General / Governors-General[edit]
| Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) |
Term of office | Title | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Took office | Left office | Time in office | ||||
|
|
Camille Janssen (1837–1926) |
25 September 1885 | April 1886 | 6 months | Vice Administrator-General | |
|
Herman Ledeganck (1841–1908) |
31 January 1888 | January 1889 | 11 months | Vice Governor-General | [3] |
|
Henri Gondry (1845–1889) |
January 1889 | 18 May 1889 | 4 months | Acting Vice Governor-General | [4] |
|
Camille Coquilhat (1853–1891) |
1890 | 24 March 1891 | 0–1 years | Vice Governor-General | [5] |
|
|
Théophile Wahis (1844–1921) |
15 April 1891 | 1 July 1892 | 1 year, 77 days | Vice Governor-General | [6] |
|
Francis Dhanis (1861–1909) |
4 September 1896 | 1897 | 0–1 years | Vice Governor-General | |
|
Émile Wangermée (1855–1924) |
11 April 1897 | 1 December 1897 | 234 days | Vice Governor-General | |
|
Alphonse van Gèle (1848–1939) |
1 December 1897 | 10 January 1899 | 1 year, 40 days | Vice Governor-General | |
|
Paul Costermans (1860–1905) |
January 1904 | March 1905 | 1 year, 2 months | Vice Governor-General | |
|
Félix Fuchs (1858–1928) |
25 December 1902 | 4 March 1904 | 1 year, 70 days | Governor-General ad interim | |
| 1907 | 1908 | 0–1 years | Vice Governor-General | |||
|
|
Albert Lantonnois van Rode (1852–1934) |
May 1905 | 1906/7 | 1–2 years | Vice Governor-General | |
Belgian Congo[edit]
Governor-General[edit]
| Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) |
Term of office | Title | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Took office | Left office | Time in office | ||||
|
|
Théophile Wahis (1844–1921) |
15 November 1908 | 20 May 1912 | 3 years, 187 days | Governor-General | |
|
|
Félix Fuchs (1858–1928) |
20 May 1912 | 5 January 1916 | 3 years, 230 days | Governor-General | |
|
|
Eugène Henry (1862–1930) |
5 January 1916 | 30 January 1921 | 5 years, 25 days | Governor-General | |
|
Maurice Lippens (1875–1956) |
30 January 1921 | 24 January 1923 | 1 year, 359 days | Governor-General | |
|
|
Martin Rutten (1876–1944) |
24 January 1923 | 27 December 1927 | 4 years, 337 days | Governor-General | |
|
|
Auguste Tilkens (1869–1949) |
27 December 1927 | 14 September 1934 | 6 years, 261 days | Governor-General | |
|
Pierre Ryckmans (1891–1959) |
14 September 1934 | 31 December 1946 | 12 years, 108 days | Governor-General | |
|
|
Eugène Jungers (1888–1958) |
31 December 1946 | 1 January 1952 | 5 years, 1 day | Governor-General | |
|
|
Léo Pétillon (1903–1996) |
1 January 1952 | 12 July 1958 | 6 years, 192 days | Governor-General | |
|
Hendrik Cornelis (1910–1999) |
12 July 1958 | 30 June 1960 | 1 year, 354 days | Governor-General |
On 1 July 1960, the Belgian Congo became independent as the Republic of the Congo (République du Congo).
See also[edit]
- Colonization of the Congo Basin
- Belgian colonial empire
- Minister of the Colonies (Belgium)
- List of colonial governors of Ruanda-Urundi
- List of presidents of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
- List of prime ministers of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Notes[edit]
- ^ Boulger 1898, pp. 258–59.
- ^ Janssens & Cateaux 1908, p. 20. Janssen continued as an Honorary Governor-General until his death.
- ^ Janssens & Cateaux 1908, p. 163. He left for the Congo on 6 February 1888 and returned to Europe on 19 May 1889.
- ^ Janssens & Cateaux 1908, p. 165. He left for the Congo on 6 January 1889 to replace Ledeganck.
- ^ Janssens & Cateaux 1908, p. 48. He embarked for the Congo on 28 March 1890 and was named Vice Governor-General shortly after his arrival.
- ^ Janssens & Cateaux 1908, p. 28. He was appointed Vice Governor-General on 19 November 1890, but did not arrive to take over his post until 15 April 1891.
References[edit]
- Boulger, Demetrius Charles (1898). The Congo State: Or, The Growth of Civilisation in Central Africa. London: W. Thacker & Co.
- Gann, Lewis H.; Duignan, Peter (1979). The Rulers of Belgian Africa, 1884–1914. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
- Henige, David P. (1970). Colonial Governors from the Fifteenth Century to the Present: A Comprehensive List. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
- Janssens, Édouard; Cateaux, Albert (1908). Les Belges au Congo: notices biographiques. Antwerp: J. van Hille-De Backer.