Abstract
The Congo Free State was constituted and defined by the General Act of the International Congo Conference, signed at Berlin February 26, 1885, by which it was declared neutral and free to the trade of all nations, in conjunction with the rest of the basin of the River Congo. The Powers reserved to themselves, until the end of a period of twenty years, the right of deciding if freedom of entry shall be maintained or not. But an International Conference, which met at Brussels in 1890, authorised the Government of the Free State to levy certain duties on imports. The Congo Free State was placed under the sovereignty of the King of the Belgians individually; but by will dated August 2, 1889, the King bequeathed to Belgium all his sovereign rights in the State. On July 31, 1890, the territories of the State were declared inalienable, and a Convention of July 3, 1890, between Belgium and the Free State, reserved to the former the right of annexing the latter after a period of ten years.
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1. Official
Bulletin officiel de l’Etat Indépendant du Congo.
Convention between Her Majesty and the King of the Belgians in the name of the International Association of the Congo. London, 1885.
Correspondence with Her Majesty’s Ambassador at Berlin respecting West African Conference. London, 1885.
Protocols and General Act of the West African Conference. London, 1883.
2. Unofficial
Alexis (M. G.), Le Congo Belge. Brussels, 1888.
Bentley (Rev. W. H.), Life on the Congo. London, 1887.
Coquilhat (C.), Sur le Haut-Congo. Paris, 1883.
Dupont (E.), Le Congo. Brussels, 1883.
Jeannent, Quatre années au Congo. Brussels, 1889.
Le Mouvement Géographique. Brussels, 1883.
Pechuel-Loesche (Dr.), Kongoland. Jena, 1887.
Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, 1885–90.
Report on the Congo Country, by Mr. W. P. Tisdel, in ‘Reports of Consuls of the United States.’ Nos. 51 and 55. Washington, 1885.
Stanley (H. M.), The Congo and the Founding of its Free State. 2 vols. London, 1885.
Stanley (H. M.), Through the Dark Continent. 2 vols. London, 1878.
Tleys (Capt.), Au Congo et au Kassai. Brussels, 1888.
Van Moesely Etude sur la législature de l’Etat Indépendant du Congo.
Ward (H.), Five Years with the Congo Cannibals. London, 1890.
Wauters (A. J.), Le Congo. Brussels, 1885.
Wissmann (H.), Im Innern Afrikas. Berlin, 1888.
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© 1891 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Keltie, J.S. (1891). Congo Free State. In: Keltie, J.S. (eds) The Statesman’s Year-Book. The Statesman’s Yearbook. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230253209_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230253209_14
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
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