French Congo

The French Congo, also known as Middle Congo, was a French colony in Central Africa that at its height covered the present-day Republic of the Congo and parts of Gabon and the Central African Republic. It began on 10 September 1880, when Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza signed a treaty with King Iloo I of the Bateke, creating a protectorate on the north bank of the Congo River. The territory was formally established as the French Congo on 30 November 1882 and confirmed at the Berlin Conference of 1884-85. Its borders with Cabinda, Cameroon and the Congo Free State were fixed by treaties over the following decade. The colonial economy relied on concessions granted to some thirty French companies, which extracted ivory, rubber and timber, often through brutal and near-enslaved labour; most of the companies nevertheless lost money. Gabon was formally attached in 1891, the colony was renamed Middle Congo in 1903, and it was separated from Gabon in 1906 before being reunited within French Equatorial Africa in 1910. Brazzaville, founded by de Brazza, became the administrative centre, while Libreville had served as the earlier capital. The territory's boundaries and institutions passed to the modern Republic of the Congo.