belgian congo

So this is a question that's been rattling around in my head for a while now. What exactly caused the Congo to become even more impoverished? It is very rich in natural resources, with a large-enough population, so what was stopping a government from forming that would utilize its resources...

Let's say that the Belgian Revolution of 1830 fails and the areas of IOTL Belgium remain part of the Netherlands to this day. Fast forward to the 1880s and the Scramble for Africa gets under way. Without Belgium's King Leopold II to claim the Congo as his personal property, which European...

I challenge you to write an ucronia where Lumumba survives and becomes president of the Congo. Would he alienate himself with the eastern bloc? If so, would you support socialist movements? Would the Soviet Union be your main buyer of uranium? Or maybe Lumumba would be a Gaddafi in terms of...

If we assume that Britain got very drunk or somehow was otherwise convinced to accept the Flahaut Plan, thus dividing Belgium up into pieces, what could we reasonably expect to befall Africa, if there's no Berlin Conference due to King Leopold deciding to own the single biggest region in Africa...

when the kongo free state was confiscated from king Leopold, the belgian government stopped trade from the territory while they got things sorted. This upset Britain and France, who had let Belgium (and Leopold) have the colony as long as the major powers were allowed to trade. So when belgium...

In an alternate history novel called "Heart of Darkness" the Belgian colonial Empire in the Congo and West Timor is depicted like a looting and brutal empire committing horrible crimes against humanity against the native peoples. While Belgium certainly committed many wrongs in its empire, it...

Let's suppose Leopold II dies young. He was the driving force behind colonial ambition as, in his day, the Belgian government itself was uninteresed in colonial adventures. Eventually, Belgium inherited Congo from him anyway. Without him, no Belgian Congo. So the question is: what happens to the...

Pretty much what the title says. I understand that this is highly unlikely because of how profitable the colony was for Leopold, but could it be possible for Belgium to sell their Congo territories to another country? What conditions might lead to the sale? Who might some potential buyers be...