On this day, 140 years ago, on February 5, 1885 (December 21, 1884 in the lunar calendar), the Congo "Free State" was established and became the private property of King Leopold II of Belgium. The flag of the Congo's "Free State" was established and became the private property of King Leopold II of Belgium. The Congo Free State was established by King Leopold II of Belgium in 1884 AD, and was taken over by the Belgian government in 1908 and became Belgian Congo. In the second half of the 19th century, King Leopold II of Belgium was involved in the competition for the Congo River Basin region amid the frenzy of imperialist powers carving up Africa. In 1878, Leopold raised funds to establish the "Upper Congo Research Committee"(reorganized into the "International Congo Association" in 1882) and hired Stanley, the colonial eagle dog, as his agent, and began his aggressive activities to establish a colonial empire in Central and West Africa. In the name of the Belgian branch of the International Congo Society, he signed a five-year agreement with Stanley, stipulating that Stanley should build a 200-mile road east from the mouth of the Congo River to the upper lake area, so that the chiefs of the lower Congo River would recognize and accept the protection of the International African Society. But the Belgian parliament was not interested in the project and was unwilling to allocate funds to the king, so Leopold simply paid out of his own pocket to fund Stanley. Since 1879, Stanley, as an agent of Leopold II, carried out a series of activities in the Congo River Basin, enticing local chiefs to sign more than 450 treaties and establish 22 "trading stations." However, Stanley's activities in Congo were boycotted and opposed by France, Portugal, Britain and other countries. From November 15, 1884 to February 26, 1885, the imperialist powers convened the Berlin Conference to divide up Africa. Leopold took advantage of the conflicts between the great powers to conduct extra-conference deals and won the consent of 15 countries including Britain, France and Germany to transfer the present-day Congo (DRC) region to his personal ownership, known as the "Congo Free State". On April 30, the Belgian Parliament passed a bill recognizing Congo as the king's private territory and agreeing to Leopold II to become king of the Congo Free State. On August 1, Leopold II notified the powers to officially announce the establishment of the Congo Free State. The Berlin Conference divided Leopold's rule, but the boundaries were unclear. This was because at that time, the participants were not very clear about Congo's geography, and many areas were still blank spots that Europeans knew nothing about. In addition, other powers were also very interested in Congo's land and drew a general outline to facilitate their intervention. France and Portugal covet Ubangui and Ronda respectively, while Britain attempts to get its hands on Katanga. Therefore, if Leopold wanted to establish his own independent kingdom, he had to make deals with these opponents. On April 29, 1887 and August 14, 1894, Leopold II signed two agreements with France, delimiting the border between the two sides in the Ubangui region; In May 1891, a contract was signed with Portugal to determine the border between the Congolese Free State and the Portuguese territories of Cabunda and Angola; on May 12, 1894, a treaty was signed with the United Kingdom to delineate the boundary between the Congolese Free State and British Rhodesia. The "Free State of Congo" also wrote the Qing government of my country at that time. In July 1898, it even sent people from thousands of miles to Beijing to sign a trade treaty. Although there are only two clauses, they are one of the earliest treaties signed between my country and black African countries. This matter has been recorded in the annals of my country (see "Qing History Manuscripts¡¤Diplomatic Relations", No. 8). While negotiating with the great powers, Leopold continued to organize many armed expeditions to attack from all directions to effectively occupy the area delineated by the Free State of Congo. Long before the Berlin Conference, the activities of colonial explorers such as Stanley had captured large tracts of land in the lower Congo River for Leopold. As a result, most of the expeditions since then were carried out in marginal areas: the Ubangi-Weere River Basin, the Kasai River-Cuango River Basin, Katanga and areas east of the Lomami River. 1886-1892 In 1979, the Free State sent three expeditions, Van Geer, Bae and Van Kirkhoven, to infiltrate the Ubangi-Weere River Basin. By force, it forced the local chiefs to sign a treaty and accept the rule of the Free State. The Congolese people, based on tribes, stubbornly resisted the colonists. In 1888, the Yakoma warriors defeated the Van Geer Column; in 1891, the Buja defeated the Van Kirkhoven Column and wiped out 60 colonial troops. However, because the tribes were not in contact with each other and fought individually, they were eventually defeated one by one by the colonial army. The occupation of the Kasai River-Cuango River Basin was the responsibility of four expeditions: Wolf, Weisman, Le Marinaire and Van de Vilde. The first three branches inspected the Kasai River and several tributaries between 1885 and 1889, and built several military strongholds such as Luebo, Lulu Fort and Lusambo. The latter branch established the Dongkuanguo River District in 1890. Unlike the Ubangi-River Uére region, which is one of the centers of ancient Congolese civilization, the kingdoms of Kuba, Luba and Lunda still rule these areas despite their weakening. The Belgian conquest was met with resistance, and the resistance of Kasongo, the Kingdom of Lunda, was particularly tenacious. 1885-1900 In 1979, Mwene Putu led the people in heroic struggles and defeated the colonial army many times. In the end, the Belgians used despicable methods of division and disintegration, colluded with the local aristocrats, and killed Mwene Putu, and the conquest was completed. The occupation of Katanga began in 1890. At the end of the year, Le Marinaire set out from the Lusambo stronghold and went to Benkeya, the capital of Damsiri, in April 1891. He proposed to accept the protection of the Congo Free State, which was firmly rejected by Msiri. On April 15, at Leopold's instructions, a group of entrepreneurs established Katanga Company and signed a treaty with the Free State of Congo to occupy and develop Katanga. In exchange, the Free State of Congo owned 1/10 of the shares of Katanga Company. 5-10 In September, the company successively dispatched armed columns led by Steirs and others. On December 20, Steirs 'men killed Msiri. On the 22nd, Msiri's son Banda was made chief and became a puppet of the Belgians. The area east of the Lomami River is dominated by the Arabs. Throughout the 1880s, the Belgians were intimidated by the power of the Arabs and adopted a conciliatory policy, which was nothing more than a delaying tactic. By the end of the 1980s, appeasement work in other regions was nearly completed, and the task of conquering the Arabs was put on the agenda. The Free State of Congo, backed by a powerful colonial army, withdrew its policy of conciliation and imposed an ivory tax. Conflicts between the two sides have intensified and conflicts occur from time to time. In May 1892, the Hodisite expedition brazenly raised the flag of the Free State of Congo in Riba-Riba and engaged in armed conflicts with the Arabs. Almost all the expedition team was wiped out. At this time, the Arabs had 100,000 troops, and the Congo Free State had only 3500 people. The Arabs had an absolute numerical advantage. Gongo Lutetai, the chief of the Tetera people in Ngandu Nad Lomami, was a loyal companion of the Arabs (he was a slave of Tibo Tipu). From 1890 to 1892, Lu Taitai led his own people to bravely fight against the Belgians. At one time, he even coordinated with Cabango of the Kingdom of Luba and defeated the colonial army many times. But in the face of a modern army, the Tatera warriors still failed. In September 1892, Lu Taitai surrendered. The Tetera did not give in. They held three uprisings in 1895, 1897 and 1901. They persisted in the struggle until 1908, dealing a heavy blow to the colonists. As early as 1886, Rumaliza's army clashed with troops from the Free State of Congo. Rumaliza was smart, capable, good at commanding, and deeply loved by the soldiers. The army has strong combat effectiveness and has repeatedly defeated the Congolese Free State army. After 1892, the Free State of Congo dispatched four additional expeditions to jointly encircle and suppress them. After two years of bloody battles, Rumaliza was not driven to German East Africa in March 1894. Although Thipo Tipu returned to Zanzibar in 1890, his main forces remained in Congo, including Saifu (son of Thip) stationed in Kasongo, Rashid (nephew of Thip) in Stanley Falls, Kibang Resudan on the Luaraba River and Chief Nselera of Riba-Riba were all his wings. In May 1892, Encelera eliminated the Hodisite Expedition in one fell swoop. Soon after, Sefou also killed the resident representative of the Free State of Congo in Kasongo. The war broke out in all directions. On April 22, 1893, the important town of Kasongo fell. On October 20, the two sides held a decisive battle on the Lomami River. The Arabs were defeated and Saifu died in the battle. In December 1894, Kibang Reich was defeated and captured. At this point, the Free State of Congo has completed the actual occupation of more than 2 million square kilometers of its land. This was a true military conquest completed through countless bloody battles from beginning to end.