A - French Congo and Gabon 1886–1905

Summary

In 1885 the European opening up of Gabon and Congo had only just begun. Following the first two missions of Savorgnan de Brazza (1876–8 and 1879–82), and the ratification of the Makoko treaties, which recognised the French protectorate over the right bank of the river (the county of the Teke), France had entrusted to the explorer the task of effectively taking control of the territory (1883–5). It was not by chance that the attitude of the population, elsewhere at times hostile to the white conquest, here proved to be on the whole favourable; trade had preceded the flag, and the occupation of the hinterland had immediate economic repercussions. The Kande and the Duma, who had in their hands the monopoly of traffic on the Ogowe, the Teke of the plateau and Stanley (Malebo) Pool, and the Bobangi on the Congo river, had long since left behind the stage of economic self-sufficiency in favour of an economy based on long-distance trade. By 1885 the slave trade had been replaced by a varied trade in goods which were expedited towards the Atlantic coast (ivory, dye-woods, and then rubber). These populations with an outward-looking tradition were thus favourably disposed towards the new economic currents which seemed likely to fit in easily with traditional networks. Some groups immediately made an effort to take advantage of the situation, such as the Teke allies of Brazza, or the Fang on the Ogowe, whose first migration had reached this river in 1879.