Chapter 6 - Tropical Boom Towns

Summary

Chapter 6 explains how the process of colonisation profoundly altered the ways of life of peoples in the Belgian Congo, Moyen-Congo and Cameroon, through accelerated urbanisation and the pronounced gender imbalance in the cities that resulted from colonial policies. It focuses on Léopoldville, which for a few decades was essentially a labour camp. The chapter ends with a review of how the Stanley Pool, where Léopoldville and Brazzaville were located, has always been the natural terminus for all traffic in the huge River Congo basin, and thus a melting pot of dozens of ethnic groups.