Home > 125 years after the General Act of the Berlin Conference > Profit motivations > Expansion of a colonial empire
In order to economically exploit Congo Free State, railways were costructed. One of the first railway lines was built between Matadi and Leopoldville (Kinshasa), because the Congo river was unnavigable in this area and in order to connect the inland to the Atlantic Ocean. Later, the waterfalls and the rapids around Stanleyville (Kisangani) were also bypassed, and Elisabethville (Lubumbashi) too was connected to the international railway network. With the discovery of the natural resources of Katanga and the creation of the big minings, the rest of Katanga and of the country was also economically exploited via the railways. Map of the railway network in Belgian Congo, s.d.
NAB, Archives Charles de Broqueville, no. 265.
NAB, Archives Charles de Broqueville, no. 265.
