History of the Congo (1955-1966)

The Congo was controled by King Leopold II, but because of his harsh ruling, he was forced to give his control over the Congo to Belgium. This was exchange was made in a treaty on November 15, 1908. When the Belgian Government took over the Congolese Administration from King Leopold II, the Congo began improving both socially and economically. Because the Belgian Congo was a colony, the Congolese people were not given the same rights and privelages as the Belgian people. In 1952, the governor-general Leon Antoine Petillon wrote to the Secretary of Colonies, that stated that if nothing was done about the situation in the Congo, Belgium would lose its colony. Leon wanted to give the native people equal rights and privelages to the Belgians. The Belgian government did not support this, and didn't do anything about the unequal rights. This lead to the fomation of lots of groups that wanted to overthrow the Belgian government. In Belgium, members of the Parliament wanted to make sure they kept the Congo in the Belgian Kingdom, so the Congolese people were given the same rights that the Belgian people had. On June 30, 1960, the first elections were opened to the Congolese people. Joseph Kasavibu was elected as President, and the country was finally independent.