Force Publique
Videos
The Force Publique was the military of the Congo Free State and the Belgian Congo from 1885 to 1960. It was established after Belgian Army officers travelled to the Free State to found an armed force
Force Publique soldiers on parade with their Belgian officer in the late 1940s
A Congolese man, Nsala, looking at the severed hand and foot of his five-year-old daughter who was killed, cooked, and cannibalized by members of the Force Publique in 1904.
Force Publique soldiers some time after 1910
The Force Publique, 1928
Congo Arab war
Videos
The Congo Arab war was a colonial war between the Congo Free State and Arab-Swahili warlords associated with the Indian Ocean slave trade in the eastern regions of the Congo Basin between 1892 and 189
Force Publique
…the colony on Leopold II of Belgium's orders. The Force Publique was heavily involved in atrocities in the Congo Free State, and also saw action in the Congo Arab war, World War I and World War II. It was renamed to the Congolese National Army in July 1960 after Congo gained independence from Belgian colonial rule…
A photograph of an enslaved child in Zanzibar c. 1890
Arab East African slave routes c. 1890
Francis Dhanis in the Congo. His better-armed forces defeated Rumaliza, c. 1900
Display of artifacts from the Congo Arab war