Congo​-Cn-fa09



**__Congo ​​__** ​ Congo was First colonized by the king of the Belgians, Leopold II, in the late 1870's. A man named Henry M. Stanley then founded the Congo river. Leopold made sure to tell Stanley that he founded Congo first. Stanley then made many treaties with African rulers of surrounding countries which gave Leopold sovereignty in many other areas. The king held a ceremony to let people know about the boundaries that were going to be comming into effect. The king needed money so he got loans from the Belgian Parliament and bought land that was unowned. This gave him control of the rubber and ivory trade. He then sold some of this land to their colonies to build roads and railroads so that he could gain more money. Many European companies set up in Congo and many Africans signed up for the labor force to start working. Many of the work areas were mining places. Christian missionaries that came to help raised the education level and also brought better health supplies.  Simon Kimbangu, who was educated by protestant missionaries, came to Congo and formed a movement and named himself a prophet and a healer. He was then jailed because people were afraid that the Africans would then follow his ideas and opress the European rule. Antoine van Bilsen elected a 30 year plan for Congo to gain independence. The new president offered Africans the choice to vote in upcoming elections on full independence. His plan worked and Congo then became independent on June 30th 1960. Belgians then brought on ethnic and personal dissagreements. Attacks were then set on Belgian communities in the Congo for dissagreeing with the president. The prime minister at that time was dethroned and Congo was split into four parts. The four parts then created governments and also made relations with other countries. The groups then settled their differences and the country was then named Zaire and came together under one government. Further along in the countries progression the government was changed again to help foreign affairs. Ethnic groups started forming and came together and rebelled. Some were exiled because of this. The rebellion worked and the government was changed but still Mubutu, the president, held a lot of power. Hutu and Tutsi tribes from Rwanda came over fighting and started fighting within people of the Congo thus starting Genocide.

Some political changes of Congo Genocide are that a lot of people were left without health benefits. Many people struggled to stay alive and a lot suffered from diseases. Also, the Government started fighting with the Governments of other nations and also with the people of Congo. The government could then not afford to give people money and this forced people to find their own food and shelter and also forced some to join the army.
 * __Political Changes__**

A lot of children and young adults joined the army in order to get shelter and food. Because of this, many kids were left without an education. This hurt them because they could not work anywhere and many of their friends were educated enough to do so.
 * __Economical changes__**

Many tribes from Rwanda, like the Tutsi and Hutu, came to Congo and started fighting. This caused many people to take sides and also fight along with them. Also many chldren joined the army and did not get a chance to go to school and were uneducated. Much of the population was depleted because of the fighting and many poeple were enraged because they lost family members.
 * __Social Effects__**

One plan that I have is that the Congolese Government should not allow other ethnic groups into the country unless their intent is good. This will prevent any of this from ever happening ever again.
 * __Future plans__**

Another plan for Congo is to have representatives from many regions of the country come together and decide on many of the important decisions to be made. Some of those decisions would be deciding who needs health care and also what groups need supplies for housing and food.

My last plan is to persuade the ethnic groups to stop fighting with each other. This will allow the country to focus on helping many other people and also it will spare many lives and also money that would have went to supporting the war.