White people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Racial and multi-ethnic group

White people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Total population
115,157 in 1959^{[citation needed]}
Languages
Predominantly French and some Dutch, Belgian languages^{[citation needed]}
Religion
Mostly Roman Catholics and a few Protestants, Judaism^{[citation needed]}
Related ethnic groups
Belgians

White Congolese are the people from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who are of European descent and are not part of another racial group.^{[citation needed]}

History

Portuguese explorer Diogo Cão was the first European to discover the Kingdom of Kongo region.^[1]

The white population in the Congo is tied to the creation of the Belgian colonial empire and fluctuated during and after Belgian rule. During the existence of the Congo Free State, the European population was estimated at 1500 people. Following annexation and the formation of the Belgian Congo, that number grew to 17,000 in 1930 but plummeted to 11,000 in 1934. In 1947, the white population was 24,000 and 115,157 in 1959.^[2] The post-World War II white population increased steadily until 1960, when Belgium granted the Republic of the Congo its independence.^{[citation needed]}

White settlers were primarily government officials and missionaries, and disproportionately young men. Belgians made up between 40 and 65 percent of the white population until after World War II. During the existence of the Congo Free State and the early years of the Belgian Congo, the majority of White Congolese were Scandinavian.^[3] Demographics shifted throughout the 1950s. By 1959, 0.9 percent of the total Belgian population lived in the Congo.^{[citation needed]}

Because of the Congo's large land area and population, White Congolese made up only about 0.8 percent of the total population in 1959. Belgian officials discouraged large scale immigration of white settlers to set up small businesses until the final 15 years of the colony's existence.^{[citation needed]}

The White Congolese population contracted after the end of colonization and the Congo Crisis but smaller numbers remained in Zaire and later the Democratic Republic of Congo. White Congolese settlers participated in and supported the secession of the State of Katanga.^{[citation needed]}

White Congolese Belgian nuns were at the center of the 1976 Ebola outbreak at a clinic in Yambuku, with several white health workers becoming fatally ill with the virus.^{[citation needed]}

In 2006, 5,000 people from Belgium and 5,000 people from Greece lived in DR Congo.^[4]

Notable people

Marie Branser (born 1992), German-born naturalized Congolese judoka, 2020 Olympian^{[citation needed]}

References

^ "Embassy of the Republic of Congo in Washington DC > About Congo > History".
^ "Data" (PDF). ageconsearch.umn.edu. 1965. Retrieved 2020-08-25.
^ Vanthemsche, Guy (30 April 2012). Belgium and the Congo, 1885-1980. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521194211 – via Google Books.
^ "GREEKS AROUND THE GLOBE". June 19, 2006. Archived from the original on 2006-06-19.

Vanthemsche, Guy (2012). Belgium and the Congo, 1885–1980. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-19421-1.
Bud, Guy (2020). "The 'Settler Moment' in Belgian Africa: Europeans in the Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi during the Second World War". Journal of Belgian History. 50 (1): 38–58.
"Democratic Republic of Congo Country Profile." Genocide Watch, 1 December 2012.

Ethnic groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Indigenous

Non-indigenous

Chinese
Europeans
- Greek
Jewish

White people

Bold refers to countries, regions and territories in which the majority ethnic group is generally considered to be people of white European descent.

European emigration
by location

Africa	Algeria Angola Botswana Democratic Republic of the Congo Equatorial Guinea Kenya Libya Mauritius Morocco Mozambique Namibia Reunion Senegal Seychelles South Africa Tunisia Zambia Zimbabwe
Asia	China India Pakistan Philippines North Asia Central Asia
North America	Bahamas Barbados Belize Bermuda Canada Caribbean Cayman Islands Costa Rica Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic El Salvador Guatemala Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Panama Trinidad and Tobago United States California Los Angeles San Francisco Hawaii Louisiana Maryland Baltimore Southern United States Puerto Rico Saint Kitts and Nevis
South America	Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador French Guiana Paraguay Peru Suriname Uruguay Venezuela
Oceania	Australia New Caledonia Hawaii New Zealand