The "French Congo'' during the times of the big concession owning companies 1898 to 1930 Conclusion

Abstract

This paper focuses on the big concession owning companies in the French Congo. The economic development of Congo was slow difficult beginnings occurring later than in other territories of Africa, in colonies with monopoly exploitation rights such as Belgian Cong and in regions with a competitive type of treaty trade system such as West African. The concession owning system was adopted in the hops of drawing Congo out of the slump in which it had been for fifteen years. The colonial power which officially convinced of the potential wealth of the region chose a monopoly rights system of exploitation entrusted to private enterprises. The effects of concession owning exploitation can be better understood if we compile data on the effective companies, that is all those which maintained some operations and made non-negligible profits. The concession owning system was not totally to blame. It indeed promoted the most far fetched, archaic procedures by effecting in the most absurd form the deadlock towards which the metropolitan policy was driving Congo.