French Congo
| French Congo | ||||||||||
| Congo français | ||||||||||
| French colony | ||||||||||
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| Capital | Brazzaville | |||||||||
| Languages |
French (official) Fang, Myene, Kongo, Lingala |
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| Religion | Christianity, Bwiti, Islam, traditional religions | |||||||||
| Political structure | Colony | |||||||||
| History | ||||||||||
| • | Established | 1882 | ||||||||
| • | Renamed Middle Congo | 1903 | ||||||||
| • | Reestablished as French Equatorial Africa | 1910 | ||||||||
| Currency | French franc | |||||||||
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| Today part of |
 Republic of the Congo Central African Republic Gabon
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The French Congo (French: Congo français) or Middle Congo (French: Moyen-Congo) was a French colony which at one time comprised the present-day area of the Republic of the Congo, Gabon, and the Central African Republic.
The French Congo began at Brazzaville on 10 September 1880 as a protectorate over the Bateke people along the north bank of the Congo River, was formally established as the French Congo on 30 November 1882, and was confirmed at the Berlin Conference of 1884–85. Its borders with Cabinda, Cameroons, and the Congo Free State were established by treaties over the next decade. The plan to develop the colony was to grant massive concessions to some thirty French companies. These were granted huge swaths of land on the promise they would be developed. This development was limited and amounted mostly to the extraction of ivory, rubber, and timber. These operations often involved great brutality and the near enslavement of the locals.
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Wikipedia