Karema, Tanzania
| Karema | |
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View of the fort built in Karema by the Congo Free State (1883)
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| Nickname(s): Matimila | |
 Karema
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| Coordinates: 6°49′14″S 30°26′20″E / 6.82052°S 30.43887°ECoordinates: 6°49′14″S 30°26′20″E / 6.82052°S 30.43887°E | |
| Country | Tanzania |
| Region | Katavi |
| District | Mpanda |
| Ward | Karema |
| Fort Leopold | 1879 |
| Founded by | Comité D'Études du Haut Congo |
Karema (or Kalema) is a settlement in Tanzania, on the east shore of Lake Tanganyika, once the location of a White Fathers mission station.
Lake Tanganyika lies in the east of the Congo Basin. The slave and ivory trader Tippu Tip founded a private empire along the Upper Congo river to the west of the lake in the 1870s, sending his goods to Zanzibar for sale. Karema lay on one of the routes from the Congo to the east coast of Africa.
The International African Association was created in September 1876, with King Leopold II of Belgium as its President, at the International Geographical Conference in Brussels. The Comité D'Études du Haut Congo was created on 25 November 1878 with the aim of opening up the huge Congo Basin to European exploitation. The Comité was a precursor of the Congo Free State, a private enterprise of King Leopold II.
In 1879 Comité D'Études du Haut Congo occupied Karema, naming it Fort Leopold after King Leopold II of Belgium. In 1882 Captain Émile Storms took command of Karema from Lieutenant J. Becker, whose term of service had expired. Yassagula, chief of the village of Karema, attacked the station soon after Storms arrived. Becker counterattacked with his askaris, put Yassagula's men to flight and destroyed the village. A few months later Yassagula submitted, and from then on was a reliable ally. Becker left the station on 17 November on his homeward journey. Storms strengthened and expanded the post, which was now called Fort Léopold, and started to grow vegetables. He responded to an attack on his couriers with an expedition that defeated the rebel chief on 23 April 1883. However, the German scientist Richard Böhm who accompanied Storms was struck by two bullets in the leg during this action and was laid up for several months. Storms then founded Mpala on the west shore of the lake, opposite Karema, laying the foundations on 4 May 1883.
At the Berlin Conference (1884-1885) the east side of the lake was assigned to the German sphere of influence, including Karema. King Leopold II of Belgium decided to focus his colonizing efforts on the lower Congo. He asked Archbishop Charles Lavigerie, the founder of the White Fathers missionary society, if he would like to replace the Belgian agents by missionaries at the two stations on Lake Tanganyika. Lavigerie accepted.
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Wikipedia