fme_445968 - BELGIUM - CONGO FREE STATE Médaillette de soldat - Travail et Progrès

BELGIUM - CONGO FREE STATE Médaillette de soldat - Travail et Progrès XF

Not available.
Item sold on our e-shop (2020)
Price : 100.00 €

Type : Médaillette de soldat - Travail et Progrès

Date: 1885-1908

Mint name / Town : Congo

Metal : brass

Diameter : 35,3 mm

Orientation dies : 12 h.

Weight : 22,55 g.

Edge : lisse

Coments on the condition:

Médaille en très bon état de conservation

Obverse

Obverse legend : ÉTAT INDÉPENDANT DU CONGO.

Obverse description : Armes de l’État Indépendant.

Reverse

Reverse legend : TRAVAIL ET PROGRES // H 1146.

Reverse description : Légende circulaire ; en plein champs H 11146 poinçonné.

Commentary

Selon la RBN 1924, cette médaille en cuivre jaune a été initiée par le Décret du 5 août et du 17 novembre 1888. Référencée sous le n° 72 de l’article de A. Mahieu, il s’agit d’une “médaille pour soldat” (cf. planche X, n° 72 et 73).

Historical background

BELGIUM - CONGO FREE STATE

(1885-1908)

Leopold II succeeded his father, Leopold I, to the Belgian throne in 1865. In 1876 Leopold II organized an international association for the development of Central Africa. Three years later, under his patronage, Stanley competed with the French explorer Brazza to acquire rights to the Congo region.. The occupation is mainly pushed towards the southern valley of the Nile. Leopold also wanted to establish a railway network along the Congo River and its tributaries, to create the sources of income essential to the self-financing of the company and the self-management of the conquered territory.. At the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885, representatives of 14 European countries and the United States recognized Leopold's sovereignty over the Congo Free State, which he exercised until 1908. Thanks to the resources of this colony, in particular the rubber crops, the king grew considerably richer and many buildings or monuments in Brussels were built.. Following an international campaign led by the British to denounce the brutal and inhuman treatment of the local populations by the colonials, the position of the king becomes untenable and he is forced in spite of himself to cede the sovereignty of the Congo to the Belgian nation.. The Belgian government renames the territory "Belgian Congo".