The White Congolese consisted of European and White American settlers during the times of the Congo Free State and Belgian Congo. Though the majority of them were Belgian, a variety of European nationalities were present. Most were temporary workers, but there was a small population of true colonists and multi-generational families that numbered between 2,500 to 3,000 people. During the Congo Crisis, nearly all White people had fled to Europe and the neighboring African nations, though a large portion had remained in the breakaway state of Katanga where Belgium had retained control until 1963. After which primarily White missionaries had remained in or returned to the independent Congo.

History

In 1878, Leopold II deployed explorer Henry Morton Stanley under the International Association of the Congo to further his interests in the region. The Berlin Conference legitimised Leopold's rule in the Congo leading to the creation of the Congo Free State in 1885.

European settlement in the Belgian Congo is tied to the creation of the Belgian colonial empire. During the existence of the Congo Free State, the European population was estimated at 1,500. There was 120 Belgian officers in the Force Publique in 1892 and 170 (of which 132 died) European workers were brought in during the construction of the Matadi–Leopoldville railway between 1889 and 1898. In 1901, 958 Whites were recorded.

Following the formation of the Belgian Congo, there was 6,266 Europeans in 1918 of which 3,263 were Belgian. The White population was at 25,179 in 1925. It plummeted to 17,000 in 1930 and dropped again in 1934 to 11,000. Prior to World War II, in 1938 the population was at 23,000. During the German invasion of Belgium in 1940, the European population in the Congo was at 29,791 with another 1,404 in Ruanda-Urundi. Post-World War II, European settlement steadily increased until 1960. In 1947, Europeans only numbered 24,000, but grew to 112,759 by 1958. By the end of 1959, the White Congolese population was 115,157 which included 1,900 agricultural settlers and technicians.

The Europeans fell into two groups: the colons, genuine settlers and the coloniaux, the colonial Europeans who came to Africa for temporary employment, working for either large private companies, for the state as civil servants, or with religious organizations as teachers and missionaries. The colons were a minority, numbering somewhere between 2,500 to 3,000 people while the coloniaux formed the vast majority of Whites in Belgian Congo with their numbers over 100,000 by 1959.

Decline

Just 5 days after the Congo's independence on June 30, 1960, Congolese soldiers mutinied against their White officers and within 11 days violence and looting became widespread in the country. Though acts of violence towards White civilians occurred across the country, some events were exaggerated which led to mass hysteria. Not soon after the White Congolese began to flee to Europe and into the neighboring countries. The first White casualties occurred on July 9 with the murder of five Europeans and an Italian consul in Elisabethville. The violence and collapse of the Congolese government fueled Belgian intervention and on the following day, July 10, Belgian paratroopers invaded Congo. Soon after, Katanga seceded on July 11. During this time, Belgian troops prevented White technicians and administrators from fleeing Katanga and facilitated the return of other White Congolese.

Whites in Leopoldville fled to Brazzaville, those in and around Thysville fled into Portuguese Angola, and those in the eastern provinces fled into Ruanda-Urundi, Uganda, Kenya, or Tanganyika. Some also fled to South Kasai and Katanga where Belgium was able to maintain order, thought many of the women and children fled into the Rhodesias while their husbands stayed behind. It's estimated that about 10,000 refugees, mainly women and children, had entered the Central African Federation within the first few days.

The Belgian government diverted Sabena aircraft to evacuate citizens, while other large-scale airlift operations were conducted by the Netherlands, France, Italy, and Portugal. Around 40,000 white refugees had fled within a two week period in July 1960.

The White communities in other African colonies took them in as refugees. Approximately 5,000 fled to the Rhodesias between 1961 and 1965. South Africa notably set up a trust that provided aid with the purpose of coordinating a pathway for refugees to permanently settle there. The South African government paid for their travel, lodging, food and organized employment for them, and even South African citizens allowed them to live with them. South Africa sent recruiters to Salisbury, Nairobi, Bulawayo, Luanda, and Brazzaville to assist and convince the White Congolese to settle in South Africa. A "considerable" number of refugees that did want to immigrate were Italians, Greeks, Cypriots, and Maltese, but they were considered "undesirable" as mentioned by the South African High Commissioner in Salisbury, Harold Taswell.

Most refugees generally had a lukewarm response to the South African aid, with many returning to either Europe or to Katanga due to "contractual obligations," while some turned the aid down due to pride. Of the refugees that stayed in South Africa, their experiences were mixed due to issues with employment. Doctors, lawyers and engineers needed to obtain a South African degree to be able to be employed. Farmers who specialized in tropical climates were unable to apply their skills and struggled to find suitable land without major capital investment. Other sectors were also difficult for refugees to break into either due age or language barriers, and ultimately many had to take jobs that weren't related to their qualifications. In addition the South African wage was not comparable to Congolese one. Only about a fifth of these refugees would remain in South Africa, mostly with the hope of eventually returning to Congo.

It was common for the refugees to abuse the South African aid system with some treating the experience as a holiday while others racked up copious amounts debt before returning to Belgium. Despite all the effort that South Africa put into encouraging them to stay, they stopped provided aid by the end August 1960, with the aid organizations and South African citizens wanted them returned. It's estimated that 2,342 White Congolese refugees had entered South Africa by the end of 1960, but only 748 had applied for residence. 5.5 million rands in today's currency had been spent by South Africa through this endeavor.

In 2008, there was around 30,000 former colonials in Belgium.

As of 2024, 2,746 Belgian citizens reside in the Congo.

Katanga Katanga was an economically prominent region of the Belgian Congo that was dominated by colonial enterprises, such as the Union Minière du Haut-Katanga. It owned between 40% to 50% of Congo's enterprises in 1959. Between 1910 to 1920, the mines and railroads in Katanga employed White workers, but in 1920, they challenged the colonial administration by forming an illegal trade union. After a prolonged and sometimes violent struggle, the movement was broken apart and then quashed by the Great Depression. Migrant African workers would be brought in to work the mines and railroads, usually a period of three to twelve months and then forced to return to their original homes.

In 1960, the State of Katanga broke-away from the Republic of Congo. At this time Katanga was very urban with miles of roads and railways, self-sustaining agriculture, and had a much higher income than the rest of the country due to its economy revolving around mining. Katanga also had a larger White population, numbering 33,918 in 1960 or 2.08% of the total population of Katanga and a third of all Whites in the Belgian Congo. In 1962, Irish diplomat Conor Cruise O'Brien wrote that there was about "30,000 or so" Europeans in Katanga.

The White Katangese were a unique subgroup of settlers in the Belgian Congo. They came from skilled and professional classes, and were much more attached to province than settlers up north. They were hostile to the central government who they felt encroached on Katanga's status. The White Katangese were also close to the White communities in Rhodesia and other nearby African countries. Early separatists plans included forming a union with the white-minority governments of Rhodesia, Nyasaland, South Africa, Angola and Mozambique as a "barrier to black Africa."

Prior to the breakaway, in 1957 settlers set up political parties that defended against native nationalism. The Union pour la Colonisation du Katanga (Union for the Colonization of Katanga, UCOL-Katanga), founded in 1944, was a White settler organization and advocacy group turned political party, with the purpose of "securing for the White population of Katanga the liberties granted by the Belgian constitution, and to promote, by all available means, the growth of European colonization." Another was the Union Katangaise a European party which favored a "Belgian-Katangese community," and White settlement. Both parties wanted to build permanent White populations similar to South Africa, but they were not popular and thus co-opted a message that would align their aims with the native Congolese.

Katanga seceded under the leadership of CONAKAT, a pro-European, African political party that was supported by UCOL-Katanga, the Union Katangaise, and professional elites which included businesses, lawyers, and influential European residents. Kataganda's president Moïse Tshombe, had White advisers and colleagues who he consulted during the secession and brought in European and White African mercenaries. Despite Belgium's support for Katanga, it never officially recognized the state.

Economic Activities Belgian authorities wanted to pursue an elitist colonization and discouraged large scale immigration of settlers, especially poor Whites, instead mainly sending skilled workers. The large-scale industries in the colony, like mining and agriculture, struggled with indigenous labor shortages, but were against bringing more White settlers. Between the 1930s and 1950s there was a small movement in favor of independent, White-run businesses, especially in the farming sector, but this barely influenced the government. It was only during the last fifteen years of the colony that Belgian colonial authorities began to facilitate these small businesses. By 1956 there was 9,362 independently run White businesses, but settlers were largely neglected by government which favored the large companies. In 1959, close to half of all settlers worked in private enterprises followed by smaller numbers that worked as civil servants, farmers, and missionaries.

Demographics Initially, Belgians only made up a plurality of Europeans in the Belgian Congo, at 40% in 1890. As colonial enterprises grew, so did the number of Belgian settlers, where they numbered between 56% and 65% of all Europeans through the years. At their peak in 1959 they made up close to four-fifths of all Whites. Belgians made up 0.08% of the total Congolese population in 1925 and 0.6% in 1959. With non-Belgian Whites included, these numbers raise to 0.13% in 1925 and 0.8% in 1959. The non-African population in the Belgian Congo in 1959 was recorded as: 87,736 Belgians, 5,361 Portuguese, 3,718 Italians, 3,483 Greeks, 2,380 French, 2,674 British, 2,030 Americans, 1,357 Dutch, 825 Swiss, and 539 Luxembourgers. Smaller numbers of other White settlers were also present.

The early White population was disproportionately young men with adult women only being 21% of the settler population in 1925. The Belgian authorities were convinced that celibacy would lead to greater profitability and limited the immigration of women until 1947. This number of women gradually increased to 35% in the 1950s and was at 46% by 1960.

Luxembourgers