The Act defining and constituting the Congo Free State was signed by the
International Congo Conference at Berlin, February 26, 1885. The area of
the State is estimated at 1,056,200 square miles, with a population of
27,000,000. While the Congo state is under the sovereignty of the King of
Belgium, the latter country or government has no power or responsibility in
relation to it. The state is divided into four Provinces,--the Lower Congo,
the Upper Congo, Livingstone Falls and the Pool, and the district between
the Pool and Equator. The government is in the hands of an Administrator
General, under whom are a number of white subordinates, chiefs of Provinces
and other officials.
Free commerce, in its widest sense, has been established in the basin of
the Congo, and for a distance of 360 miles along the Atlantic. In this
territory, no import duties can be levied for twenty years, and the Powers
reserve the right to decide if freedom of entry shall be maintained beyond
that period. The principal articles for export are said to be palm oil,
ivory, rubber, gum copal, ground nuts, orchilla weed and cam-wood;
principal imports are textiles, spirits, tobacco, guns and powder. {57}
[Illustration]
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[Illustration]
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