(sold for $10.0)

1947, Belgian Congo. Beautiful Brass 2 Francs "Elephant" Coin. VF-XF!

Mint Year: 1947 Reference: KM-28. Denomination: 2 Francs Condition: Mottled toning, minor contact-marks, otherwise VF-XF!  Diameter: 22mm Weight: 4.94gm Material: Brass

Obverse: African elephant walking left. Legend: 1947 Reverse: Value (2 Fr), flanked by stars. Bi-lingual (French/Dutch) legend around. Legend: BANQUE DU CONGO BELGE . BANK VAN BELGISCH CONGO .

The Belgian Congo was the formal title of present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo   (DRC) between King Leopold II's formal relinquishment of his personal   control over the state to Belgium on 15 November 1908, and Congolese   independence on 30 June 1960.

On 18 October 1908, the Belgian parliament voted in   favor of annexing the Congo as a Belgian colony. This was only after   King Léopold II had given up any hope to maintain a substantial part of   the Congo Free State as separate crown property. The government of the   Belgian Congo was arranged by the 1908 Colonial Charter. Executive power   rested with the Belgian Minister of Colonial Affairs, assisted by a   Colonial Council (Conseil Colonial). Both resided in Brussels. The   Belgian parliament exercised legislative authority over the Belgian   Congo. The highest-ranking representative of the colonial administration   in the Congo was the Governor-general. From 1886 until 1926, the   Governor-general and his administration were posted in Boma, near the   Congo River estuary. From 1926, the colonial capital moved to   Léopoldville, some 300 km further upstream in the interior. Initially,   the Belgian Congo was administratively divided into four provinces:   Léopoldville (or: Congo-Kasaï), Equateur, Orientale and Katanga, each   presided by a vice-Governor-general. An administrative reform in 1932   increased the number of provinces to six, while "demoting" the   Vice-governor-generals to provincial Governors.

The territorial service was the true backbone of the   colonial administration. Each province was divided into a number of   districts (24 in all), and each district into territories (some 120 in   all). A territory was managed by a territorial administrator, assisted   by one or more assistants. The territories were further subdivided into   numerous "chiefdoms" (chefferies), at the head of which the Belgian administration appointed "traditional chiefs" (chefs coutumiers).   The territories administered by one territorial administrator and a   handful of assistants were often larger than a few Belgian provinces   taken together (the whole Belgian Congo was nearly 80 times larger than   the whole of Belgium). Nevertheless, the territorial administrator was   expected to inspect his territory and to file detailed annual reports   with the provincial administration. In terms of jurisdiction, two   systems co-existed: a system of European courts and one of indigenous   courts (tribunaux indigènes). These indigenous courts were   presided over by the traditional chiefs, but had only limited powers and   remained under the firm control of the colonial administration. In 1936   it was recorded that there were 728 administrators controlling the   Congo from Belgium. Belgians living in the Congo had no say in the   government and the Congolese certainly did not either. No political   activity was permitted in the Congo whatsoever. Public order in the   colony was maintained by the Force Publique, a locally   recruited army under Belgian command. It was only in the 1950s that   metropolitan troops—i.e., units of the regular Belgian army—were posted   in the Belgian Congo (for instance in Kamina).

The colonial state—and in fact any authority exercised by whites in the Congo—was often referred to by the Congolese as bula matari. Bula matari ("break rocks") was one of the names originally given to Stanley,   because of the dynamite he used to crush rocks when paving his way   through the lower-Congo region. The term bula matari came to signify the irresistible and compelling force of the colonial state.

When the Belgian government took over the   administration from King Léopold II in 1908, the situation in the Congo   improved in certain respects. The brutal exploitation and arbitrary use   of violence, in which some of the concessionary companies had excelled,   were curbed. The tragedy of "red rubber" was put to a stop. Article 3 of   the new Colonial Charter of 18 October 1908 established that: "Nobody   can be forced to work on behalf of and for the profit of companies or   privates". In reality, forced labour, in differing forms and degrees,   would not disappear entirely until the end of the colonial period.

The transition from the Congo Free State to the   Belgian Congo was a break, but it was also marked by a large degree of   continuity. The last Governor-general of the Congo Free State, Baron   Wahis, remained in office in the Belgian Congo, and the majority of   Léopold II's administration with him. Opening up the Congo and its   natural and mineral riches for the Belgian economy remained the main   motive for colonial expansion, but all the same other priorities, such   as healthcare and basic education, slowly gained in importance.

The Belgian Congo was directly involved in the two world wars. During WWI, an initial stand-off between the Force Publique and the German colonial army in German East-Africa (Tanganyika) turned   into open warfare with a joint Anglo-Belgian invasion of German colonial   territory in 1916 and 1917 during the East African Campaign. The Force Publique gained a notable victory when it marched into Tabora in September 1916   under the command of general Charles Tombeur after heavy fighting.

After the war, Belgium was rewarded for the participation of the Force Publique in the East African campaign with a League of Nations mandate over the   former German colony of Ruanda-Urundi. During WWII, the Belgian Congo   was a crucial source of income for the Belgian government in exile in   London. The Force Publique again participated in the Allied   campaigns in Africa. Belgian Congolese forces under the command of   Belgian officers notably fought against the Italian colonial army in   Ethiopia in Asosa, Bortaï and Saïo under Major-general Auguste-Eduard   Gilliaert during the second East African Campaign.

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