Belgian ] INFLUENCE OF FOREIGN CAPITAL 103 Congo > ber 29, 1889, and the Compagnie du Katanga ( April 15 , 1890) , the last of which organized three expeditions to counteract Mr. Rhodes's schemes of expansion. Two other companies were also formed a few years later — the Compagnie du Lomami ( July 5 , 1898 ) , and the Süd-Kamerun-Gesellschaft (December 8 , 1898 ) .

After the Free State passed into the hands of the Belgians in 1908 , a new impetus was given to com mercial enterprise, and there were formed the Com pagnie Internationale de Transport au Stanleypool (Citas) , the Inter-tropical Anglo-Belgian Trading Com pany, and the Banque du Congo Belge ( January 11 , 1909 ) . After King Albert's accession, activity in this direc tion increased , and there were formed in quick succes sion the Société des Recherches des Minières du Bas Katanga (June 29, 1910) to prospect in Katanga, the Société d'Alimentation, du Bas-Congo (August 1 , 1910) , the Société Industrielle et Financière du Katanga (November 15, 1910) for prospecting , the Société des Pétroles du Congo (December 13, 1910) , and the Com pagnie Maritime Belge du Congo (January 1 , 1911 ) . These are also daughter companies of the Compagnie du Congo, and nearly all have been successful. In Katanga this group stood in 1913 in opposition to that of the British concession-holder, Mr. Robert Williams ( Tanganyika Concessions, Ltd. ) . In 1902 the Compagnie du Congo took shares in the founding of the Great Lakes Railway Company, and in 1906 it took shares in the Union Minière du Haut-Katanga. In 1911 it widened its activities, taking shares in the Société des Mines du Djoue (French Equatorial Africa) and in a Dutch East Indies exploiting company. Much pioneer work stands to its credit, in general develop ment, in railway construction, and in cattle-breeding, and it can claim to have held Katanga for Belgium.

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