THYS, ALBERT

Albert Thys (November 28, 1849-February 10, 1915), a Belgian military officer, directed the planning, financing, and construction of the first railroad in the Congo Free State (now Zaire). A crucial link between Matadi and the Stanley Pool (now Malebo Pool), the railroad facilitated the opening of the Congo to colonial exploitation and development.

PHOTO CAPTION: Albert Thys. SOURCE: EA Library

The son of a country doctor, Thys was born at Dalhem in the Belgian province of Liège. He was educated at Vise, a town 15 km (9 mi) from Dalhem, and then entered the Amy becoming a corporal in the Seventh Line Regiment in 1865. He was promoted to second lieutenant at the Military Academy in 1870.

In 1872 he joined the Eighth Line Regiment and attended the War College. In 1876, when the Brussels Geographical Conference was held, Thys was promoted to lieutenant and appointed deputy staff officer. On the advice of Col. Viscount Jolly, commander of the Military Academy, the Belgian King Leopold II (reigned 1865-1909), who wanted a suitable officer for his secretariat of Colonial Affairs, selected Thys for the post.

Very knowledgeable about the geography and exploration of Africa, Thys soon gained the respect of King Leopold. Baron Greindl became his immediate superior, and Thys was initiated into the financial and colonial policy of the court, where he had easy access to the monarch. He was entrusted with the detailed preparations for the Brussels Geographical Conference under Banning and Baron Greindl. His passion for hard work made him the obvious choice for the post of acting secretary general of the International African Association, after Baron Greindl resigned and before Col. Strauch was appointed to the post in 1878.

So strong was his dedication to work that in 1877, during his honeymoon in Paris, when he learned that the Anglo-American explorer Henry Morton Stanley (1841-1904) had traced the course of the Congo (Zaire) River, he interrupted the honeymoon to help persuade the explorer to accept an appointment as King Leopold’s agent in Africa.

Thys was promoted to the rank of captain in 1879 when Stanley signed a five-year contract as the representative of King Leopold’s Study Committee of the Upper Congo. This committee aimed to build a railway and a river communications system between the Lower and Upper Congo.

On October 11, 1883, Thys was appointed staff officer to the king and had the opportunity of working closely with him. This relationship proved advantageous in his subsequent career. Stanley had planned to build a railway from Vivi, north of the Zaire River, and Matadi, to Stanley (now Malebo) Pool, but there were financial difficulties. Léopold had to decide whether to use Belgian or British capital for the railway. The initial decision was to form a syndicate in Manchester, England, called the Congo Railway Company, to which the king would entrust the building of the railway. However public opinion in Belgium was against this plan, and it had to be abandoned.

In the meantime, Thys actively canvassed Belgian financiers and businessmen, including members of the Belgian Society of Engineers and Industrialists as well as the Brussels and Antwerp Geographical Societies, for a loan. Once he succeeded in getting Léopold to break the contract with the Manchester company,

Thys was able to collect a million francs for preliminary studies from supporters of the project. By the beginning of October 1886 the railway building enterprise entered its second phase, with the establishment of the Congo Company of Commerce and Industry, which was formally inaugurated on February 9, 1887.

Its aims were “to study, build, and operate the railway linking the Lower Congo to Stanley Pool…and to survey the Upper Congo to find out its commercial value for the future”. These tasks were undertaken by two teams. One, consisting of engineers and topographers under Captain E. Cambier, surveyed the region of the Cataracts, which the proposed railway was to cross.

The other, under the command of A. Delcommune was to assess the commercial value of the Upper Congo and its tributaries. The report advised that the railway should be constructed since the traffic in goods in the Upper Congo was enough to supply the Cataract Railway, whatever its cost might be.

In October 1888 Thys therefore began to organise the Compagnie du Chemin de Fer du Congo (“Congo Railroad Company”), or C.C.F.C. to create trade for the future railway and to prepare economically the areas it was going to serve. In effect, it was one of four commercial companies dealing with the development of the Congo. All four companies had well-defined aims, separate capital, distinct councils of administration in Europe, and their own personnel in Africa. But they had a single board of directors, which depended on a board of directing staff common to them all. They worked with a capital sum of 32 million francs.

In June 1889, a magazine supplement called the “White Brochure” was published, with articles on the Congo railway “from Matadi to Stanley Pool”. This brochure contained the results of the research work, described the plan for the railway, evaluated its operating cost, and estimated the profits to be gained. In conclusion, the engineers cited the need for capital investment of 25 million francs.

German and British financiers agreed to participate in the project on condition that the Belgian government contribute 10 million francs. In spite of Thys’ apprehensions, Prime Minister Beernaert brought the matter before the Belgian Parliament. Legislation approving Belgian participation was adopted, after which the Congo Railway Company was created in Brussels on July 31, 1889, with Thys as its administrator.

The actual building of the railway began in March 1890. From the beginning, problems of climate, topography, recruitment, accident, and illness caused great difficulty. Construction was seriously delayed during the initial stages, and the work proceeded in an atmosphere of disenchantment.

Thys was disappointed by these difficulties. Perhaps it was his promotion to the rank of major on September 25, 1892, which raised his morale. A new and crucial phase was now in sight—the crossing of the Palabala range (east of Matadi)-which was achieved in 1893 with much difficulty. In spite of further problems, for example, heavy rains at the end of 1893, the project still continued. Thys traveled between Brussels and Matadi to encourage those at work.

Early in 1894, when the hardest phase had been completed, the 25 million franc capital had been exhausted. Thys negotiated with a syndicate of bankers and Belgian corporations to guarantee a further loan. In the heat of the financial crisis, it was Thys who again arranged for a loan of 2,500,000 francs from the bankers, who were to be reimbursed in 1895. From that year on, the railway enterprise was out of danger. This was due to the Belgian Parliament’s vote in favor of the Matadi to Léopoldville (now Kinshasa) railway, the introduction of work on the bonus system, and the reorganisation of teamwork.

As a result, the C.C.F.C. managed to inaugurate the first half of the line—the 190 km (120 mi) Matadi to Tumba section—in 1896. It was on March 16, 1898, a memorable date in the history of the Congo Free State, that the first train arrived at the end of the line at Ndolo, Léopeldville, amidst indescribable rejoicing. The official inauguration took place on July 6 of the same year at Léopoldville.

The railway created many problems for Belgians and Africans alike, but served a useful purpose. It was, however, not structurally perfect, and Thys was planning to improve upon it when he died in 1915. His memory was honoured when a key town on the rail line was named Thysville (now Mbanza-Ngungu).

LUMENGA-NESO KIOBE