This map shows the Belgian Congo in 1942 and provides an overview of the locations of more than 40 mission organizations from different countries (but not from the Netherlands). Some posts in Angola are also noted down.
There is also attention for infrastructure, in particular waterways and railways. The colonial administrative structure is visible in the districts. Wherever mission posts are located, one or more facilities such as a school, hospital, or leprosy care facility are also available. The accessibility of missions is categorized in routes from 1st to 4th ‘ordre’ and railways.
The Belgian Congo was a personal colony of the Belgian king from 1908 and was governed by a minister of state and a colonial council. In World War II, the colony was administered by the Belgian government in exile in London, and the Congo became primarily a site for the extraction of natural resources for the Allies. Congolese uranium, for example, was used for the Manhattan project. The local population has suffered greatly under colonial rule. Protestant missionaries had long been active in this area when the first Catholic missionaries arrived in 1880, which partly explains the large presence of over 40 Protestant mission organizations in the colony of predominantly Catholic Belgium. According to a summary report, about 1,300 missionaries (500 men and 800 women) served in 241 missions after World War II, compared with 3,700 Catholic missionaries (2,000 men and 1,700 women) in 436 missions. At the time, about 360,000 Protestants lived in Congo, about 7% of the population.
The map was issued in 1946 but is apparently based on the situation in 1942. The map appeared in a pack of six, focusing on politics, agriculture, woodlands, roads, Catholic mission and Protestant missions respectively. The map is printed in black-and-white and colored manually.
