Belgian Congo
1
7.7
- proper noun
:
Congo Belga
- But would Jimmy quit college to go off to this wild Belgian Congo?
- the Belgian Congo (now Zaire)
Examples
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Well, I found her on one of my expeditions into the Belgian Congo.
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I leave for the Belgian Congo within weeks.
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Simon Kibangu of the Belgian Congo took religious freedom as the root of freedom.
Academic text (1996) -
In June 1960, the whole world was brought to attention because an ill-disciplined African army in the former Belgian Congo had mutinied.
Academic text (1999) -
In 1908, the Congo Free State became a colony of the Belgian state and was renamed the Belgian Congo.
Academic text (2004) -
Since the end of the nineteenth century, Belgium sent thousands of fathers, friars, and nuns to what was then the Belgian Congo.
Academic text (2008) -
Placide Tempels, a Catholic missionary in the Belgian Congo, pleaded with colonial authorities to appreciate the cultural and religious heritage of African subjects as a first step towards their effective assimilation and civilization.
Academic text (1996) -
In 1960, Belgium granted independence to its most prized territory, the Belgian Congo.
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My father was in the former Belgian Congo for 16 years as a doctor.
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As a boy in the former Belgian Congo, he accompanied his father, a pastor, to minister to the sick.
Synonyms
45
3.4
A large country in central Africa with capital Kinshasa
1
3.7
A large country in central Africa with many rivers and valuable minerals
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase 'Belgian Congo' is directly built from 'Belgian' (associated with Belgium) + 'Congo' (the country), so a learner who knows both words can infer it refers to the Congo when it was under Belgian control (i.e., the former colony). Detailed historical facts (dates, political changes) are not derivable from the words, but the basic referent and relation are compositionally transparent and cross-linguistically obvious.
Etymology
Belgian Congo The name Belgian Congo comes from the Congo region when it was ruled by Belgian people. It meant the area that was a 'colony' of Belgium, so today the term refers to that former territory which became the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1960.