Although Congo was of the same region as Chad and the Central African Republic, its course to independence was plotted much differently. The huge country, larger in territory than all of Western Europe, was barely touched by colonization. To be sure, France and Belgium invested heavily in the mineral mines that produced much valuable raw material, but after widespread riots in the country in 1959, Belgium readily allowed the Congolese to hold elections.

On this day, August 15, in 1960, after elections in the country were won by the Mouvement National Congolais, led by Patrice Lumumba, Congo declared its independence.

Within days after the independence the Katanga area of the Congo that held much of the mining work seceded from the Congo and established friendly relations with Belgian mining concerns. Even the U.N., accepting Lumumba’s invitation, stayed clear of the Belgian area, and Lumumba himself, with his close ties to Moscow making him dangerous to the West, was captured and assassinated by his political opponents (with a heavy dose of help by the FBI).