''Travels in the Congo'' (French: ''Voyage au Congo'') is a travel diary by the French author André Gide. It was published 1927 by Gallimard in France. It is often published together with another one of his travel diaries called '' Return from Chad'' (French: ''Retour du Tchad''). It describes his journey that started in July 1926 and ended in May 1927, during which he travelled through the French Equatorial Africa colony and then successively to Middle Congo (now the

Republic of the Congo The Republic of the Congo (french: République du Congo, ln, Republíki ya Kongó), also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply either Congo or the Congo, is a country located in the western coast of Central Africa to the w ...

Ubangi-Shari Ubangi-Shari (french: Oubangui-Chari) was a French colony in central Africa, a part of French Equatorial Africa. It was named after the Ubangi and Chari rivers along which it was colonised. It was established on 29 December 1903, from the U ...

(now the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...

), briefly to

Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...

and then to

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

before returning to France.

Journey

During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Gide met the young

Marc Allégret Marc Allégret (22 December 1900 – 3 November 1973) was a French screenwriter, photographer and film director. Biography Born in Basel, Basel-Stadt, Switzerland, he was the elder brother of Yves Allégret. Marc was educated to be a lawyer in ...

and they became lovers and companions. In 1925 they embarked on an African expedition together and stayed in French Equatorial Africa for ten months.Bowles (2013), p. 32-34 The duo sailed from

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

on 18 July 1925. Their first port in Africa was

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...

, which Gide found to be "gloomy", ugly, and lacking in exoticism. He found their next stop,

Conakry Conakry (; ; sus, Kɔnakiri; N’ko: ߞߐߣߊߞߙߌ߫, Fula: ''Konaakiri'' 𞤑𞤮𞤲𞤢𞥄𞤳𞤭𞤪𞤭) is the capital and largest city of Guinea. A port city, it serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea. Its p ...

, more pleasant. The duo left their ship in the port of Matadi, then followed a train route to

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one o ...

, and finally reached

Brazzaville Brazzaville (, kg, Kintamo, Nkuna, Kintambo, Ntamo, Mavula, Tandala, Mfwa, Mfua; Teke: ''M'fa'', ''Mfaa'', ''Mfa'', ''Mfoa''Roman Adrian Cybriwsky, ''Capital Cities around the World: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture'', ABC-CLI ...

on 14 August. They used it for a while as the base for their excursions.Berliner (2002), p. 171Sheridan (1999), p. 401-402 The duo would soon sail on the Congo River. Their months-long expedition included travels through the

Lake Chad Lake Chad (french: Lac Tchad) is a historically large, shallow, endorheic lake in Central Africa, which has varied in size over the centuries. According to the ''Global Resource Information Database'' of the United Nations Environment Programme, ...

, and the French Cameroons. They sailed from Africa on 14 May 1926.Berliner (2002), p. 171

Other observations

Apart from describing his journey he also criticized the behavior of French business interests in the Congo and inspired reform. In particular, he strongly criticized the ''Large Concessions'' regime (French: ''régime des Grandes Concessions''), ''i.e.,'' a regime according to which part of the colony was conceded to French companies and where these companies could exploit all of the area's

natural resource Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest and cultural value. O ...

s, in particular rubber ( caoutchouc). He related, for instance, how natives were forced to leave their village for several weeks to collect rubber in the forest, and went as far as comparing their exploitation to

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

Reception

The book had important influence on anti-colonialism movements in France and helped re-evaluate the impact of colonialism.Voyage au Congo suivi du Retour du Tchad
, in '' Lire'', July–August 1995

References

Sources

* * * {{citation , last=Sheridan , first=Alan, title=''André Gide: A Life in the Present'' , year=1999 , publisher=

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...

, isbn=978-0674035270, url =https://books.google.com/books?id=mZGxs0PCwzEC&pg=PA401 1927 non-fiction books Works by André Gide Works about colonialism French Equatorial Africa Travelogues Diaries