Busira, or Busira Manene, is a village in the
Province of Équateur
Équateur is one of the 21 newest provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo created by the 2015 repartitioning. The provinces of Équateur, Mongala, Nord-Ubangi, Sud-Ubangi, and Tshuapa are the result of the division of the former ...
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in
Busira Territory.
Location
Busira is on the north shore of the
Busira River
The Busira River is a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is the main tributary of the Ruki River, which in turn is a tributary of the Congo River.
The Busira may be seen as the upper reach of the Ruki River. It is navigable year ro ...
at an elevation of about .
It is in the Busira collectivity of the
Bolomba Territory.
A colonial map from 1894 shows the Bussira Manene trading post in this location, upstream from the Lengué (
Salonga) River and downstream from Bocoté (
Bokote).
Colonial era
As of 1 January 1894 the
Société anonyme belge pour le commerce du Haut-Congo
Groupe Lactalis S.A. (doing business as Lactalis) is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier S.A.
Lactalis is the largest dairy pr ...
(SAB) had 83 factories and posts, including some in the French territory to the west of the
Congo and
Ubangi rivers.
A map shows the company had posts along the upper Ruki River (i.e. the Busira) at
Bilakamba,
Bombimba, Bussira Manene,
Moniaca,
Bocoté
Bokote is a community on the Busira River in the Province of Équateur in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In the colonial period it held a trading post and a Catholic mission.
Location
Bokote is on the north shore of the Busira River in the ...
and
Yolongo.
The Protestants established a mission at Monieka in 1912.
The American doctor Louis Jaggard (1877–1951) at the mission spoke in 1917 with scorn of the 30 or so traders at Bussira, away, who came to him for treatment.
He called them "low down white trash".
Isidore Bakanja
Isidore Bakanja
Isidore Bakanja (c. 1887 – 15 August 1909) was a Congolese Catholic layman and bricklayer who suffered martyrdom in 1909 and was beatified on 24 April 1994 by Pope John Paul II. Due to the nature of his martyrdom, he is sometimes referred t ...
was born in
Ikengo around 1885, and found work laying bricks in what is now
Mbandaka
Mbandaka (, formerly known as Coquilhatville in French, or Coquilhatstad in Dutch) is a city in the Democratic Republic of Congo located near the confluence of the Congo and Ruki rivers. It is the capital of Équateur Province.
The city was f ...
, where he was baptised as a Catholic on 6 May 1906.
He moved to Busira, where his cousin was an employee of the Belgian ''
Société anonyme belge pour le commerce du Haut-Congo
Groupe Lactalis S.A. (doing business as Lactalis) is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier S.A.
Lactalis is the largest dairy pr ...
'' (SAB), and became a servant of a SAB director named Ruijders.
Ruijders took him to Itiki in the Buch-Bloc region in 1909, where the local SAB manager Van Canter felt strongly that Catholicism would destroy the authority of Europeans over "natives".
When Isidore refused to give up his practices, Von Canter had him beaten and then chained in solitary confinement.
Ruijders heard of this and took him back to Busira, where he died on 15 August 1909 due to his mistreatment.
He was beatified on 24 April 1994.
Notes
Sources
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Populated places in the province of Équateur