Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

Francis Ernest Joseph Marie Dhanis (11 March 1861 – 13 November 1909) was a Belgian colonial

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

and soldier noted for his service for the

Congo Free State The Congo Free State, also known as the Independent State of the Congo (), was a large Sovereign state, state and absolute monarchy in Central Africa from 1885 to 1908. It was privately owned by Leopold II of Belgium, King Leopold II, the const ...

during the

Congo Arab War The Congo Arab war was a colonial war between the Congo Free State and Arab-Swahili warlords associated with the Indian Ocean slave trade in the eastern regions of the Congo Basin between 1892 and 1894. The war was caused by the Free State and ...

and

Batetela Rebellion The Batetela rebellion () was a series of three military mutinies and a subsequent low-level insurgency which was attributed to members of the Tetela ethnic group in the Congo Free State between 1895 and 1908. Beginning in a mutiny among Tetela ...

Early life and career

Dhanis was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 1861. His father was a Belgian merchant and his mother was an Irish woman named Brigitte Maher. He spent the first fourteen years of his life at

Greenock Greenock (; ; , ) is a town in Inverclyde, Scotland, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The town is the administrative centre of Inverclyde Council. It is a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, and forms ...

, where he received his early education. After completing his education at the Royal Military Academy in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, he entered the Belgian army, joining the Regiment of Grenadiers, in which he eventually rose to the rank of Major.

Congo Free State

As soon as he reached the rank of Lieutenant, he volunteered for service in the

of King

Leopold II of Belgium Leopold II (9 April 1835 – 17 December 1909) was the second king of the Belgians from 1865 to 1909, and the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free State from 1885 to 1908. Born in Brussels as the second but eldest-surviving son of King Leo ...

, and in 1887 he went out for a first term. He did so well in founding new stations north of the Congo that, when the government decided to put an end to the Arab domination on the Upper Congo, he was selected to command the chief expedition sent against the slave traders in the 'Congo Arab war'. The

Congo Arab war The Congo Arab war was a colonial war between the Congo Free State and Arab-Swahili warlords associated with the Indian Ocean slave trade in the eastern regions of the Congo Basin between 1892 and 1894. The war was caused by the Free State and ...

began in April 1892, and it was not brought to a successful conclusion until January 1894. The story of this war was narrated in detail by Sidney Langford Hinde, who took part in it, in his book ''The Fall of the Congo Arabs''. The principal achievements of the campaign were the capture in succession of the three Arab strongholds at

Nyangwe Nyangwe is a town on the right bank of the Lualaba River, in the Maniema Province in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (territory of Kasongo). In the second half of the 19th century, it was an important Swahili–Arab hub for tra ...

Kasongo Kasongo, also known as Piani Kasongo, is a town and territory in the Maniema Province in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Geography Kasongo lies east of the Lualaba River, northwest of where it meets the Luama River, at an a ...

and Kabambari. For his services, Dhanis was awarded the noble title of

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

, and in 1895 was made vice-governor of the Congo Free State.

Later life

In 1896, he was given command of an expedition to the Upper Nile. His troops were largely composed of the

Batetela The indigenous people within the Kasai Basin up to Maniema understood themselves to be descendants of "AnKutshu Membele", then in the 20th century many accepted the colonially imposed category and term Tetela (or Batetela in the plural). "Batet ...

tribes who had only been recently enlisted. The Batetela under Dhanis were well-armed and experienced mercenaries. The Batetela had been irritated by the execution of some of their chiefs, allegedly for

cannibalism Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is also well document ...

, they mutinied and murdered many of their white officers in what has become known as the

. From 1897 to 1898, Dhanis was constantly occupied by the rebellion. Eventually, he succeeded in breaking up the several bands of Batetela. In 1899, Baron Dhanis returned to Belgium with the honorary rank of vice governor-general. He died in Brussels on 13 November 1909.

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

* Dhanis, Francis ''La campagne arabe.'', Bulletin de la Société royale de Géographie d'Anvers, vol. 30, 1906, pp. 58–63

External links

Africa Archives Francis Dhanis
Royal museum for central Africa * 1861 births 1909 deaths Belgian barons Belgian nobility 19th-century Belgian civil servants Belgian people of Irish descent British emigrants to Belgium Congo Free State officials Officers of the Force Publique People from Greenock Royal Military Academy (Belgium) alumni {{EB1911 article with no significant updates