Kivu District (, ) was a district of the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (, ; ) was a Belgian colonial empire, Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Repu ...

. It was formed from part of

Stanleyville District Stanleyville District (, ) was a district of the Belgian Congo and Democratic Republic of the Congo. It went through various changes in extent. Between 1933 and 1963 it had roughly the same extent as the current Tshopo province. Congo Free State ...

in 1914.

Location

Kivu District was named after

Lake Kivu Lake Kivu is one of the African Great Lakes. It lies on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, and is in the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift. Lake Kivu empties into the Ruzizi River, which ...

, on the border between the Belgian and German colonies. Between 30 June 1900 and 27 July 1901

Jules Alexandre Milz Jules Alexandre Milz (10 September 1861 – 1 October 1902) was a Belgian soldier who was active in exploring the northeast of the Congo Free State. He traveled extensively in Uele District, where he resolved the question of whether the Uele River ...

undertook a special mission to delimit the Belgian-German border in

Kivu Kivu is the name for a large region in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo that borders Lake Kivu. It was a ''Région'' (read 'province') of the country under the rule of Mobutu Sese Seko from 1966 to 1988. As an official ''Région'' ...

. The district was created by an ''arrêté royal'' of 28 March 1912, which divided the Congo into 22 districts. A 1912 map shows that the large former

had been broken into a much smaller Stanleyville District and new Lowa,

Maniema Maniema Province (''Jimbo la Maniema'', in Swahili) is one of 26 provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its capital is Kindu. The 2020 population was estimated to be 2,856,300. Toponymy Henry Morton Stanley explored the area ...

, Kivu and

Ituri Ituri Province ( in Swahili language, Swahili) is one of the 21 provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo created in the Subdivisions of the DR Congo#New provinces, 2015 repartitioning. Ituri, Bas-Uele, Haut-Uele, and Tshopo provinces ...

districts. Kivu District was bordered by German and British colonies to the east, Ituri District to the north, Lowa and Maniema districts to the west and Tanganika-Moero District to the south. The Kivu District became part of the

Orientale Province Orientale Province () is one of the former provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its predecessors the Congo Free State and the Belgian Congo. It went through a series of boundary changes between 1898 and 2015, when it was divided ...

created in 1913. By 1926 Lowa District had disappeared, absorbed into the Kivu District and Maniema District, and Kivu now extended further to the west. With the 1933 reorganization Kivu and Maniema were contained in the new

Costermansville Province Bukavu is a city in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), lying at the extreme south-western edge of Lake Kivu, west of Cyangugu in Rwanda, and separated from it by the outlet of the Ruzizi River. It is the capital of the South Kivu Pr ...

. The western part of Kivu had been restored to Maniema, but an area in the northwest had been added, taken from Stanleyville District. By 1954 Costermansville Province had been renamed

Kivu Province Kivu Province was a province in the Belgian Congo, originally called Costermansville Province, that was formed in 1933 from part of the old Orientale Province. The Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville) became independent in 1960, and between 196 ...

, and Kivu District had been split into

Sud-Kivu District Sud-Kivu District (, ) was a district of the Belgian Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It roughly corresponded in area to the present South Kivu province. Belgian Congo Kivu District was created by an ''arrêté royal'' of 28 March ...

and

Nord-Kivu District Nord-Kivu District (, ) was a district of the Belgian Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It roughly corresponded in area to the present North Kivu province. Belgian Congo Kivu District was created by an ''arrêté royal'' of 28 Marc ...

Maps

File:1910 provinces Belgian Congo cropped from 1950 administration map Atlas General du Congo 611.jpg, 1910 provinces and districts File:1912 provinces Belgian Congo cropped from 1950 administration map Atlas General du Congo 611.jpg, 1912 provinces and districts File:1926 provinces Belgian Congo cropped from 1950 administration map Atlas General du Congo 611.jpg, 1926 provinces and districts File:1933 provinces Belgian Congo cropped from 1950 administration map Atlas General du Congo 611.jpg, 1933 provinces and districts

References

Sources

* * * {{Authority control Districts of the Belgian Congo Districts of Orientale Province Districts of Kivu Province

Location

Maps

See also

References

Sources