The largest heraldry site on the net, with presently coats of arms on-line !

Civic Heraldry of Congo (former Zaire)

NATIONAL ARMS OF CONGO

Including the arms of :
The Independent State of Congo (1884-1908)
Belgian Congo (1908-1960)
Congo-Kinshasa (1960-1966)
Democratic Republic of Congo (1966-1971)
Zaire (1971-1997)

The heraldic history of Congo begins on June 21, 1877, when the African International Association ( AIA), created in September, 1876 on the initiative of the King of Belgium Leopold II " to open Africa to the civilisation and to abolish the draft of the slaves ", chooses as emblem a blue flag with a golden star in the centre. The star symbolised the hope enlightening the African darkness. This flag would have been inspired by the king himself.

Used by several explorers engaged in the service of Leopold II, who hoisted it on the stations which they install on the Congolese territory, this flag quickly becomes the mark of King Leopold II in central Africa.
The emblem is adopted again in 1882 by the International Association of Congo ( IAC) which had been created in the meantime by the King.
At the Congress of Berlin, in February 1885, the IAC becomes the Independent State of Congo ( ISC) and Leopold II becomes the sovereign. When a coat of arms is granted to the Independent State of Congo, after its recognition as sovereign state by Belgium, on May 29, 1885, it is inspired by the older flag of the AIA.

The large arms of the Independent State of Congo, as used by the King

The small arms of the Independent State of Congo, for daily use

These arms represent three elements:
1)The flag of the AIA: in this way, Leopold II reminds the legitimacy of his sovereign power on Congo; but it is as well the occasion to honour the first Belgian or foreign explorers appointed by King to investigate the territories which he desired and which spread this flag in the head of their columns or on the posts which they had created.
2) The wavy silver bar symbolises the river Congo, which gives its unity to the territories of the Independent State of Congo.
3) The personal coat of arms of King determined by the Royal Decree of 13/07/1880 (the central inescutcheon with the coat of arms of Belgium charged with the c.o.a of Saxony, of which the royal family is native): in this way, LÉOPOLD II asserts his personal sovereign power on the Congolese territories. The lions supporters and the mantling are also derived from the Belgian arms.

In a general way, the armorial of Congo - civic or private - will remain hardly influenced by this first flag. In particular, the successive national coats of arms will be rather directly inspired by the national flags chosen in the various times of its animated history.

After the transfer of the Independent State of Congo to Belgium, the Belgian law of 18/10/1908 clarified that Belgian Congo could continue to make use of the seal and the flag which had used the Independent State of Congo. The arms thus officially were never modified until the independence of Congo in 1960.
They nevertheless were simplified. The small shield of Saxony officially remained part of the arms, although it was often removed, in spite of the fact that the royal house stopped using it and officially disappeared from the royal coat of arms after the 2nd world war. The reason is there that this small shield on the lion is the personal mark of Leopold II, of whom it calls back the colonising initiative, and not of Belgium, nor even the dynasty.
Similarly the wavy bar was often transformed into a regular bar, and thus the arms below, although unofficial, were widely used.

On the other hand, the official Belgian administrators still used the official arms, combined with the Belgian National arms. Under the two shields the two mottos were shown : 'Travail et progrès' (work and progress) for Congo and 'L'Union fait la force' (the union provides strength) for Belgium (see below).

In 1960 the Belgian Congo became the independent republic of Congo (first as Congo-Léopoldville, later as -Kinshasa). Some months before date fixed for the Independence of Belgian Congo, a new coat of arms appeared in the title wrapper of the Official Bulletin (below left). I do not have further information about the official use of this coat of arm, which seems to have little served besides. It was rather quickly replaced by the present national arms (see on top of this page) which is only the copy of the national flag adopted by the State of Congo-Léopoldville immediately after its access to the independence, on June 30, 1960.

In the arms elements of the flag of the AIA still remain - the colour azure (blue) and the golden star - 6 small stars representing the 6 provinces of the country (Equateur, Kasaï, Katanga, Kivu, Léopoldville and Oriental). On the other hand, the reference to Leopold II disappears (the small shield with the lion), as well as the symbolisation of the river Congo.
These coats of arms were used only until 01/07/1963.

On July 1, 1963, when the government decided to increase the number of provinces from 6 to 20, a new flag and a new coat of arms were adopted. The arms were clearly based on the flag. The reason and meaning of the design are not known. These arms remained in use until November 21, 1971.

In 1969 (probably at the beginning of the year) a new state logo appeared where the leopard, chosen as national animal since 1963, occupies the central position (see below left). That logo symbolised the regime of the President Mobutu and is associated to the period when Congo was called "Zaire", a name which had been given to the country on October 27, 1971. It was used up to Mobutu's resignation, in May, 1997.

After the resign of Mobutu the logo was slightly changed by the new president, Kabila. The leopard was replaced by a lion and the motto by a simple rock. This national symbol has been in use since 2006.

Literature : Pierloz Patrick : « L'héraldique civique du Congo belge (1908 - 1960) » (" Civic Heraldry of Belgian Congo (on 1908 - 1960 ) , in " Kisugulu ", N 75, in March, 2001. Images and information provided by Patrick Pierloz, Belgium.

Sitemap © Ralf Hartemink 1996, ->

See also my other sites Food-Info.net and Food Dictionary