Congo river, Republic of the Congo, Dem. Rep. of the Congo

The Congo river ( Also known as Zaire

is the second largest river in Africa (after Nile) and

7th. largest river in the world. The Congo gets

its name from the ancient kingdom of the Bantu

The Congo river at Matadi

Kings . The name of the two countries were

borrowed from the name of this river.
European exploration :

The mouth of the Congo riverwas visited (1482)

by Diogo Cao, the Portuguese navigator, it became

known as the Zaire River ( a cooruption of the

local name Mzadi meaning "great water") and

was referred to as the Congo River ( for the

The Congo River near Maluku

Kongo Kingdom located near its mouth); it

was called Zaire River by the Govt. of Zai
now Congo (Kinshasa) from 1971 to 1997.

Economic Importance :

The Congo river basin encompasses the world's

second largest contiguous rain forest, surpassed

only by that of the Amazon. The region is

biologically diverse and a huge watershed .

The forest is threatened by illegal logging and

the poaching of large mammals (specially the

bushmeat trade) , but two summits (1999, 2005)

that brought togethherthe nations of the basin

have committed its participants to forest conservation
and have led to the establishment of wildlife preserves.

Rep. of the Congo or Congo Brazzaville or the Congo

is located in the central- western part of the Sub -

Saharan Africa , transacted by the Equator. To the

south and eastof it is the Democratic Republic of

the Congo.

The earliest inhabitants of the region were Pigmy people

who later were largely isplaced and absorbed as sl
by Bantu Tribes uring Bantu expansions. The Bakongo

are a Bantu ethnicity that also occupied parts

of present - day Angola, Gabon, and Dem.rep. of

the Congo.Several Bantu Kingdoms - notably those

of the Kongo , The Loango, and the Teke - built trade

links leading into the Congo River basin.
The inhabitants of the Comgo River delta first came into contact with the Europeans in the 15 th. century with portuguese expeditions charting the African coast line. Commercial relationships were quickly established between the inland Bantu kingdoms and European merchants who traded various commoditiea , manufactured goos and slaves captured from the hinterlands. For centuries Congo River elta was a major commercial hub for trnsatlantic trade. However, when direct European colonisation of the African continent began in the late 19th. century when the power of the Bantu families eroded.

The history of the Congo is divided in four parts :

1. Early history of the Congo (Upto 1484) ,
2. Contact with Europe (upto 1883),

3. French Colony (upto 1960),

4. Independent period (from 15th. Aug. 1960 on wards).

The mouth of the Congo River was the base for the Kongo Kingdom, which encountered the Portuguese in 1484. Trading contracts gave the CongoleseTextiles, jewelry, and manufactured goods in return for ivory , copper and slaves .

The portugese didnot venture into interior but bought goods and slaves captured in the interior through African brokers on the coast.The coastal area was a major source for the transatlantic slave trade. Western education and Christianity were introduced into the region at that time. When the slave trade diminished Portugese bought slaves from other tribes resulting in the fight between different tribes weakennin

Hindu Muslim Riots - In British India upto 1900 AD.

The differences between the Hindus and Muslims were  doubtedly accentuated by the policy of "divide and rule" systematically pursued by the British throughout the 19th century.As far back as 1821 a British officer wrote in the Asiatic Jounal : 'Divide et Impera should be the motto of our administration.' and the policy supported by the high officials. At first the policy was to favour the Hindus at the expense of the Muslims, for, as Lord Ellenborough put it, "that race is fundamentally hostile to us and therefore our true policy is to reconciliate the Hindus. But when the Hindus became politically conscious, they began to favour  Muslims.   

From about eighties it became the policy of the British to play the Muslims against the Hindusand break the unity of the people.This difference between the two communities was not the creation of the British or the Aligarh Movement.The difference was created at the very beginning of the Muslim invasion in India. They had only accelerated it.

Early in the nineteenth century there were such a violent outbreak at Varanasi (Banaras). In October,1809, the Hindu mob of the city stormed the great mosque of Aurangazeb. The city was given up to pillage and slaughter and about fifty mosques were destroyed.

In 1857, the Muslims of Broach attacked the quarters of the Parsis and killed some of them. Communal riots and tensions during the great outbreak of 1857 have been noticed. Hindu-Muslim riots with heavy casualities occurred at Bareilly and other localities in UP during 1871-2.

A series riot took place at Bombay in 1851. There was a similar riot in Bombay in 1874, of which Dafabhai Noaraji and Pherozshah Mehta were eye-witness. In 1877, a series of riot took place between Hindu and Muslim subjects of Nawab of Janjira.

Serious communal riots took place;

Lahor and Karnal -1885,

Delhi- 1886,

Ludhiana, Ambala-1889,

The riot in Bihar in 1893-4,

Calcutta-1897.

Thje Calcutta riots in 1897 had a quite different origin.Maharaja Sir Jatindramahon Tagore obtained by a decreeof the court a plot of land at Talla, just outside the northern limit of the city of Calcutta. There was a small hut on the piece of land which the Muhammadans claimed to be  mosque. So when the Tagore;s party

Aligarh Movement (contd-3)

Beck took charge of the Institute Gazette, the literary organ of the Aligarh College, and edited it on behalf of Syed Ahmad. he promoted the idea that India is unsuitable for Parliamentary form of Government as it contained two ntaions of different strengths.When in 1889, Charles Bradlaugh introduced a bill in the British House of Commons for setting up democratic form of government in India, Beck prepared a memorial against it on behalf of the Muslims. Beck took a batch of Aligarh College of boys to Delhi, and posted them at the gate of Jama Masjid. There, on a certain Friday after prayers, he obtained the signatures of 20;735 Muslims on this memorial falsely reprsenting to the signatories thatthat the memorial was intended as a protest against the Hindu effort to stop cow- slaughter.
It was mainly through Beck's efforts that in Aug, 1888, was established the 'United Indian Patriotic Association' at Aligarh in which both Hindus and Muslims joined. The objects of the Association  wete to carry on anti-Congress propaganda in England. But soon the idea and the name of the association was changed to ' Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental Defence Association of Upper India "was founded in 1893, at the instance of Mr. Beck. The main objects of the association of the werre;
1. to place the opinions of the Musalmans before Englishmen and the Government of India and to protect their political rights;
2. to prevent political agitation from spreading from spreading among the Musalmans,
and 3. to strengthen British rule and create a sense of layalty among the people.
 Beck became the Secretary of the organizationmussalmans were separated from other Indian communities but joined the Englihmen. The name " defence association was borrowed from Anglo-Indian Defence Association established in 1883 at the time of Ilbert bill but ceased to function after ompleting its work.
Mr. Beck made a systematic effort to alienatethe Muslims from the Hindus. Beck's contribution to the anti-hindu bias in Aligarh movement was very considerable. one muslim sarcastically remarked that "the college is of Syed Ahmad and the Order is of beck".
Mr. Morrison, succeeded Mr. Beck in 1899, and continued the office till 1905, along with the footsteps of his predecessor.                     

Aligarh Movement (contd-2)

Beck took charge of the Institute Gazette, the literary organ of the Aligarh College, and edited it on behalf of Syed Ahmad. he promoted the idea that India is unsuitable for Parliamentary form of Government as it contained two ntaions of different strengths.When in 1889, Charles Bradlaugh introduced a bill in the British House of Commons for setting up democratic form of government in India, Beck prepared a memorial against it on behalf of the Muslims. Beck took a batch of Aligarh College of boys to Delhi, and posted them at the gate of Jama Masjid. There, on a certain Friday after prayers, he obtained the signatures of 20;735 Muslims on this memorial falsely reprsenting to the signatories thatthat the memorial was intended as a protest against the Hindu effort to stop cow- slaughter.
It was mainly through Beck's efforts that in Aug, 1888, was established the 'United Indian Patriotic Association' at Aligarh in which both Hindus and Muslims joined. The objects of the Association  wete to carry on anti-Congress propaganda in England. But soon the idea and the name of the association was changed to ' Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental Defence Association of Upper India "was founded in 1893, at the instance of Mr. Beck. The main objects of the association of the werre;
1. to place the opinions of the Musalmans before Englishmen and the Government of India and to protect their political rights;
2. to prevent political agitation from spreading from spreading among the Musalmans,
and 3. to strengthen British rule and create a sense of layalty among the people.
 Beck became the Secretary of the organizationmussalmans were separated from other Indian communities but joined the Englihmen. The name " defence association was borrowed from Anglo-Indian Defence Association established in 1883 at the time of Ilbert bill but ceased to function after ompleting its work.
Mr. Beck made a systematic effort to alienatethe Muslims from the Hindus. Beck's contribution to the anti-hindu bias in Aligarh movement was very considerable. one muslim sarcastically remarked that "the college is of Syed Ahmad and the Order is of beck".
Mr. Morrison, succeeded Mr. Beck in 1899, and continued the office till 1905, along with the footsteps of his predecessor.                     

Aligarh Movement (contd-1)

Congress was fighting for representative government. But As early as 1883, Syed ahmed delivered a lecture deprecating the system of representative institutions even for local self government, and particularly principle of election, pure and simple, in constituting Local Boards and District Boards, for fear that "the larger community would totally override the interests of the smaller community."
As a matter of fact Syed Ahmed and his followers, in their speeches and writings , were never tired of empasizing thatIndia was inhabited by different nations with different social,political, religious and historical traditions.All these ideas were brought to a head in a violent opposition to the Indian National Congress since its very inception.Syed Ahmed looked upon  the system of representative government demanded by the Congress as dangerous to the interests of Muslims.He thought that in a country like India homogeneity does not exist in any one of these fields (nationality, religion,ways of living, customs, culture, and hi8storical traditions ).
Inspite of the theory of one nation propounded by Syed Ahmed in a speech in 1884, inaugurated the movement of the two nation theory. The object and Ideal of the Aligarh Movement were as follows;
1.The Hindus and Muslims form two separate political entities with separate outlook and conflicting interests,
2. The grant of representative institutionms based on democratic principles of appointment to high offices by open competitive examinaion in India would be detrimental to Muslims as they would be subject to Hindu domination which is far worse than British rule,
3. Consequently the muslims should regard the paramountcy of the British as the chief safegurd of their interests and keep themselves aloof from political agitation against the Government,
4. As the Muslim interests are safe at the hands of the British, the Muslims should invove themselves in cultural aspects avoiding political issues except in so far as it is necessary for counter balancing the Hindu political agitation.
In support of the last two points it may be pointed out that he declined to support the "National Muhammadan Association" founded in Calcutta in 1877 by Amir Ali and a young group of Muhammadans. The Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh became the chief centre of the propaganda        
 
Association with MAO College and Aligarh Movement:

In May 1883, Hennery George Impey Siddons, founder principal of MAO College resigned from Principalship of MAO College. Sir Syed wrote a letter to Syed Mahmood in England and authorized him to find a suitable person for English and Philosophy who can also be appointed as Principal of MAO College as and when if needed. Syed Mahmood was on a personal trip to England. He contacted his old friend of Cambridge, Theodore Beck and offered him the position of English and Philosophy Professor and persuaded him to accept the position and move to India. Theodore Beck had just finished his education from Cambridge University and was just 24 years old. But he accepted the challenge and moved to India and joined the MAO College as a Professor of English and Philosophy and also assumed the office of Principal of MAO College on 28th January, 1884.

He could have never imagined that his career will start as MAO College Principal at the age of 24 and will end his with his last breath at the age of 40 as Principal of MAO College and will become the longest serving Principal of MAO College and champion of Muslims education in India. When he joined MAO College at the age of 24 years, some of his students at MAO College were older than him. He was a soft spoken, humble and very cooperative young man. Very soon became very popular among the students. His abilities and interests in College administration made him indispensable for Sir Syed and MAO College. His attitude towards students made him popular among the students. He used to do evening walk with senior students, visit dining halls to have meals with students and do some formal chat in an informal way. He used to make sure to visit those students who are sick and spend sometime with them so that they can not miss their families at the tough time. He used to help needy students from his pocket. He was a very hard working teacher also. At one point of time due to lack of staff members he taught four subjects so that students can not suffer due to lack adequate staff strength. His friendly as well as disciplined attitude made him insensible for Aligarh Movement and he was associated Aligarh Movement till his last breath.

Sir Syed was a big admirer of Theodore Beck’s administrative abilities and commitment for Aligarh Movement. In 1886 when Sir Syed started Muslim Educational Conference and became Founder Secretary of Muslim Educational Conference, he appointed Principal Beck as Assistant Secretary of Muslims Educational Conference. Principal Beck promoted the idea to have to have a debating club for students. The idea was originally put forward by his predecessor, Principal H.G.I. Siddon. Principal Beck named the debating club as SIDDON’s CLUB to honor The Founding Principal of MAO College. It was Siddon’s Club contribution that MAO College and Aligarh Movement have prolific orator and debators like, Sahebzada Aftab Ahmad Khan, Maulana Shaukat Ali, Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar, Maulana Zafar Ali Khan and Sarfaraz Hussain. He also started the famous Riding Club.

Sir Syed’s political ideology was to distance himself and Muslims of India from active politics and never have confrontation viewpoints with the British rule. He was convinced that Muslims of India can not bear the burden of another mutiny. Principal beck was an ardent supporter of Sir Syed’ political thoughts and always promoted Sir Syed’s political thought to help Muslims of India to uplift them on educational front to compete with others. There is a common mis-conception that Sir Syed’s political vies were inspired by Principal Beck. This concept does not have strong roots as Sir had already expressed his political views even before starting The MAO College and he never deviated from his political ideology.

Aligarh Movement

The Muslims found themselves in a very awkward  position after the supression of outbreak of 1857 because the British thought that the chief instigators and ringleaders of the outbreak were Muslims. It was at this juncture Syed Ahmed appeared as he saviour of the Muslim community. He did two fold tusks, 1. He brought about the repproachment between the British Government and the Muslim, and 2. he convinced the Muslims to take up modern education with the help of English.The appeal of Syed Ahmed to the British Government to kindly take his community came at very opportune moment. The British , like all Imperial powers, took it as a "divide and rule policy". The fair deal of the British attitude was revealed in the book published by hunterin 1871. Syed ahmed not only established a good relation of the British Government with the Muslims but also founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental Collegeat Aligarh in 1877. He also published a bilingual journal for spreading liberal ideas on social reform he visited England in 1869 and after his return in 1870carried on a vigorous propaganda for the spread English education and western culture among his community. 

Sir Syed Ahmed October 17, 1817 – March 27, 1898), commonly known as Sir Syed, was an Indian educator and politician, and an Islamic reformer and modernist. Sir Syed pioneered modern education for the Muslim community in India by founding the Muhammedan Anglo-Oriental College, which later developed into the Aligarh Muslim University. His work gave rise to a new generation of Muslim intellectuals and politicians who composed the Aligarh movement to secure the political future of Muslims of India.

The efforts of Syed Ahmed were not confined to the social and religious reforms. He gave a distinctly new turn to Muslim politics which becam anti-Hindu, and therefore also anti-Congress, for he looked the Indian National Congress as a Hindu organisation.
It is not an easy task to find out the basic principles on which his political views rested. He expressed some contradictory views. Ina speech delivered in 1884, he emphasized the fact that the terms Hindu and Mohamedan were only meant for religious distinction, but they formed one nation. In 1888, however, he referred to the Hindus and Muslims as two warring nations who could not lead a common life if the British  were to leave India.
He once bestowed high praise upon the Bengalees whom he described as the "head and crown of all the different communities of Hindustan". But later, the abuses of Bengalees formed a prominent feature of the Aligarh Institute Gazette edited by him. In 1877 he organized and presided over a meeting at Aligarh in which Surendranath Nath Banerjee delivered a speech in favour of simultaneous examinations for Indian Civil Service in England and India,and a revolution in favour of it was unanimously passed, but, later, Syed Ahmed opposed the idea as it would mean Hindu predominance in higher appointments.

The Relation between Hindus and Muslims (contd-1)

It was nottill the third quarter of ninetenth century that the Muslims appreciated the value of English education and seriously took to it. As a result, in the race for progress, the Muslims were handicapped by a time-lag of about fifty years. This is evident from the writings of W.S. Blunt, a liberal minded Englishman who openly protested against the British polocy in Egypt.
Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (1840–1922) was a British poet and writer. He was born in Sussex, and served in the Diplomatic Service from 1858 to 1869. He married Lady Anne Noel and together they travelled extensively in the Middle East and India.
Blunt opposed British imperialism, and his championship of Irish causes led to his imprisonment in 1888.
His own books, Secret History of the English and the Future of Islam endeared him to the whole Muslim World, and he found a warm welcome awaiting in India, when he visited this country in 1883. He mixed freely and intimately with the Muslim leaders of all shades of opinion, and his observations on Muslim politics should, therefore, command both  respect and confidence.
When Mr. Blunt arrived in Tuticorin, the local Muslims complained "of being subject to annoyance from the Hindus."
In Calcutta Maulavi Sayid Amir Hussain, deputy magistrate and a  friend of Amir Ali, told him that " the Bengali Mohammedans were an oppressed community".
Ilbert Bill;
The Ilbert Bill was a bill introduced in 1883 for British India by Viceroy Ripon that proposed an amendment for existing laws in the country at the time to allow Indian judges and magistrates the jurisdiction to try British offenders in criminal cases at the District level, something that was disallowed at the time. It was named after Courtenay Ilbert, the recently-appointed legal adviser to the Council of India, who had proposed it as a compromise between two previously suggested bills. However, the introduction of the bill led to intense opposition in Britain and from British settlers in India that ultimately played on racial tensions before it was enacted in 1884 in a severely compromised state. The bitter controversy deepened antagonism between the British and Indians and was a prelude to the formation of the Indian National Congress the following year
The Muslims and Hindus had different opinions on Ilbert Bill. The difference between the two communities became accentuated  in connection with the legislation for local self-government on elective basis.It is on this occasion that for the first time a demand was made for separate representation of the Mohammadans,.It seems, however, that as in in later days, the ball was set rolling by the English officials More than thirty years ago, the English or official view emphasized the communal difference in political matters in connection with the creation of Legislative Council. Lord Ellenborough suggested the creation of two separate legislatures for the two communities. In those early days a vigorous protest against this was made by a Hindu Politician, and no Muslim is known to have come forward to support the British or official view.But Muhammad Yusuf changed the situation. 
In the mean time Pan-Islamic sentiments had strong influence on India Muslims.
Pan-Islamism (Arabic: الوحدة الإسل poitical movement advocating the unity of Muslims under one Islamic state — often a Caliphate. As a form of religious nationalism, Pan-Islamism differentiates itself from other pan-nationalistic ideologies, for example Pan-Arabism, by excluding culture and ethnicity as primary factors towards unification

The Hunter Commission, demanding entirely separate arrangements for the education of the Hindus and Muslim boys, insisting upon Urdu as a medium of instruction even in a Province like Bengal where 99 pc of the Muslims were ignorant of that language and their spoken language, Bengali,lways been the medium of instruction. 
Hunter Commission officially known as the Indian Education Commission, 1882, was the first education commission in the history of modern India. Appointed by the Government of India, it was to review in depth, the state of education in India since wood's education despatch of 1854, and to recommend necessary measures for further progress. The other consideration, which prompted the Government to launch this enquiry, was the agitation of the missionaries, particularly in England, accusing lapses of the Government in implementing the provisions of the Despatch of 1854. Because of the great importance, which the Government attached to primary education, higher education was excluded from the Commission's purview and instead was directed to concentrate chiefly on primary education.