“Les Indes africaines” versus “Le Congo minotaure”: debatten over klimaat, acclimatisatie, hygiëne en de idealisering van het imperiaal project van Leopold II in Congo, 1876-1908
This article investigates the relationship between the debates in Belgium about the climate and the so-called health or insalubrity of the Congo, and the political agendas of the contributors to these debates in the period between the start of the Leopoldian exploration of Central Africa in 1876 and the annexation of the Congo Free State by Belgium in 1908. From the very beginning of this exploration, attention was focused on the climate.