- Albert Thys
Albert Thys (
28 November 1849 –10 February 1915 ) was a Belgian businessman who was active in theCongo Free State . He gave his name of Thysville to the station of Sona Qongo, currentlyMbanza-Ngungu inBas-Congo .Born in
Dalhem , Thys graduated at the École de guerre, before entering into the service of kingLeopold II of Belgium in 1876, as secretary of the colonial businesses. After the return ofHenry Morton Stanley , the king sent Thys toEngland to propose a new expedition to Central Africa on behalf of theAssociation Internationale Africaine . Thys was actively involved in the organisation of the first expeditions which would lead to the constitution of the Congo Free State.After arriving in Congo in 1887 he promoted the Matadi-Léopoldville Railway, which was built from 1890 to 1898. He imposed a route by the south, deviating from the
Congo river . He was one of the principal craftsmen of the development and the economic development of the Congo Free State andBelgian Congo . Notably he created the "Compagnie du Congo pour le Commerce et l'Industrie" (December 27 ,1886 ) and many of its subsidiary companies: the "Compagnie du Chemin de Fer du Congo (CCFC)", the "Compagnie des Magasins généraux", the "Société anonyme Belge pour le Commerce du Haut-Congo", the "Compagnie des¨Produits", the "Compagnie du Katanga".He died in
Brussels aged 66 in 1915.
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