Who else could get Zaire besides Belgium?

katchen

Banned
That's the point. All that would have had to have happened for Portugal to get the Congo would have been for somebody to launch a boat expedition on the Kwango and then canoe up and down the Kwango, the Kasai and the Kongo at least as far as Stanley falls and up the Ubangi to Bangui. Then further into Chad.
 
Your best bet is to slice the Congo into three parts, similar to what actually happened during the Congo Crisis:

504px-Kongo_1961_map_en.png


The blue portion could go to France, the green to Portugal, and the red to Germany. Alternatively, Britain could receive the red portion - but since Germany had colonies in East Africa that bordered the OTL Congo Free State, it's likely they'd push for receiving a part of the Congo.
 
prior to the scramble, no one wanted the region as it was major disease area, and there weren't resources. After Leopold finally was figured out as running a horror show there (the only way to make money out of the region), the world powers had to practically force Belgium to take it over, and no one was eager to take it themselves, so I'm guessing it wasn't exactly seen as desirable.

I'm of the belief that Leopold was one of the prime movers of the Scramble starting.
 
mapa-cor-de-rosa.jpg


Here is a map of what the Portuguese claimed in 1881, as you can see they claimed territory all the way up the Congo river due to the Kingdom of the Congo being a Portuguese vassal. Britain backed Portugal's claims to the mouth of the Congo river, whilst France backed the Free State's claim. In the end Portugal was able to hold onto Cabinda.
 
Here is a map of what the Portuguese claimed in 1881, as you can see they claimed territory all the way up the Congo river due to the Kingdom of the Congo being a Portuguese vassal. Britain backed Portugal's claims to the mouth of the Congo river, whilst France backed the Free State's claim. In the end Portugal was able to hold onto Cabinda.
Makes sense in both cases, as the Portuguese were seen as a centuries old ally of the English/British and were going to give them Most Favoured status in the area, while Leopold II told the French that they would add into the treaty that the French would annex the area if he couldn't afford to pay for the colony's administration.
 
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