Liévin Van de Velde papers , 1785-1961

Liévin Jean Van de Velde (1850-1888) was a captain of the Belgian Army, active in the development and control of the Congo Free State, essentially owned by Leopold II, king of Belgium.

He was born at Ledeberg (Gand), in Belgium, on December 1, 1850. At age 19 he became a second-lieutenant in the Belgian 8th line regiment. Van de Velde found army life very confining, and for about ten years, plotted, in vain, to travel to such places as the Dutch West Indies and Tanganika. At last in 1881, under the auspices of the Association Internationale du Congo, Van de Velde first visited the Congo, and remained there until 1883. He returned twice, in 1885, and again in 1887.

Captain Van de Velde was Colonel Strauch's secretary at the Berlin West African Conference of 1884-1885.

While in the Congo, Van ae Velde worked under Henry M, Stanley, the American explorer, who had been assigned the task of founding several stations on the land route past the cataracts on the Lower Congo between the coast and Stanley Pool. Captain Van de Velde was made station chief at Vivi (the highest point on the Congo below the first cataract). The station chiefs were commercial agents in charge of goods stored or in transit, and also political agents, responsible for settling affairs with the natives. In 1882 Captain Van de Velde led a mission to the north of the Kwilu. This expedition was sent to acquire an outlet to the ocean, without which, King Leopold II's infant trading preserve would have been strangled by the surrounding European powers.

Captain Liévin Van de Velde died in 1888, stricken by fever, while en route to Léopoldville.