The 1922 Boma Prison Uprising: Congo's Forgotten Rebellion

The History of Belgium: A Small Country with a Giant Colonial Legacy — Fexingo History · Jul 24, 2026 · 6m · transcript

In 1922, a little-known uprising erupted inside Boma's colonial prison, where Congolese detainees—many of them former Force Publique soldiers—seized control and held out for days against Belgian authorities. This episode explores the conditions that led to the revolt, the brutal suppression that followed, and what the event reveals about the deeper tensions simmering beneath the surface of the Belgian Congo. Historians have largely overlooked the Boma Prison Uprising, but it offers a rare lens into the lives of those at the very bottom of the colonial hierarchy: prisoners, conscripts…