What is the name of the european country which controlled the African Congo before WWII?

It is for a question on my daughters homework.

What is the name of the european country which controlled the African Congo before WWII?
There are two Congos: the smaller one (today's Republic of the Congo) was a colony of France. The larger one (today's Democratic Republic of the Congo) was a colony of Belgium.
Reply:i think it's belgium
Reply:French rule





The area came under French sovereignty in the 1880s. Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, a French empire builder, competed with agents of Belgian King L茅opold's International Congo Association (later Zaire) for control of the Congo River basin. King L茅opold, on February 5, 1885 established the Congo as a personal possession. Between 1882 and 1891, treaties were secured with all the main local rulers on the river's right bank, placing their lands under French protection. In 1908, France organized French Equatorial Africa (AEF), comprising its colonies of Middle Congo (modern Congo), Gabon, Chad, and Oubangui-Chari (modern Central African Republic). Brazzaville was selected as the federal capital.





Economic underdevelopment during the first 50 years of colonial rule in Congo centered on natural resource extraction by private companies. In 1924-34, the Congo-Ocean Railway (CFCO) was built at a considerable human and financial cost, opening the way for growth of the ocean port of Pointe-Noire and towns along its route.





During World War II, the AEF administration sided with Charles de Gaulle, and Brazzaville became the symbolic capital of Free France during 1940-43. The Brazzaville Conference of 1944 heralded a period of major reform in French colonial policy, including the abolition of forced labor, granting of French citizenship to colonial subjects, decentralization of certain powers, and election of local advisory assemblies. Congo benefited from the postwar expansion of colonial administrative and infrastructural spending as a result of its central geographic location within AEF and the federal capital at Brazzaville.





-dh
Reply:Belgium held most of it. France also had a small part.
Reply:That would be Belgium