Albert Thys was a Belgian businessman who was active in the Congo Free State

Congo Free State

The Congo Free State was a large area in Central Africa which was privately controlled by Leopold II, King of the Belgians. Its origins lay in Leopold's attracting scientific, and humanitarian backing for a non-governmental organization, the Association internationale africaine...

. He gave his name of Thysville to the station of Sona Qongo, currently Mbanza-Ngungu

Mbanza-Ngungu

Mbanza-Ngungu, formerly known as Thysville or Thysstad, named after Albert Thys, is a city in Bas-Congo Province in the western part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, lying on a short branch off the Matadi-Kinshasa Railway...

 in Bas-Congo

Bas-Congo

Bas-Congo is one of the eleven provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is the only province with a coastline and it borders Bandundu province to the east and Kinshasa to the northeast...

.

Born in Dalhem

Dalhem

Dalhem is a Walloon municipality located in the Belgian province of Liège. On January 1, 2006 Dalhem had a total population of 6,486. The total area is 36.06 km² which gives a population density of 180 inhabitants per km²....

, Thys graduated at the École de guerre, before entering into the service of king Leopold II of Belgium

Leopold II of Belgium

Leopold II was the second king of the Belgians. Born in Brussels the second son of Leopold I and Louise-Marie of Orléans, he succeeded his father to the throne on 17 December 1865 and remained king until his death.Leopold is chiefly remembered as the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free...

 in 1876, as secretary of the colonial businesses. After the return of Henry Morton Stanley

Henry Morton Stanley

Sir Henry Morton Stanley, GCB, born John Rowlands , was a Welsh journalist and explorer famous for his exploration of Africa and his search for David Livingstone. Upon finding Livingstone, Stanley allegedly uttered the now-famous greeting, "Dr...

, the king sent Thys to England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 to propose a new expedition to Central Africa on behalf of the Association 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

Matadi-Kinshasa Railway

The Matadi-Kinshasa Railway is a railway line in Bas-Congo Province between the port of Matadi and Kinshasa, the capital of Democratic Republic of the Congo.The Matadi-Kinshasa Railway was built from 1890 to 1898...

, which was built from 1890 to 1898. He imposed a route by the south, deviating from the Congo river

Congo River

The Congo River is a river in Africa, and is the deepest river in the world, with measured depths in excess of . It is the second largest river in the world by volume of water discharged, though it has only one-fifth the volume of the world's largest river, the Amazon...

. He was one of the principal craftsmen of the development and the economic development of the Congo Free State and Belgian Congo

Belgian Congo

The Belgian Congo was the formal title of present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo between King Leopold II's formal relinquishment of his personal control over the state to Belgium on 15 November 1908, and Congolese independence on 30 June 1960.-Congo Free State, 1884–1908:Until the latter...

. Notably he created the Compagnie du Congo pour le Commerce et l'Industrie (27 December 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

Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

aged 66 in 1915.