The Royal Academy for Overseas Sciences (RAOS) is an independent, multidisciplinary, national and international forum supporting science in overseas countries. It is a meeting place and a space for debate between scientists from North and South. It contributes to the promotion of research and the dissemination of knowledge concerning overseas countries both in these countries and in Belgium. Finally, RAOS contributes to the promotion of Belgian scientific research. In 1959 the Academy received its name and current functions, since which date it has continuously adjusted its sphere of activities to the changes — and at times the upheavals — undergone by countries overseas. For several decades the activities of the Academy concentrated essentially on Africa, to which it has remained traditionally attached. Nevertheless, over recent years it has diversified its focus of attention and the Academy has gained a more international character by forging bonds with a wide range of scientific organisations, as witnessed by the co-operation agreements signed with different other academies and institutions.