The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". Tyrants: Historys 100 Most Evil Despots and Dictators. Although Great Britain held several, Belgium, Intelligence and Security Agencies, http://www.diplomatie.be/fr/archives/archives.asp, https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/belgiums-african-colonies. With support from a number of Western countries who saw Leopold as a useful buffer between rival colonial powers, Leopold achieved international recognition for the Congo Free State in 1885. Among the Congolese, the Belgians used the strategy of divide and rule. Many European countries wanted to colonize distant parts of the world in order to exploit the resources and "civilize" the inhabitants of these less-developed countries. The colony was founded in 1908 following the transfer of sovereignty from the Congo Free State, which was the personal property of Belgium's king, Leopold II. "Africa: Belgian Colonies Belgium seized Rwanda and Burundi from Germany in 1916; two years later, after the defeat of Germany in World War I, Ruanda-Urundi was formally given to Belgium as a League of Nations (later United Nations) trust territory. Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.com cannot guarantee each citation it generates. The former Belgian colonies have experienced a series of coups, civil wars and have a history of political instability. It does not store any personal data. The second king of Belgium, Leopold II, was a very ambitious man who wanted to personally enrich himself and enhance his country's prestige by annexing and colonizing lands in Africa. Supporters of the second option led by Patrice Lumumba (1925-1961) won the day and the Belgian Congo became independent on June 30, 1960. First, the post-colonial political leaders of Congo and Rwanda continued the Belgian colonial policies. Ruanda-Urundi was a part of German East Africa under Belgian military occupation from 1916 to 1924 in the aftermath of World War I, when a military expedition had removed the Germans from the colony. ." Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1966. Anticolonialism and nationalism found their way into the Congolese population comparatively lateindeed, not until the second half of the 1950s. Mobutu was used as a Western stooge to stop an alleged communist incursion into Africa. The discussion at the Conference, which did not have any African leaders, was meant to split up the continent among the European powers without having to go to war. It was relatively easy for this army to overrun Congo. A number of lobbying groups formed after the unification, including the West German Society for Colonization and Export (1881) and the Central Association for Commercial Geography and the Promotion of German Interests Abroad (1878). Others cited Belgian's ratification of Article 73 of the United Nations Charter (on self-determination) and argued for a swifter hand-over of power than the 30 years favored by some. The Twa or the pygmies, who were the original inhabitants of Rwanda, were outcasts and despised by both the Hutus and the Tutsis. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. After a year, it was returned to the Italian State in 1920. It was an apartheid type of social and political system. Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. The Legacy of Belgium's 19th and 20th Century African Colonies. Germany's African ColoniesThe unification of Germany in 1871 constituted a watershed in Germany's imperial agenda of acquiring colonies in Africa. How long should I wait to text after being left on read? The term is also applied to a group of nationals wh, c. 1875 When Congo became a sovereign nation on June 30, 1960, this new state was utterly unprepared to handle the enormous problems that it had to face, and it slid into years of chaos, internal disruption (e.g., regional secessions, such as Katanga's), and civil waronly to emerge in 1965 under the Mobutu Sese Seko (19301997) dictatorship, which was to last more than thirty years and thoroughly pillaged the country's enormous riches. Mobutu and his supporters were so corrupt and stole so much money from the Congolese people that his government was described as a kleptocracy, or government by thieves. The Belgian claim was never formally recognised and the proposal was dropped in 1908. The Congolese petty bourgeoisie remained embryonic: local entrepreneurs or proprietors were almost nonexistent. The Congo under Belgian Rule 19081960. New York: Times Books. The first wave of genocide by the Hutus against the Tutsis took place earlier, however, under the administration of the Belgians in 1959. Belgium created two colonies in Africa: the entities now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly the Republic of Zaire) and the Republic of Rwanda, previously Ruanda-Urundi, a former German African colony that was given to Belgium to administer after the defeat of Germany in World War I.. Did Portugal colonize Africa? A map, published in Portugal in 1623, showing a representation of Africa as understood by colonizers. The large numbers of white immigrants who moved to the Congo after the end of World War II came from across the social spectrum, but were always treated as superior to black citizens. The rural masses were primarily engaged in a neglected and stagnating indigenous agriculture, aimed at self-subsistence but facing growing difficulties feeding the increasing population, particularly from the 1950s. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. "Belgium's African Colonies Summary. 2002. Here are some facts about Belgian rule and the two countries' difficult bilateral ties since. These migrations created myriad problems both at the time and in subsequent periods. window.__mirage2 = {petok:"n0hifXIP06k4AZAYPfhaWe9Vz2rtENJE3ukkjTyT.f4-86400-0"}; Encyclopedias almanacs transcripts and maps. The Belgians ruled over Congo from 1909 to 1960, while their rule over Rwanda lasted from 1918 to 1962. In 1955 some of the few Congolese educated-elites organized a resistance to the lack of democracy and the apartheid policies of the Belgian colonial masters. There was social mobility (both upward and downward) in this stratified Rwandese society. As the strategic importance of Mobutu disappeared with the end of the cold war, little or no attention was paid to the Congo. 2023 . Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. Successive governments viewed colonial expansion as economically and politically risky and fundamentally unrewarding, and believed that informal empire, continuing Belgium's booming industrial trade in South America and Russia, was much more promising. By clicking Accept All, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. However, one of the main failures of Belgian colonial policy was the choice not to develop an indigenous elite. When Belgium became a nation in 1830, it had almost no tradition of long-distance trade or colonial activity. How can a teen start a clothing business? What are the most attractive personality traits in a man? His inability to disarm the ex-Rwandan soldiers and perpetuators of the 1994 genocide who were now living in Congo led to the invasion of the Congo by a combined army of Tutsi-led governments of Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda and the Congolese rebel leader Laurent Kabila. On reaching Kinshasa in May 1997, Kabila declared himself president and changed the name of Zaire back to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In the Congo, the Belgians created an apartheid-like system between the Europeans (Belgians) living in Congo and the Congolese, thereby marginalizing the Congolese in their own society. These conflicting measures brought anarchy and led to the creation of extreme groupsfrom both the majority Hutus and the minority Tutsiswanting to protect the interests of their respective peoples. An increasing number of volunteers had joined the public service and the military in the Congo; Belgian Catholic missions had been protected and promoted by the Free State's authorities; the Belgian Parliament had granted loans to the Congo; and important private groups had started investing in colonial enterprises, particularly in 1906. "Belgium's African Colonies ." When did Germany colonize Tanzania? Through the Royal Trust he left most of his property to the nation. [1], Much of the initial infrastructure was the work of Stanley Morton Stanley who, having extensively explored the Congo, was employed by Leopold from 1878. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. Maurel, Auguste. He described his view of the colonial enterprise in these words: Our only program, I am anxious to repeat, is the work of moral and material regeneration, and we must do this among a population whose degeneration in its inherited conditions it is difficult to measure. In 2001, when Kabila was assassinated by one of his bodyguards, he was succeeded by General Joseph Kabila, his son. Within the Cite this article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. Finally in 1908, Leopold was forced to hand over the Congo Free State, his personal fiefdom, to the Belgian state. The people, although classified as Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa, essentially spoke the same language. How many countries did Belgium colonize in Africa? The most obvious result of the Congress and of nationalist yearnings, juxtaposed with a more structured European map, was a new and general scramble for colonies in other parts of the world. Under the cloak of humanitarian and scientific interests, he then created successive private organizations, the most important of which was the Association Internationale du Congo (AIC). This uprising led to the disintegration of the Belgian colonial administration and helped in winning independence for the Congo in 1960. They favored certain ethnic groups, especially the ones that would allow them to continue to colonize and plunder the rich natural resources of the Congo. . It was, however, the third largest colonial territory in Africa; in contrast, the possessions of Belgium's more powerful neighbor, Germany, came sixth in size. All blacks saw this man as the devil of the Equator It was not until the eighteenth century that the Portuguese gained substantial influence in Congo. The Congo had a high degree of racial segregation. He proclaimed himself king-sovereign of Congo Free State at a time when France, Britain, Portugal, and Germany also had colonies in the area. Leopold II personally accumulated considerable wealth from exports of rubber and ivory acquired at gunpoint. Colonialism in Africa. 1992. I should say that Burundi was a German colony in 1885 up to around 1916, and then when the Belgians-when the Germans left, the Belgians came in as colonizers. A study of encounters between colonizer and colonized in French West Africa throughout the colonial period, focusing on "history from below.". The period ended after World War I, and by the 1970s most of the European colonies in Africa had become independent. How do I move data from one tab to another in Excel? Like the 1994 genocide, it started when extremist Tutsis attacked a Hutu leader, and the Hutus retaliated by killing hundreds of Tutsis. The history of Colonialism as a policy or practice go, Colonialism, Internal How do I get rid of whiteheads on my nose naturally? In French. The former colonial power cannot be solely blamed for all the atrocities and political instability that has characterized life in its now defunct empire, but a significant degree of responsibility is attributable. Subsequent political problems led to military intervention by the Belgians, who claimed that they intervened to protect Belgian citizens from attack. 27 Apr. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner. By 1899 the British vice consul confirmed and further reported the brutality of Leopolds misrule in Congo. Map of Africa in 1910. King Leopold's Legacy. Starting in the 1880s, in what became known as the "Scramble for Africa," European countries raced to occupy the continent, seeking economic and strategic gains. After the Government assumed direct control, the treatment of the people did improve but only marginally. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. It was during the Belgian colonial administration that the foundations for the postcolonial and present-day ethnic tensions and political instability were laid. colony, any nonself-governing territory subject to the jurisdiction of a usually distant country. A rich Hutu who purchased a large herd of cattle could become a Tutsi, while a Tutsi who became poor would drop into the Hutu caste. The second king of Belgium, Leopold II, was a very ambitious man who wanted to personally enrich himself and enhance his countrys prestige by annexing and colonizing lands in Africa. On February 5, 1885, Belgian King Leopold II established the Congo Free State by brutally seizing the African landmass as his personal possession. It became a League of Nations Class B mandate allotted to Belgium, from 1924 to 1945. As early as 1860, he was urging his state to imitate its neighbors in acquiring overseas territory, "extend beyond the sea whenever an opportunity is offered," he said, "you will find there precious outlets for your products, food for your commerce and a still better position in the great European family. The age of modern colonialism began about 1500, following the European discoveries of a sea route around Africa's southern coast (1488) and of America (1492). Finally, the constant interventions of the Belgians in the affairs of their former colonies of Congo and Rwanda have made ethnic and political rivalries worse. The Belgian Congo (French: Congo belge, pronounced [ko bl]; Dutch: Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa between 1908 and 1960 in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Third, most of the ethnic tensions in these countries are caused by rapid population growth and the fight for scarce resources by the leaders of the various ethnic groups. During the 1840s and 50s, King Leopold I tentatively supported several proposals to acquire territories overseas. The rubber trade, which was of critical economic importance to sustaining Leopold's enterprise, was marked by especially inhumane conditions. The main aim of these so-called volus in resisting the Belgian colonial administration was to redress the gross inequality. . By the time Belgium's second king, Leopold II, was crowned, Belgian enthusiasm for colonialism had abated. The Tutsis were willing collaborators to the Belgian colonization. Mobutu ruled for thirty-one years and pauperized the Congo. Africans and Their History, 2nd ed. Belgium, a constitutional monarchy, gained its independence in 1830 from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. The so-called Colonial Charter of 1908 set out the main lines of the Belgian colonial system: a rigorous separation between the budgets of the colony and the mother country; a strict parliamentary control of executive power (in order to avoid the excesses of the former Leopoldian despotism); the appointment of a governor-general in Congo, whose powers were strictly limited by the metropolitan authorities; and a tight centralism in the colony itself, where provincial authorities were granted little autonomy. They colonized Congo because the needed its resources like rubber to manufacture goods. Congo, mythes et ralits: 100 ans d'histoire. Leopold II personally accumulated considerable wealth from exports of rubber and ivory acquired at gunpoint. Colonialism is the act by which a country or state exerts control and domination over another country or state.
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