what countries did belgium colonize in africa

They favored the takeover of political power by the latter, a policy that succeeded in Rwanda but failed in Burundi. POST-1945 HISTORICAL CONTEXTS In order to wipe out the stain of Leopoldian ill treatment of the African population and gain international respectability, the Belgian authorities tried to turn the Congo into a "model colony." Sadowski, Yahya. ." Although the Congo Free State was not a Belgian colony, Belgium was its chief beneficiary in terms of trade and the employment of its citizens. In 1971, in a continuation of his Africanization policy, the Congo River was renamed the Zaire River and consequently, Congo was renamed the Republic of Zaire. If this small European country nevertheless succeeded in ruling a vast colony in Central Africa, this was due only to the tenacity of its second king, Leopold II (18351909). This exploration led initially to the establishment of the Congo Free State. Bibliographie historique du Zare l'poque coloniale (18801960): Travaux publis en 19601996. Anticolonialism and nationalism found their way into the Congolese population comparatively lateindeed, not until the second half of the 1950s. Consequently, the Belgian Parliament agreed in 1908 to accept the Congo as its own colony, in order to avoid international intervention or a takeover by a foreign power. Belgiums other colony, Rwanda, was an independent monarchy until the Germans annexed it in 1899 and made it part of German East Africa. An agreement was reached between the Belgian and Chinese governments in August 1929 to return the concession to China. There were other small LubaLunda states in Congo. [4] By the turn of the century, however, the violence used by Free State officials against indigenous Congolese and the ruthless system of economic extraction led to intense diplomatic pressure on Belgium to take official control of the country, which it did in 1908, creating the Belgian Congo. In 1962, it got its independence from Belgium. In 1998 Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda jointly invaded Congo, and Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Chad, and the Sudan fought on the side of Kabilas Congo. (Colonizing other peoples, regardless of the justification . As the strategic importance of Mobutu disappeared with the end of the cold war, little or no attention was paid to 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. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. 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. The Belgians even took the few leadership positions that the Hutus had and gave them to the Tutsis. By the time Belgium's second king, Leopold II, was crowned, Belgian enthusiasm for colonialism had abated. //]]>. With these events sea power shifted from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic and . As part of the Treaty of Versailles, the major part of German East Africa was handed over to British control but Ruanda-Urundi, twice the size of Belgium but only about 2 percent of the size of the Congo, was confirmed as a Belgian colony by a League of Nations Mandate in 1924, later renewed as a United Nations Trust Territory. [1] Greeks colonised Cyrenaica around the . "Belgium's African Colonies The former Belgian colonies have experienced a series of coups, civil wars and have a history of political instability. This antagonism, coupled with the high population density in these overwhelmingly agricultural countries, was to form a volatile environment in the following decades, causing several interethnic massacres, of which the Rwandan genocide of 1994 was the most terrifying example. London: Zed Books, 2002. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. In 1876 Belgium's King Leopold II convened the Brussels Geographical Conference, which led to the formation of the African International Association. These migrations created myriad problems both at the time and in subsequent periods. No foreign troops were to be allowed on the concession and Guatemalan troops were to garrison two forts that were to be built near the projected new town. 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). 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. Ekwe-Ekwe, Herbert. When did Germany colonize Tanzania? Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism since 1450. . A study of encounters between colonizer and colonized in French West Africa throughout the colonial period, focusing on "history from below.". What are the most attractive personality traits in a man? This empire was unlike those of the major European imperial powers, since 98 percent of it was just one colony (about 76 times larger than Belgium)the Belgian Congoand that had originated as the private property of the country's king, King Leopold II, rather than being gained through the political action of the Belgian state. The official Belgian attitude was paternalism: Africans were to be cared for and trained as if they were children. Belgium, a constitutional monarchy, gained its independence in 1830 from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. 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. Belgium itself could not stay aloof, because of its growing involvement in the Congo Free State. 2023 . Protestant missionaries were also active and Protestants today comprise 29 percent with an additional 10 percent belonging to the Kimbanguists (an African Independent Church banned in colonial times). 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. As a latecomer in the struggle for colonies, Germany had to settle for four territories, called "protectorates," in . This uprising led to the disintegration of the Belgian colonial administration and helped in winning independence for the Congo in 1960. Map of Belgium's colonies at their maximum extent. Both Hutus and Tutsis served in the kings military. [15] One of the results was the development of a new middle class of Europeanised African "volus" in the cities. Biafra Revisited. The history of Colonialism as a policy or practice go, Colonialism, Internal 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. [17] Belgian colonizing efforts in Guatemala ceased in 1854, due to lack of financing and high mortality due to yellow fever and malaria, endemic diseases of the tropical climate. (April 27, 2023). Other notable empires included the Luba empire, founded in the sixteenth century and centered around Lakes Kisale and Upemba, located in central Shaba; the Lunda kingdom of Mwata, founded in the fifteenth century and centered in southwestern Congo; and the Kuba empire of the Shonga people, founded in the seventeenth century and centered around the Kasai and Sankura rivers in southern Congo. Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. Colonial rule in the Congo began in the late 19th century. At the Berlin Conference in 1884, the USA, the Ottoman Empire and 12 European countries divided up most of the . N'Daywel Nziem, Isidore. A map, published in Portugal in 1623, showing a representation of Africa as understood by colonizers. Poor relations between factions within the Congo, the continued involvement of Belgium in Congolese affairs, and intervention by major parties of the Cold War led to a five-year-long period of war and political instability, known as the Congo Crisis, from 1960 to 1965. If this small European country nevertheless succeeded in ruling a vast colony in Central Africa, this was due only to the tenacity of its second king, Leopold II (18351909). The Black Mans Burden: Africa and the Curse of the Nation-State. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. Specifically, in 1929, they eliminated all the non-Tutsi chiefs, and as a result the Hutus lost all their representation in the colonial government. Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA). Even in the first decades of its existence, it showed little inclination toward overseas expansion. These three protagonists had an enormous influence in the colony, and assisted each other in their respective ventures, even if their interests did not always coincide and, indeed, sometimes openly conflicted. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1966. The Congo From Leopold to Kabila. The Challenge of Third World Development, 4th ed. This plan failed to materialize, and finally, on May 30, 1919, according to the Orts-Milner Agreement (named after its Belgian and British negotiators), Belgium's spoils of war only consisted of two small territories in the Great Lakes region bordering the immense Belgian Congo, namely Rwanda and Burundi (their ancient names being Ruanda and Urundi). As the first census did not take place until 1924, it is difficult to quantify the population loss of the period and these figures have been disputed by some who, like William Rubinstein, claim that the figures cited by Adam Hochschild are speculative estimates based on little evidence. When did Belgium colonize Congo? King Leopold II of Belgium attempted to persuade the Belgian government to support colonial expansion around the then-largely unexploited Congo Basin. The colonial authorities also obliged these agriculturalists to produce export crops (e.g., cotton), which made them vulnerable to the ups and downs of world markets. European traders came to the new country, which was not a colony in the normal sense, but essentially the personal possession of King Leopold, to obtain beeswax, coffee, fruits, ivory, minerals, palm oil, and especially rubber. The Portuguese colonial empire was the first and the last European empire overseas, from the conquest of Ceuta (1415), in Morocco, North Africa, until the formal handover of Macau to the People's Republic of China (1999). But in 1965, after ruling from behind the scenes for four years, Mobutu finally overthrew Kasavubu in a coup widely believed to be sponsored by the CIA. The king imposed a harsh labor regime on the Congolese populations in order to extort ever-growing amounts of wild rubber. By the time this was universally recognized in 1839, most European powers already had colonies and protectorates outside Europe and had begun to form spheres of influence.

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