On 4 May 1843, the Guatemalan parliament issued a decree giving the district of Santo Toms "in perpetuity" to the Compagnie belge de colonisation[fr], a private Belgian company under the protection of King Leopold I of Belgium. In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. 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." 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. Encyclopedia of Race and Racism. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. window.__mirage2 = {petok:"n0hifXIP06k4AZAYPfhaWe9Vz2rtENJE3ukkjTyT.f4-86400-0"}; 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, in turn, gave the Tutsis privileged positions in politics, education, and business. The Belgian administration of the Congo was run by a relatively modest corps of civil servants (in 1947 only about 44,000 whites, 3,200 of whom were public employees, were present in this vast country, inhabited by some 11 million Africans). Among the Congolese, the Belgians used the strategy of divide and rule. 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. While some Africans initially welcomed European rule, others opposed it from the start. The Congo Free State, officially presented to the world as a humanitarian and civilizing enterprise destined to abolish slavery and introduce Christianity, became the target of an international protest campaign, led by the British activist Edmund Dene Morel (18731924) and his Congo Reform Association. The history of Colonialism as a policy or practice go, Colonialism, Internal colony, any nonself-governing territory subject to the jurisdiction of a usually distant country. It also had small concessions in Guatemala (18431854) and in China (19021931) and was a co-administrator of the Tangier International Zone in Morocco. There had been vicious cycles of violence beginning in December 1963 when Hutus killed more than 10,000 Tutsis and sent about 150,000 into exile. 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. Though its goals were purportedly humanitarian and scientific, Leopold used the association to fund expeditions and establish posts along the Congo River. What has been described as an Apartheid-like system also existed in that the mobility of Africans, but not of Europeans, was restricted and curfews applied to the former. Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism since 1450. . What countries did Italy colonize in Africa? - Study.com Rather than control the Congo as a colony, as other European powers did throughout Africa, Leopold privately owned the region. Nairobi, Kenya: Paulines Publications Africa. The Congo From Leopold to Kabila. Keen on establishing Belgium as an imperial power, he led the first European efforts to develop the Congo River basin, making possible the formation in 1885 of the . 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. Consequently, colonial policy was determined by a small group of persons, in particular the minister of colonies, a handful of top civil servants in the Ministry of Colonies, some prominent Catholic ecclesiastics, and the leaders of the private companies that were investing increasing amounts of capital in the colony. 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). Belgian colonial empire - Wikipedia With the promise of open trade, Leopold convinced world powers to recognize what eventually became the Association Internationale du Congo (AIC) as the legal authority over a vast territory in the heart of Africa. New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article King Leopold's Legacy. Until almost the end of the mandate period, the Belgian administrators, with the help of the Catholic Church and its schools, did their best to turn the Tutsi elite into docile auxiliaries of their own rule. Yielding to international pressure, the parliament of Belgium annexed the Congo Free State and took over its administration on November 15, 1908, as the colony of the Belgian Congo. In 1876 Leopold convoked an International Geographic Conference in Brussels, where prominent geographers and explorers were invited. The most notable of these empires was the Kingdom of Kongo, which was founded in the fourteenth century and centered around present-day western Congo and northern Angola. [6], A sharp reduction of the population of the Congo through excess deaths occurred in the Free State period but estimates of the deaths toll vary considerably. 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. Since the 1994 genocide, Rwanda has successfully conducted both local and national elections. What were the former British colonies in Africa? 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. No democratic institutions were established. He was, in fact, so successful in making the Congo profitable that at the Berlin Conference of 1884-85 the French struck a secret deal with Leopold that they would only support his territorial claim if he agreed "never again to employ Stanley in Africa."[2]. Through intermarriage and socioeconomic contacts, interethnic strife was benign. Finally in 1908, Leopold was forced to hand over the Congo Free State, his personal fiefdom, to the Belgian state. that existed between the Europeans and the Africans. Indeed, in the beginning, the Congo Free State seemed to be an unviable enterprise. (April 27, 2023). Even in the first decades of its existence, it showed little inclination toward overseas expansion. New York: Penguin. In 1865 he succeeded his father, Leopold I, to the Belgian throne. Seven days later, Moise Tshombe, the provisional president of Katanga, in a move instigated by the Belgians, declared the mineral-rich Katanga province an independent country. Several Belgian colonial policies sowed the seeds of racial and ethnic rivalries that led to the killings of millions of Africans and also sent millions more into exile from the former Belgian colonies. There were other small LubaLunda states in Congo. The European incursion into the west coast of Africa and the consequent slave raids increased the migrations of refugees into Kongo. In 1482 the Portuguese navigator Diogo Co became the first European to come to the Congo. These conflicts resulted in many wars and episodes of genocide. 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. in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. How many countries did Belgium colonize in Africa? "Africa: Belgian Colonies 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. Brussels: De Boeck & Larcier, 1998. New York: Barnes and Nobles. They colonized Congo because the needed its resources like rubber to manufacture goods. This was in contrast to the British and the French, who generally favoured the system of indirect rule whereby traditional leaders were retained in positions of authority under colonial oversight. Mobutu first escaped to Togo and then to Morocco, where he died a few months later from cancer. Map of Belgium's colonies at their maximum extent. . 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. It became a League of Nations Class B mandate allotted to Belgium, from 1924 to 1945. (April 27, 2023). 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. Colonialism in Africa - WorldAtlas From the coastline excursions in Africa and the gradual establishment of trade routes in Asia and in the Indian . In the 1500s, Portugal colonized the present-day west . The scramble for Africa - The British Empire - BBC Bitesize The Congo under Belgian Rule 19081960. 2023
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