what countries did belgium colonize in africa

The Congo under Belgian Rule 19081960. Uprisings, revolts, assassinations, and other acts of resistance were common during King Leopold's rule. The Belgians were always somewhat indifferent towards their colonies, which were not regarded as a vital aspect of their national identity or place in the world, despite the value that Leopold had attached to them. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. They colonized Congo because the needed its resources like rubber to manufacture goods. On July 4, the army rebelled. Protestant missions were present in the Congo next to Catholic ones, but the latter enjoyed, during most of Belgian rule, a privileged position. The Belgian colonial empire consisted of three African colonies possessed by Belgium between 1901 to 1962. [22], In 1919, the island of Comacina was bequeathed to King Albert I of Belgium for a year, and became an enclave under the sovereignty of Belgium. 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). 27 Apr. That the Tutsi and Hutu were originally two castes of the same people, speaking a common language, and that the antagonism had been created by Belgian colonial forces for their own purposes, were facts somehow lost in the international dialogue. Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like Which seven European countries placed virtually all of Africa under European control between 1880 and 1900?, What reforms did Muhammad Ali introduce during a 30-year reign in Egypt, What did Boers believe was ordained by God in relation to racial differences and more. Encyclopedia.com. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here: The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia: Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed. In just a few months' time (from early 1959 to the beginning of 1960), the political prospects for the colony evolved from a long-term loosening of the ties between Belgium and the Congo, to the immediate independence of the African country. In spite of this legacy of the colonial period, political developments in the Congo and Rwanda (peace agreements, new constitutions, and new elections) show that there is a new hope for the former African colonies of Belgium. . [3], Although the Congo Free State was not officially a Belgian colony, Belgium was its chief beneficiary, in terms of its trade, the employment of its citizens, and the wealth which Leopold extracted which was used for the construction of numerous fine public buildings in Brussels, Ostend, and Antwerp. With the support of the Free State's military, the Force Publique, the territory was divided into private concessions. 2006. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. What are the most attractive personality traits in a man? These kingdoms, especially the Kingdom of Kongo, were comparably wealthy, and when the standard of living is high, people tend to get along well. King Leopold II and the Belgians extend their military rule over the much desired Congo Basin in Central Africa. Much of this was spent on public buildings in Brussels, Ostend and Antwerp. Belgian authorities were caught practically unprepared by the sudden wave of black political activism, and subsequently engaged in a process of "precipitous decolonization." On the Congo Free State's own domains, as well as on the vast tracks of land that had been conceded to private companies, brutal and repressive practices took the lives of large numbers of Africansthough exact figures are impossible to establish. In the Congo, political instability started as soon as the Congolese gained their independence from the Belgians in 1960. It was an apartheid type of social and political system. 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. Leopold II, King of the Belgiansas his coun, The Thirteen Colonies were British colonies in North America founded between 1607 (Virginia) and 1732 (Georgia). The scramble for colonies was the brainchild of Leopold II, king of Belgium. Under Egypt 's Pharaoh Amasis (570-526 BC) a Greek mercantile colony was established at Naucratis, some 50 miles from the later Alexandria. Histoire gnrale du Congo: De l'hritage ancien la Rpublique Dmocratique, 2nd ed. By the time Belgium's second king, Leopold II, was crowned, Belgian enthusiasm for colonialism had abated. Lumumba in turn dismissed the president, creating a political stalemate. window.__mirage2 = {petok:"n0hifXIP06k4AZAYPfhaWe9Vz2rtENJE3ukkjTyT.f4-86400-0"}; Summary. The Congo had a high degree of racial segregation. Biafra Revisited. Nzongola-Ntalaja, Georges. 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. Revolts and violence against Tutsi, known as the Rwandan Revolution, occurred in the events leading to independence. Idi Amin became the president of Uganda in January 1971 after a military coup removed the elected leader, Milton Obote, and he, Colonialism, Internal After the end of the war, the Belgian government tried to exchange these territories against the left bank of the Congo River mouth, which was in Portuguese hands. 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. GENEALOGY OF THE TERM DECOLONIZATION 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. A classic image depicts the Belgian Congo as being run by the "Trinity" of administration, capital, and the (Catholic) Church. Specifically, in 1929, they eliminated all the non-Tutsi chiefs, and as a result the Hutus lost all their representation in the colonial government. This exploration led initially to the establishment of the Congo Free State. 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. Colonial rule in the Congo began in the late 19th century. Towards the end of colonial rule, the governor general at the time, Lon Antoine Marie Petillon (in office 1952-1958), wanted to grant Africans more civil rights. [13] The privileging of Belgian commercial interests meant that large amounts of capital flowed into the Congo and that individual regions became specialised. However, when independence came, the territories were ill-prepared for self-governance since little effort had been made to train and equip an African leadership. Belgian native policy, which had rigidified the ethnic boundaries between Tutsi and Hutu and consequently had exacerbated the ethnic identity of these groups, was largely responsible for the intensification of ethnic rivalry between these groups after the end of foreign rule. These mandatory identity cards removed the fluidity from the Rwandan stratification (caste) system, thereby confining people permanently as Hutus, Tutsis, and pygmies. The Belgians empowered the Tutsis so much that their exploitation of the Hutu majority reached new heights. 1972. On September 5, President Kasavubu dismissed Lumumba as prime minister. The Belgians even took the few leadership positions that the Hutus had and gave them to the Tutsis. On January 17, 1961, the government of Moise Tshombe in Katanga, with the full support of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), murdered Lumumba and two of his associates in cold blood. [3], Colonization of the Congo began in the late 19th century. "Africa: Belgian Colonies Their refusal led Leopold to create a state under his own personal rule. From the late 1920s, some important mining companies had also developed a paternalistic policy aimed at stabilizing and controlling their labor force (Congo had one of the largest wage labor contingents in Africa). When both countries became independent on July 1, 1962, Rwanda was governed by a Hutu president, Burundi by a Tutsi king. If this small European country nevertheless succeeded . 40). In 1908, in order to defuse an international outcry against the brutality of the Congo Free State, the Belgian government agreed to annex it as a colony, named the Belgian Congo. ." On reaching Kinshasa in May 1997, Kabila declared himself president and changed the name of Zaire back to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Retrieved April 27, 2023 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/africa-belgian-colonies. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. Justice was to be administered by judges named by the government (art. Leopold II was absolute ruler of Congo. After Belgium began administering the colony, it generally maintained the policies established by the Germans, including indirect rule via local Tutsi rulers, and a policy of ethnic identity cards (later retained in the Republic of Rwanda). Leopold II personally accumulated considerable wealth from exports of rubber and ivory acquired at gunpoint. New York: Barnes and Nobles. Paris: Duculot, 1989. 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. EUROPEAN EFFORTS TO REINVENT OVERSEA, LEOPOLD II (18351909; ruled 18651909), king of Belgium and personal sovereign of the Congo Free State. //]]>. 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. Mass Crimes Against Humanity: The Congo Free State Genocide Circa 1895-1912. https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/p/index.php?title=Belgian_colonial_empire&oldid=1023550, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. Brussels: De Boeck & Larcier, 1998. A map, published in Portugal in 1623, showing a representation of Africa as understood by colonizers. However, the Government was not in favor, arguing that this could result in political instability. During a period lasting from 1881 to 1914 in what was known as the Scramble for Africa, several European . 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 . German colonists entered the area in the 1880s, and in 1891 the Germans declared the region a protectorate as part of German East Africa. 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 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. They used civil disobedience, strikes, and civil unrest against the Belgian colonialists. The United States and Belgium provided the money that Mobutu used to bribe the Congolese army to commit treason against their properly elected government. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". Encyclopedias almanacs transcripts and maps, Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism since 1450. It was established by the Belgian parliament to replace the previous, privately owned Congo Free State, after international outrage over abuses there brought pressure for supervision and accountability. A third economic sector consisted of large-scale plantations (e.g., palm oil production by the enterprise founded by the British businessman William Lever [18511925]), also oriented toward export. Congo, mythes et ralits: 100 ans d'histoire. Even in the first decades of its existence, it showed little inclination toward overseas expansion. Political instability created by tension between clan and central leadership in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, and tribal rivalry leading to genocide in Rwanda are at least in part the result of a colonial legacy that took far more from Africa than it gave. (April 27, 2023). As a result, Lumumba asked the Soviet Union to help him bring Katanga back to Congo. The Black Mans Burden: Africa and the Curse of the Nation-State. New York: Times Books. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1966. Secondary and university education were seriously neglected. It was the activities of these extreme groups that led to the various episodes of genocide that reached appalling heights in 1994 with the killing of nearly one million people, mostly Tutsis and moderate Hutus, by extreme Hutus.
Kendu Isaacs Hospitalized, Warden Jobs North Wales, Anacortes Police Blotter, Articles W