what countries did belgium colonize in africa

A People's History. Christian missionaries were very successful in the Congo, where the Catholic Church is one of the largest in Africa (approximately 30 million members, or 55 percent of the population). 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." 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. The Anglo-Belgian India Rubber Company (ABIR), among others, used force and brutality to extract profit from the territory. Hutus went on a rampage, killing Tutsis in their midst with the aim of exterminating them. Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium: Centre d'histoire de l'Afrique de l'universit catholique de Louvain, 1996. Although there were several political parties, the two most prominent were Joseph Kasavubus ABAKO, a party based among the Kongo people, and Patrice Lumumbas Congolese National Movement. In the Western press, this conflict was portrayed as a racial and cultural one, between the tall, aristocratic, pastoral Tutsis, and Hutus who were uneducated peasant farmers. Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism since 1450. . 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). After several unsuccessful attempts in different parts of Asia and Africa, Leopold developed a keen interest in Central Africa. On many occasions, the interests of the government and private enterprise became closely tied, and the state helped companies break strikes and remove other barriers raised by the indigenous population. A study of encounters between colonizer and colonized in French West Africa throughout the colonial period, focusing on "history from below.". Through intermarriage and socioeconomic contacts, interethnic strife was benign. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner. The new leader signed a peace treaty with the rebel groups and appointed four vice presidents hailing from former rebel groups. These organizations, controlled by the king himself, had in fact a commercial purpose. 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. THE ADMINISTRATION OF CONGO BY THE BELGIANS (19081960), HISTORY OF BELGIUM COLONIZATION OF RWANDA, RACE AND ETHNICITY IN PRECOLONIAL AFRICAN BELGIAN COLONIES, ETHNIC RELATIONS DURING THE BELGIAN COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION, ETHNIC AND POLITICAL CONFLICTS IN POSTCOLONIAL BELGIAN COLONIES IN AFRICA. 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. Rwanda also has a new constitution, and amnesty was granted for most of the Hutu genocide perpetrators. 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. 5 How did Belgium maintain power in Congo? How long should I wait to text after being left on read? 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. France began to rule a large territory in the west and north. Within the Cite this article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. Nairobi, Kenya: Paulines Publications Africa. A further blow came in 1933, when the Belgians issued identity cards to all Rwandans. 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). The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. The territory was granted independence in 1962, as the separate countries of Rwanda and Burundi in 1962, bringing the Belgian colonial empire to an end. 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. Colonial rule in the Congo began in the late 19th century. The killing stopped only when Paul Kagame, with the help of Uganda, led a Tutsi army that drove the Hutu-led military into exile in neighboring Congo. 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. [2] Belgian traders also extended their influence in West Africa but this too fell apart following the Rio Nuez Incident of 1849 and growing Anglo-French rivalry in the region. Stanley "built roads along the entire stretch of the Congo" and set up "a chain of trading stations." In 1842, a ship sent by King Leopold I of Belgium arrived in Guatemala; the Belgians observed the natural riches of the department of Izabal and decided to settle in Santo Tomas de Castilla and build infrastructure in the region. Leopold II, an ambitious and enterprising monarch, was fascinated by the Dutch colonial "model" in Java and wanted to enhance his country's grandeur by exploiting a vast colonial domain, destined to enrich the mother country. 40). Only in the final phase of their presence in Rwanda and Burundi at the end of the 1950s did the Belgians change their attitude toward the Hutu majority. During the East African Campaign of World War I, the north-east part of German East Africa, Ruanda-Urundi, was invaded by Belgian and Congolese troops in 1916, and was still occupied by them at the end of the war in 1918. Whereas the Hutus were farmers, the Tutsis were cattle herders. From the coastline excursions in Africa and the gradual establishment of trade routes in Asia and in the Indian . This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. 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. Rather than control the Congo as a colony, as other European powers did throughout Africa, Leopold privately owned the region. 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. It replaced the failed British Eastern Coast of Central America Commercial and Agricultural Company. [14], Congolese troops participated in World War II and were instrumental in forcing the Italians out of their East African colonies during the East African Campaign. 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. Lumumba in turn dismissed the president, creating a political stalemate. [3], Colonization of the Congo began in the late 19th century. New York: Times Books. [15] By the 1950s the Congo had a wage labour force twice as large as that in any other African colony.[16]. Leopold II personally accumulated considerable wealth from exports of rubber and ivory acquired at gunpoint. Even in the first decades of its existence, it showed little inclination toward overseas expansion. 1972. As a result, Leopold pursued his colonial ambitions without the support of the Belgian government. Supporters of the second option led by Patrice Lumumba (1925-1961) won the day and the Belgian Congo became independent on June 30, 1960. It became a League of Nations Class B mandate allotted to Belgium, from 1924 to 1945. Following the independence of both colonies, Belgium kept strong but eventful political and economical relationships with the three succeeding African republics, which still refer to the "special relationship" whenever that seems to suit: Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo), Rwanda, and Burundi. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Only a tiny fraction of the Congolese population, the so-called volus, succeeded more or less in assimilating the European way of life, but their Belgian masters kept them at the bottom levels of the public service or private companies, without any short-term prospects of exercising responsible tasks. 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). In 1960, as the result of a widespread and increasingly radical pro-independence movement, the Congo achieved independence, becoming the Republic of Congo-Lopoldville under Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Kasa-Vubu. By the time Belgium's second king, Leopold II, was crowned, Belgian enthusiasm for colonialism had abated. "Africa: Belgian Colonies Fourth, European and American governments and the multinational business and interests have fueled ethnic conflicts in Africas former Belgian colonies for their own purposes. 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. The concept of internal colonialism has become so widely used and applied that almost every minority group in the world has b, The 1994 genocide in Rwanda represents one of the clearest cases of genocide in modern history. North Africa experienced colonisation from Europe and Western Asia in the early historical period, particularly Greeks and Phoenicians . Belgium itself could not stay aloof, because of its growing involvement in the Congo Free State. 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. By 1899 the British vice consul confirmed and further reported the brutality of Leopolds misrule in Congo. The United States, Belgium, and other Western governments aided Mobutu in overthrowing the government of Lumumba as part of their cold war rivalry with the communist bloc countries led by the Soviet Union. 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 . New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article Cawthorne, Nigel. All the members of the castes seemed to be living in harmony until the Belgians came and brought ethnic conflict with them. Arguably, in comparison with other colonial powers in Africa, Belgium did less to prepare its overseas subjects for political independence, investing little in education and training, and extracted the riches of its colonies at enormous human cost. (Colonizing other peoples, regardless of the justification . ." On July 14, the United Nations Security Council authorized a force to help to establish order in the Congo, but this force was unable to bring the seceded Katanga province to order. Idi Amin became the president of Uganda in January 1971 after a military coup removed the elected leader, Milton Obote, and he, Colonialism, Internal Ekwe-Ekwe, Herbert. First, the post-colonial political leaders of Congo and Rwanda continued the Belgian colonial policies. Mobutu in his bid to stay in power for life did not build a strong army. Before the coming of the Europeans, the Kingdom of Kongo had well-organized political and administrative structures that rivaled those of the Europeans. During a period lasting from 1881 to 1914 in what was known as the Scramble for Africa, several European . In 2001, when Kabila was assassinated by one of his bodyguards, he was succeeded by General Joseph Kabila, his son. Stengers, Jean. The Rwanda genocide of 1994 helped exacerbate ethnic and political tensions in the Congo.
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