Leopold II became known as the "Butcher of the Congo," where millions of Africans died as a result of the brutality of his rule. Any four countries? 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. At the Berlin Conference in 1884, the USA, the Ottoman Empire and 12 European countries divided up most of the . Nevertheless, there were interethnic wars on some occasions. The Congo From Leopold to Kabila. The archives of the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade show that Leopold investigated possible colonies in dozens of territories. 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. This ended with the seizure of power by Joseph-Dsir Mobutu. The whites had all the luxuries, and the native Africans lacked everything. 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. It also had a small concession in China and was a co-administrator of the Tangier International Zone in Morocco. In 1876 Leopold convoked an International Geographic Conference in Brussels, where prominent geographers and explorers were invited. King Leopold II of Belgium attempted to persuade the Belgian government to support colonial expansion around the then-largely unexploited Congo Basin. Although a few attempts were made by the first king, Leopold I (17901865), these were not successful. The Belgians ruled over Congo from 1909 to 1960, while their rule over Rwanda lasted from 1918 to 1962. History of Belgium | Britannica Rather than control the Congo as a colony, as other European powers did throughout Africa, Leopold privately owned the region. 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. All the members of the castes seemed to be living in harmony until the Belgians came and brought ethnic conflict with them. Supporters of the second option led by Patrice Lumumba (1925-1961) won the day and the Belgian Congo became independent on June 30, 1960. Source for information on Portugal's African Colonies: Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism since 1450 dictionary. However, the date of retrieval is often important. In 1865 he succeeded his father, Leopold I, to the Belgian throne. On February 5, 1885, Belgian King Leopold II established the Congo Free State by brutally seizing the African landmass as his personal possession. After the assassination of Lumumba, many governments ruled Congo in rapid succession: variste Kimba, Joseph Ileo, Cyrille Adoula, and Moise Tshombe. [15] One of the results was the development of a new middle class of Europeanised African "volus" in the cities. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. The official Belgian attitude was paternalism: Africans were to be cared for and trained as if they were children. Maurel, Auguste. 2002. 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. During World War I, Britain captured the German holdings, which became a British mandate (1920) under the name Tanganyika Territory. The Congo survived mainly through the king's personal funds. 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. Natives eventually faced dire conditions, characterized by displacement, forced labor, and taxation. (April 27, 2023). By the mid-1950s, an independence movement was underway. In 1482 the Portuguese navigator Diogo Co became the first European to come to the Congo. These migrations created myriad problems both at the time and in subsequent periods. Mobutu was used as a Western stooge to stop an alleged communist incursion into Africa. 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. In 1962, it got its independence from Belgium. Retrieved April 27, 2023 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/africa-belgian-colonies. France began to rule a large territory in the west and north. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. [11], 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. 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 aristocracy, who were essentially the Tutsi, owned all the land and earned tributes from the farmers, who were mainly Hutu. Roughly 98% of Belgium's overseas territory was just one colony (about 76 times larger than Belgium itself) known as the Belgian Congo. Because the United Kingdom, France, and Portugal had conflicting interests in this region, Leopold's skillful personal diplomacy succeeded in playing the contradictory ambitions of these countries against each other. "[1] In 1876, he told delegates at an international conference on geography which he sponsored in Brussels that: To open to civilization the only part of our globe which it has not yet penetrated, to pierce the darkness which hangs over entire peoples, is, I dare say, a crusade worthy of this century of progress. 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? (Colonizing other peoples, regardless of the justification . It also annexed Katanga, a territory under the Congo Free State flag, which Leopold had gained in 1891, when he sent an expedition which killed its king, Msiri, cut off his head and hoisted it on a pole. King Leopold II and the Belgians extend their military rule over the much desired Congo Basin in Central Africa. Subnationalism in Africa: Ethnicity, Alliances, and Politics. 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. 27 Apr. 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. Though its goals were purportedly humanitarian and scientific, Leopold used the association to fund expeditions and establish posts along the Congo River. Since the 1994 genocide, Rwanda has successfully conducted both local and national elections. The Twa or the pygmies, who were the original inhabitants of Rwanda, were outcasts and despised by both the Hutus and the Tutsis. 2004. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". First, the post-colonial political leaders of Congo and Rwanda continued the Belgian colonial policies. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. 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. * As many as 10 million people are estimated to have died in Congo from killings, famine and disease . Map of Belgium's colonies at their maximum extent. 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). 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. French Colonial Rule - African Studies - Oxford Bibliographies - obo https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/africa-belgian-colonies, "Africa: Belgian Colonies 1992. In 1876 he commissioned Sir Henry Morton Stanleys expedition to explore the Congo region. In 1998 Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda jointly invaded Congo, and Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Chad, and the Sudan fought on the side of Kabilas Congo. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. During a period lasting from 1881 to 1914 in what was known as the Scramble for Africa, several European . Belgium, a constitutional monarchy, gained its independence in 1830 from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. In the Congo, political instability started as soon as the Congolese gained their independence from the Belgians in 1960. //]]>. Africans and Their History, 2nd ed. Factbox: Belgium's colonial rule in Congo and what happened next In Rwanda, independence brought increased ethnic tensions because of the policies of the Belgian colonial administration. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall. 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. Vellut, Jean-Luc, Florence Loriaux, and Franoise Morimont, eds. It was designated as a United Nations trust territory, still under Belgian administration, until 1962, when it developed into the independent states of Rwanda and Burundi. By the 1870s, many European countries were looking to expand their control in Africa. Millions of Congolese died during this time. An agreement was reached between the Belgian and Chinese governments in August 1929 to return the concession to China. The pre-colonial social and political authorities, consisting of a Tutsi king (mwami) and a tiny aristocracy (predominantly of Tutsi origin), ruling over a vast majority of mainly Hutu agriculturalists, were kept in placeeven if the Belgians reshaped the traditional structures by constantly intervening in them. 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. His regime in the Congo operated as a forced labor colony, with murder and mutilation as punishment for villagers who did not collect and supply the rubber quota they were given. 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. ." 2006. Hutus went on a rampage, killing Tutsis in their midst with the aim of exterminating them. As a latecomer in the struggle for colonies, Germany had to settle for four territories, called "protectorates," in . Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. Belgium controlled several territories and concessions during the colonial era, principally the Belgian Congo (modern DRC) from 1908 to 1960 and Ruanda-Urundi (modern Rwanda and Burundi) from 1922 to 1962.It also had small concessions in Guatemala (1843-1854) and in China (1902-1931) and was a co-administrator of the Tangier International Zone in Morocco. In 1966 he renamed the Congolese cities of Lopoldville (Kinshasa), Stanley-ville (Kisangani), and Elisabethville (Lubumbashi). On July 4, the army rebelled. 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. https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/belgiums-african-colonies, "Belgium's African Colonies ." Leopold II | Biography, Facts, & Legacy | Britannica [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. Portugal's African ColoniesOne of the great ironies in the history of European colonialism is that the small country of Portugal established one of the first colonial empires and then retained its colonial possessions well after most other European nations had lost theirs. Congo) in Africa, ruled by Belgium from 1908 until 1960. Belgian rule in the Congo was based on the "colonial trinity" (trinit coloniale) of state, missionary and private company interests. POST-1945 HISTORICAL CONTEXTS ." But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. German Colonial Rule - African Studies - Oxford Bibliographies - obo Leopold II personally accumulated considerable wealth from exports of rubber and ivory acquired at gunpoint. [18], While the Compagnie belge de colonisation was granted the land in perpetuity, the concession did not become a colony in the political sense. Indeed, in the beginning, the Congo Free State seemed to be an unviable enterprise. The Congo under Belgian Rule 19081960. As the result of a widespread and increasingly radical pro-independence movement, the Congo achieved independence, as the Republic of Congo-Lopoldville in 1960. The Belgians found willing elites to help them rule Rwanda. Belgians, including their government, adopted an ambivalent, even indifferent attitude towards their empire. It was during the Belgian colonial administration that the foundations for the postcolonial and present-day ethnic tensions and political instability were laid. By the time independent Belgium might have been in a position to consider an overseas empire, major imperial powers such as the United Kingdom and France already had the most economically promising territories for colonization within their spheres of influence. 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. Encyclopedia of Race and Racism. The lowest level of administration consisted of the indigenous authorities, the more or less "authentic" traditional African chiefs, who were strictly controlled by Belgian officials. The scramble for colonies. On February 5, 1885, Belgian King Leopold II established the Congo Free State by brutally seizing the African landmass as his personal possession. How long should I wait to text after being left on read? Congo is a multiethnic country with about two hundred ethnic groups. [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. 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. They occupied a large part of this German colony. London: Zed Books, 2002. Colonisation of Africa - Wikipedia 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. With the support of the Free State's military, the Force Publique, the territory was divided into private concessions. Why did they cut off hands in the Congo? The Belgian claim was never formally recognised and the proposal was dropped in 1908. The scramble for colonies was the brainchild of Leopold II, king of Belgium. 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). They also shared the same culture, ate the same or similar foods, and practiced the same religion. 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. This was essentially a trading post rather than a colony, and reverted to China in 1930. Leopold II was absolute ruler of Congo. Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. Through intermarriage and socioeconomic contacts, interethnic strife was benign. As a result, Leopold pursued his colonial ambitions without the support of the Belgian government. 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. Of Belgium's other colonies, the most significant was Ruanda-Urundi, a portion of German East Africa, which was given to Belgium as a League of Nations Mandate, when Germany lost all of its colonies at the end of World War I. With the exception of Brandenburg-Prussia's short-lived attempt to gain a foothold on the West African coast and to participate in the 17th-century transatlantic slave trade, German colonialism began only in the 1880s. During the 1840s and 50s, King Leopold I tentatively supported several proposals to acquire territories overseas. History of Europe - The scramble for colonies | Britannica What countries did Italy colonize in Africa? - Study.com In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. German colonists entered the area in the 1880s, and in 1891 the Germans declared the region a protectorate as part of German East Africa. The period ended after World War I, and by the 1970s most of the European colonies in Africa had become independent. A map, published in Portugal in 1623, showing a representation of Africa as understood by colonizers. 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. The new colony comprised a land bigger than western Europe and seventy-four times larger than Belgium, and belonged to Leopold II as a personal possession. Second, these leaders exacerbated ethnic rivalries and tensions to stay in power. Leopold II tried to interest his government in establishing colonies, but it lacked the resources to develop the candidate territories and turned down his plans. 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. Their ambivalence resulted in Leopolds establishing a colony himself. How do I get rid of whiteheads on my nose naturally? These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. The Belgian concession was proclaimed on 7 November 1900 and spanned some 100 hectares (250 acres). 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. Justice was to be administered by judges named by the government (art. [CDATA[ 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. Finally in 1908, Leopold was forced to hand over the Congo Free State, his personal fiefdom, to the Belgian state. As the strategic importance of Mobutu disappeared with the end of the cold war, little or no attention was paid to the Congo. When Laurent Kabila drove him from power in 1997, Mobutus wealth deposited in foreign banks was in excess of $4 billion. According to one estimate, casualties were as high as 66 percent of the local population. In French. These organizations, controlled by the king himself, had in fact a commercial purpose. Both Hutus and Tutsis served in the kings military. "Africa: Belgian Colonies The Anglo-Belgian India Rubber Company (ABIR), among others, used force and brutality to extract profit from the territory. Belgium itself had gained independence in 1831 when it broke away from the Netherlands and became a new nation. The main contenders in this region, particularly France and the United Kingdom, hoped to reap the benefits of Leopold's "whim," which, in their opinion, would not last long. Specifically, in 1929, they eliminated all the non-Tutsi chiefs, and as a result the Hutus lost all their representation in the colonial government. 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. Immediately after independence on June 30, 1960, ethnic and personal rivalriesinfluenced by Belgium, other European nations, and the United Statessent the newly independent country into political crisis. Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism since 1450. . During the 1940s and 1950s, the Congo had extensive urbanization, and the colonial administration began various development programmes aimed at making the territory into a "model colony". 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 . . No democratic institutions were established. EUROPEAN EFFORTS TO REINVENT OVERSEA, colony, any nonself-governing territory subject to the jurisdiction of a usually distant country. They favored the takeover of political power by the latter, a policy that succeeded in Rwanda but failed in Burundi. However, the date of retrieval is often important.
