The Congolese petty bourgeoisie remained embryonic: local entrepreneurs or proprietors were almost nonexistent. Belgian authorities were caught practically unprepared by the sudden wave of black political activism, and subsequently engaged in a process of "precipitous decolonization." These organizations, controlled by the king himself, had in fact a commercial purpose. This ended with the seizure of power by Joseph-Dsir Mobutu. On September 5, President Kasavubu dismissed Lumumba as prime minister. colony, any nonself-governing territory subject to the jurisdiction of a usually distant country. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. However, one of the main failures of Belgian colonial policy was the choice not to develop an indigenous elite. 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. He proclaimed himself king-sovereign of Congo Free State at a time when France, Britain, Portugal, and Germany also had colonies in the area. 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.com. This led to him being remembered in Belgium today as the "Builder-King." Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall. 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. As a latecomer in the struggle for colonies, Germany had to settle for four territories, called "protectorates," in . 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. Katan Bensamoun, Yvette, Rama Chalak, and Jacques-Robert Katan. 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. 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. Retrieved April 27, 2023 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/africa-belgian-colonies. . It was, however, the third largest colonial territory in Africa; in contrast, the possessions of Belgium's more powerful neighbor, Germany, came sixth in size. Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism since 1450. . The other chief colonisers were France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Portugal and Spain. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1966. The main aim of these so-called volus in resisting the Belgian colonial administration was to redress the gross inequality. N'Daywel Nziem, Isidore. Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. The king imposed a harsh labor regime on the Congolese populations in order to extort ever-growing amounts of wild rubber. Histoire gnrale du Congo: De l'hritage ancien la Rpublique Dmocratique, 2nd ed. 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. The first wave of genocide by the Hutus against the Tutsis took place earlier, however, under the administration of the Belgians in 1959. To summarize, the ethnic rivalries and tensions in the former Belgian colonies of Congo and Rwanda that escalated following independence and continued into the twenty-first century had their roots in the Belgian colonial administration. In 1955 some of the few Congolese educated-elites organized a resistance to the lack of democracy and the apartheid policies of the Belgian colonial masters. The Rwanda genocide of 1994 helped exacerbate ethnic and political tensions in the Congo. They occupied a large part of this German colony. Justice was to be administered by judges named by the government (art. Leopold II was absolute ruler of Congo. Africans and Their History, 2nd ed. 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. Taking advantage of the political conflict between the president and the prime minister, Mobutu encouraged the military to revolt. Within the Cite this article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. [1] Greeks colonised Cyrenaica around the . Rafael Carrera gave them the region in exchange for sixteen thousand pesos every year from the government of Guatemala. "Belgium's African Colonies [1], Much of the initial infrastructure was the work of Stanley Morton Stanley who, having extensively explored the Congo, was employed by Leopold from 1878. Belgium controlled 3 colonies and 3 concessions during its history, the Belgian Congo (modern DRC) from 1908 to 1960, and Ruanda-Urundi (Rwanda and Burundi) from 1922 to 1962. In 1897 a Swedish missionary told a London meeting how Leopolds soldiers were rewarded by the number of Congolese hands they amputated as punishment to native workers for failure to work hard enough. 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 well-planned genocide started when the Hutu presidents of Rwanda and Burundi were shot down, allegedly by Tutsi rebel soldiers. . 2023 . 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). In 1482 the Portuguese navigator Diogo Co became the first European to come to the Congo. Although a few attempts were made by the first king, Leopold I (1790-1865), these were not successful. By the time Belgium's second king, Leopold II, was crowned, Belgian enthusiasm for colonialism had abated. The Belgian colonial empire consisted of three African colonies possessed by Belgium between 1901 to 1962. The second king of Belgium, Leopold II, was a very ambitious man who wanted to personally enrich himself and enhance his countrys prestige by annexing and colonizing lands in Africa. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Belgium's African ColoniesWhen Belgium became a nation in 1830, it had almost no tradition of long-distance trade or colonial activity. After the Government assumed direct control, the treatment of the people did improve but only marginally. Along with several other European powers and the United States, as a result of the Boxer Rebellion, Belgium also gained a Concession of two square kilometers in Tientsin (or Tianjin; a Chinese Treaty port). It also had a small concession in China and was a co-administrator of the Tangier International Zone in Morocco. ." 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. The Belgian colonial administration built some schools, railways, roads, plantations, mines, industrial areas, and airports. 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. The Belgians even took the few leadership positions that the Hutus had and gave them to the Tutsis. 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). Following the Rwandan Revolution, the mandate became the independent states of Burundi and Rwanda in 1962.[1]. The Black Mans Burden: Africa and the Curse of the Nation-State. 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. When France, in the early 1880s, started to develop a political hold along the banks of the lower Congo, the AIC (which, in the meantime, had hired the British explorer Henry Morton Stanley (18411904) as its local manager) also began to conclude treaties whereby African chiefs recognized the association's sovereignty. 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. 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. Congo is a multiethnic country with about two hundred ethnic groups. 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. 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. 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). The Belgian Congo was one of the three colonies Belgium occupied. Ruanda-Urundi was a part of German East Africa under Belgian military occupation from 1916 to 1924 in the aftermath of World War I, when a military expedition had removed the Germans from the colony. New York: Barnes and Nobles. 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. 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. The former Belgian colonies have experienced a series of coups, civil wars and have a history of political instability. It replaced the failed British Eastern Coast of Central America Commercial and Agricultural Company. Whereas the Hutus were farmers, the Tutsis were cattle herders. Lumumba in turn dismissed the president, creating a political stalemate. Encyclopedia of Race and Racism. 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. Among the Congolese, the Belgians used the strategy of divide and rule. 111: 1223. This conflict has been labeled Africas war. Although fighting stopped in 1999, rebel groups continued their attacks on defenseless civilians and the Congolese central government. These conflicts resulted in many wars and episodes of genocide. 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. 7 What were the former British colonies in Africa? 2006. 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. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. 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. Germany's African ColoniesThe unification of Germany in 1871 constituted a watershed in Germany's imperial agenda of acquiring colonies in Africa. Anstey, Roger. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. New York: Penguin. For information concerning the period prior to that date, see Low Countries, history of. At the Berlin Conference in 1884, the USA, the Ottoman Empire and 12 European countries divided up most of the . [13] The country was split into nesting, hierarchically organised administrative subdivisions, and run uniformly according to a set "native policy" (politique indigne). window.__mirage2 = {petok:"n0hifXIP06k4AZAYPfhaWe9Vz2rtENJE3ukkjTyT.f4-86400-0"}; 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. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. It was relatively easy for this army to overrun Congo. 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. [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. There were other small LubaLunda states in Congo. 27 Apr. Autocratic rule did not need to find ways of negotiating how different factions could cooperate within a sustainable, participatory system of governance or access a fair share of resources. During World War I, Congolese troops participated in offensives against German forces in the area of modern-day Rwanda and Burundi which were placed under Belgian occupation. Mobutu ruled for thirty-one years and pauperized the Congo. ." The scramble for colonies. 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 the margins of the 18841885 Berlin Conference, the world's main powers recognized the AIC as the legal authority over a vast territory in the heart of Africa, a new "state" called the Congo Free State. Vocabulary. "Archives Africaines" of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Brussels (Archives of the former Belgian Ministry of Colonies). Other articles where history of Belgium is discussed: Belgium: History of Belgium: This section surveys the history of the Belgian territories after 1579. . 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. The many horrors and atrocities which disgrace humanity give way little by little before our intervention. Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. 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. Dakar, Senegal: African Renaissance. 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. //
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