As a result, Leopold pursued his colonial ambitions without the support of the Belgian government. The Belgian colonial administration built some schools, railways, roads, plantations, mines, industrial areas, and airports. In 1876 Belgium's King Leopold II convened the Brussels Geographical Conference, which led to the formation of the African International Association. . In the first years of the twentieth century, the Congo question became an important international issue, since the British government took this matter to heart, especially after an official enquiry commission, appointed by king Leopold, had confirmed the existence of excesses (1904). GENEALOGY OF THE TERM DECOLONIZATION Belgian rule in the Congo was based on the "colonial trinity" (trinit coloniale) of state, missionary and private company interests. This was essentially a trading post rather than a colony, and reverted to China in 1930. The Tutsis were willing collaborators to the Belgian colonization. The United States and Belgium provided the money that Mobutu used to bribe the Congolese army to commit treason against their properly elected government. Millions of Congolese died during this time. Even in the first decades of its existence, it showed little inclination toward overseas expansion. 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). From the 16th to the 17th centuries, the First French colonial empire stretched from a total area at its peak in 1680 to over 10,000,000 km 2 (3,900,000 sq mi), the second largest empire in the world at the time behind only the Spanish Empire.During the 19th and 20th centuries, the French colonial empire was the second largest colonial empire in the world only behind the British Empire; it . Following the Rwandan Revolution, the mandate became the independent states of Burundi and Rwanda in 1962.[1]. Intermarriage was not prohibited in this caste system. 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. 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 final decade of the Belgian presence in the Congo was characterized by a notable improvement of the living standard of the growing black urban population. Specifically, in 1929, they eliminated all the non-Tutsi chiefs, and as a result the Hutus lost all their representation in the colonial government. Ethnic Conflict. Foreign Policy No. (April 27, 2023). The archives of the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade show that Leopold investigated possible colonies in dozens of territories. ." 2004. 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. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. "Archives Africaines" of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Brussels (Archives of the former Belgian Ministry of Colonies). 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). Available at: http://www.diplomatie.be/fr/archives/archives.asp. The Congo under Belgian Rule 19081960. New York: Penguin. Congo) in Africa, ruled by Belgium from 1908 until 1960. In April of 1885 Belgium's parliament made Leopold the sovereign ruler of this new "state," called the Congo Free State, incorporating all lands not directly occupied by Africans. First, the post-colonial political leaders of Congo and Rwanda continued the Belgian colonial policies. These migrations created myriad problems both at the time and in subsequent periods. THE CAUSE OF DECOLONIZATION 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. 1972. Lumumba was assassinated within a few months of becoming Prime Minister. As part of the Treaty of Versailles, the major part of German East Africa was handed over to British control but Ruanda-Urundi, twice the size of Belgium but only about 2 percent of the size of the Congo, was confirmed as a Belgian colony by a League of Nations Mandate in 1924, later renewed as a United Nations Trust Territory. What are the most attractive personality traits in a man? 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. In the late 19th century, Belgian engineers were employed on construction of the BeijingHankou Railway, leading the Belgian government to unsuccessfully claim a concession in Hankou (Hankow). 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. Many European countries wanted to colonize distant parts of the world in order to exploit the resources and "civilize" the inhabitants of these less-developed countries. On July 4, the army rebelled. 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. [CDATA[ These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. Even in the first decades of its existence, it showed little inclination toward overseas expansion. Anticolonialism and nationalism found their way into the Congolese population comparatively lateindeed, not until the second half of the 1950s. European traders came to the new country, which was not a colony in the normal sense, but essentially the personal possession of King Leopold, to obtain beeswax, coffee, fruits, ivory, minerals, palm oil, and especially rubber. Rather than control the Congo as a colony, as other European powers did throughout Africa, Leopold privately owned the region. 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. 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). 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. A map, published in Portugal in 1623, showing a representation of Africa as understood by colonizers. 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. 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. Mobutu was used as a Western stooge to stop an alleged communist incursion into Africa. Encyclopedias almanacs transcripts and maps, Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism since 1450. 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). Britain, France, Germany and Belgium had territories on the African continent. 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. 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. Retrieved April 27, 2023 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/belgiums-african-colonies. that existed between the Europeans and the Africans. Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. [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 economic system of the kingdom was organized into guilds based on agriculture and handicraft industries. At the Berlin Conference in 1884, the USA, the Ottoman Empire and 12 European countries divided up most of the . The history of Colonialism as a policy or practice go, Amin, Idi c. 1925-2003 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). Idi Amin became the president of Uganda in January 1971 after a military coup removed the elected leader, Milton Obote, and he, Colonialism, Internal 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. During a period lasting from 1881 to 1914 in what was known as the Scramble for Africa, several European . Leopold II became known as the "Butcher of the Congo," where millions of Africans died as a result of the brutality of his rule. 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. The Belgians found willing elites to help them rule Rwanda. Leopold II was absolute ruler of Congo. Nzongola-Ntalaja, Georges. 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. 111: 1223. 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. As the strategic importance of Mobutu disappeared with the end of the cold war, little or no attention was paid to the Congo.
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