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. All the major decisions concerning the Congo were made in Brussels, and the Congolese were not allowed to participate in the running of their own country. [13] The country was split into nesting, hierarchically organised administrative subdivisions, and run uniformly according to a set "native policy" (politique indigne). Kabilas inability to disarm the Hutu militia and to share power with his former Tutsi allies led to war with his allies. The European incursion into the west coast of Africa and the consequent slave raids increased the migrations of refugees into Kongo. 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". This well-planned genocide started when the Hutu presidents of Rwanda and Burundi were shot down, allegedly by Tutsi rebel soldiers. 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. The whites had all the luxuries, and the native Africans lacked everything. In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. 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. Congo, mythes et ralits: 100 ans d'histoire. 2002. The former colonial power cannot be solely blamed for all the atrocities and political instability that has characterized life in its now defunct empire, but a significant degree of responsibility is attributable. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. In reality, Belgium's political parties and public opinion showed little interest in Congolese matters. As the independence of Rwanda became inevitable in the 1950s, however, the Belgians changed course and started to empower the Hutus by increasing their political and economic muscle and providing them access to modern education. 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. Despite Mobutus dictatorship, relative peace reigned during most of his regime. 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. OF DECOLONIZATION Following a general analysis of French colonial rule in the AOF, a separate chapter is devoted to each colony. //]]>. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. (April 27, 2023). During the 1940s and 1950s, the Congo experienced extensive urbanization and the administration aimed to make it into a "model colony". [CDATA[ Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. 2023 . Marginalized Africa: An International Perspective. 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. 1822) [19]. When did Germany colonize Tanzania? The United States and Belgium provided the money that Mobutu used to bribe the Congolese army to commit treason against their properly elected government. Most of the ethnic groups speak languages of the widespread Bantu family: Kongo, Mongo, Luba, Bwaka, Kwango, Lulua, Luanda, and Kasai. [12], Belgian rule in the Congo was based on the "colonial trinity" (trinit coloniale) of state, missionary and private company interests. Uprisings, revolts, assassinations, and other acts of resistance were common during King Leopold's rule. Histoire gnrale du Congo: De l'hritage ancien la Rpublique Dmocratique, 2nd ed. Africans and Their History, 2nd ed. The most notable of these empires was the Kingdom of Kongo, which was founded in the fourteenth century and centered around present-day western Congo and northern Angola. The Congo From Leopold to Kabila. Specifically, in 1929, they eliminated all the non-Tutsi chiefs, and as a result the Hutus lost all their representation in the colonial government. Belgian rule in the Congo was based on the "colonial trinity" (trinit coloniale) of state, missionary and private company interests. 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. From early April 1994 through mid-July 1994, members, Africa, Modern U.S. Security Policy and Interventions, African American Catholics in the United States (History of), https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/africa-belgian-colonies. The Congo survived mainly through the king's personal funds. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". The French first began colonizing Africa in the 17th century, although they did not start having a significant presence on the continent until the 19th century. 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. In 1966 he renamed the Congolese cities of Lopoldville (Kinshasa), Stanley-ville (Kisangani), and Elisabethville (Lubumbashi). Though its goals were purportedly humanitarian and scientific, Leopold used the association to fund expeditions and establish posts along the Congo River. King Leopold II of Belgium, frustrated by his nation's lack of international power and prestige, tried to persuade the Belgian government to support colonial expansion around the then-largely unexplored Congo Basin. He was, in fact, so successful in making the Congo profitable that at the Berlin Conference of 1884-85 the French struck a secret deal with Leopold that they would only support his territorial claim if he agreed "never again to employ Stanley in Africa."[2]. [citation needed], Leopold achieved international recognition for the Congo Free State in 1885. Source for information on Portugal's African Colonies: Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism since 1450 dictionary. 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). 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. 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. It was an apartheid type of social and political system. 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 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). Despite the modest improvements in the lives of the Congolese, the Belgians created two separate societies in the Congo: the whites and the natives. N'Daywel Nziem, Isidore. OF DECOLONIZATION A People's History. ." 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. Anticolonialism and nationalism found their way into the Congolese population comparatively lateindeed, not until the second half of the 1950s. 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. THE CAUSE OF DECOLONIZATION EUROPEAN EFFORTS TO REINVENT OVERSEA, colony, any nonself-governing territory subject to the jurisdiction of a usually distant country. 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. Revolts and violence against Tutsi, known as the Rwandan Revolution, occurred in the events leading to independence. 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. [15] By the 1950s the Congo had a wage labour force twice as large as that in any other African colony.[16]. Lumumba in turn dismissed the president, creating a political stalemate. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. Cawthorne, Nigel. Encyclopedia of Race and Racism. It was during the Belgian colonial administration that the foundations for the postcolonial and present-day ethnic tensions and political instability were laid. 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). On February 5, 1885, Belgian King Leopold II established the Congo Free State by brutally seizing the African landmass as his personal possession. New York: Times Books. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. Germany's African ColoniesThe unification of Germany in 1871 constituted a watershed in Germany's imperial agenda of acquiring colonies in Africa. The Congolese petty bourgeoisie remained embryonic: local entrepreneurs or proprietors were almost nonexistent. The Tutsis were willing collaborators to the Belgian colonization. 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. ed. They favored the takeover of political power by the latter, a policy that succeeded in Rwanda but failed in Burundi. It also had small concessions in Guatemala (18431854) and in China (19021931) and was a co-administrator of the Tangier International Zone in Morocco. From the 1920s on, heavy investments in the exploitation of the colony's rich mineral resources transformed the Congo into a major actor in the world economy. Third, most of the ethnic tensions in these countries are caused by rapid population growth and the fight for scarce resources by the leaders of the various ethnic groups. These countries accounted for more than 30% of Africa's population. These migrations created myriad problems both at the time and in subsequent periods. The boundaries of Colonialism, like those of many literary eras, are difficult to draw. Tyrants: Historys 100 Most Evil Despots and Dictators. However, the date of retrieval is often important. Mobutu was used as a Western stooge to stop an alleged communist incursion into Africa. In 1971, in a continuation of his Africanization policy, the Congo River was renamed the Zaire River and consequently, Congo was renamed the Republic of Zaire. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. The scramble for colonies was the brainchild of Leopold II, king of Belgium. Dakar, Senegal: African Renaissance. Fourth, European and American governments and the multinational business and interests have fueled ethnic conflicts in Africas former Belgian colonies for their own purposes. France began to rule a large territory in the west and north. Egypt was also under colonialism, but it did have a unique history . In 1482 the Portuguese navigator Diogo Co became the first European to come to the Congo. [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. Much of this was spent on public buildings in, Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Eastern Coast of Central America Commercial and Agricultural Company, "Early Belgian Colonial Efforts: The Long and Fateful Shadow of Leopold I", "King Leopold's legacy of DR Congo violence", "New Physical, Political, Industrial and Commercial Map of Central America and the Antilles", Colonisation dans l'Amrique centrale du District de Santo-Tomas de Guatemala, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Belgian_colonial_empire&oldid=1151384224, This page was last edited on 23 April 2023, at 18:24. However, the Government was not in favor, arguing that this could result in political instability. 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. 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. Intermarriage was not prohibited in this caste system. Taking advantage of the political conflict between the president and the prime minister, Mobutu encouraged the military to revolt. Even in the first decades of its existence, it showed little inclination toward overseas expansion. The period ended after World War I, and by the 1970s most of the European colonies in Africa had become independent. The king imposed a harsh labor regime on the Congolese populations in order to extort ever-growing amounts of wild rubber. After the Government assumed direct control, the treatment of the people did improve but only marginally. Secondary and university education were seriously neglected. 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.

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