Belgium's African ColoniesWhen Belgium became a nation in 1830, it had almost no tradition of long-distance trade or colonial activity. He described his view of the colonial enterprise in these words: Our only program, I am anxious to repeat, is the work of moral and material regeneration, and we must do this among a population whose degeneration in its inherited conditions it is difficult to measure. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. This antagonism, coupled with the high population density in these overwhelmingly agricultural countries, was to form a volatile environment in the following decades, causing several interethnic massacres, of which the Rwandan genocide of 1994 was the most terrifying example. They favored the takeover of political power by the latter, a policy that succeeded in Rwanda but failed in Burundi. . Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. It does not store any personal data. 21 section 2 Flashcards | Quizlet The Legacy of Belgium's 19th and 20th Century African Colonies. New York: Macmillan. Relations among the Congolese peoples during the precolonial period were largely harmonious. After the Government assumed direct control, the treatment of the people did improve but only marginally. Although the figures are estimates, it is believed that as many as ten million Congolese died during the period,[7][8][9][10] roughly a fifth of the population. Vocabulary. There were other small LubaLunda states in Congo. [3], Although the Congo Free State was not officially a Belgian colony, Belgium was its chief beneficiary, in terms of its trade, the employment of its citizens, and the wealth which Leopold extracted which was used for the construction of numerous fine public buildings in Brussels, Ostend, and Antwerp. Subnationalism in Africa: Ethnicity, Alliances, and Politics. Most of the ethnic groups speak languages of the widespread Bantu family: Kongo, Mongo, Luba, Bwaka, Kwango, Lulua, Luanda, and Kasai. This uprising led to the disintegration of the Belgian colonial administration and helped in winning independence for the Congo in 1960. 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. The rubber trade, which was of critical economic importance to sustaining Leopold's enterprise, was marked by especially inhumane conditions. The Congo From Leopold to Kabila. The Congo survived mainly through the king's personal funds. Article 5 stated that upon their arrival on the territory, the settlers would become Guatemalan natives (indignes de Guatemala) fully subject to the existing constitution and laws of the country, relinquishing their former Belgian or other national birthright, as well as any claim to any privileges or immunity as foreigners.
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