History of Europe - The scramble for colonies | Britannica [1] Greeks colonised Cyrenaica around the . Christian missionaries were very successful in the Congo, where the Catholic Church is one of the largest in Africa (approximately 30 million members, or 55 percent of the population). ." 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. Bibliographie historique du Zare l'poque coloniale (18801960): Travaux publis en 19601996. THE CAUSE OF DECOLONIZATION 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). 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. 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. Source for information on Portugal's African Colonies: Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism since 1450 dictionary. 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 . Tyrants: Historys 100 Most Evil Despots and Dictators. The Portuguese colonial empire was the first and the last European empire overseas, from the conquest of Ceuta (1415), in Morocco, North Africa, until the formal handover of Macau to the People's Republic of China (1999). Encyclopedia of Race and Racism. By the 1870s, many European countries were looking to expand their control in Africa. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. 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. In the 1500s, Portugal colonized the present-day west . Encyclopedia of Race and Racism. However, the Government was not in favor, arguing that this could result in political instability. Protestant missions were present in the Congo next to Catholic ones, but the latter enjoyed, during most of Belgian rule, a privileged position. As was the case with the other former German colonies, the League of Nations entrusted both of these territories to the victorious power as "mandates." The boundaries of Colonialism, like those of many literary eras, are difficult to draw. In 1876 Belgium's King Leopold II convened the Brussels Geographical Conference, which led to the formation of the African International Association. In 1966 he renamed the Congolese cities of Lopoldville (Kinshasa), Stanley-ville (Kisangani), and Elisabethville (Lubumbashi). Precolonial Rwanda under the monarchy was highly stratified. Handelman, Howard. POST-1945 HISTORICAL CONTEXTS These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. During the 1940s and 1950s, the Congo experienced extensive urbanization and the administration aimed to make it into a "model colony". The concept of internal colonialism has become so widely used and applied that almost every minority group in the world has b, THE CAUSE OF DECOLONIZATION that existed between the Europeans and the Africans. Very little money was invested in educationwhich was left to missionaries, mainly Roman Catholic, and consisted of basic literacy and numeracy. King Leopold II and the Belgians extend their military rule over the much desired Congo Basin in Central Africa. Anticolonialism and nationalism found their way into the Congolese population comparatively lateindeed, not until the second half of the 1950s. ." A study of encounters between colonizer and colonized in French West Africa throughout the colonial period, focusing on "history from below.". Despite Mobutus dictatorship, relative peace reigned during most of his regime. Although a few attempts were made by the first king, Leopold I (17901865), these were not successful. Congo) in Africa, ruled by Belgium from 1908 until 1960. The scramble for colonies. On the local level, in close contact with the African population, the missionaries played an important role in evangelization, in (primary) education, and in health services. 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. 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. London: Zed Books, 2002. 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. They could also cheaply receive slaves and ivory and sell it at a very high price making a huge profit. Kanyandago, Peter, ed. [5] Many deaths can be attributed to new diseases introduced by contact with European colonists, including smallpox which killed nearly half the population in the areas surrounding the lower Congo River. Slavery and the 'Scramble for Africa' - Logo of the BBC For example, Belgian and other foreign interests engineer these conflicts so they can continue to loot the resources of Africa. Belgian native policy, which had rigidified the ethnic boundaries between Tutsi and Hutu and consequently had exacerbated the ethnic identity of these groups, was largely responsible for the intensification of ethnic rivalry between these groups after the end of foreign rule. Rather than control the Congo as a colony, as other European powers did throughout Africa, Leopold privately owned the region. Portugal's African Colonies | Encyclopedia.com Western colonialism, a political-economic phenomenon whereby various European nations explored, conquered, settled, and exploited large areas of the world.

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