Map of Belgium's colonies at their maximum extent in the interwar period.
Capital
Brussels
Common languages
French served as the main colonial language, but Dutch was also used to a lesser extent
Local:
various
Religion
Roman Catholicism (Official)[1]
Government
Constitutional monarchy
King
• 1908-1909
Leopold II (first)
• 1951–1962
Baudouin (last)
History
• Annexation of the Congo Free State
1908
• Annexation of Ruanda-Urundi
1916
• Independence of Congo
1960
• Independence of Rwanda and Burundi
1 July 1962
Area
• Total
2,430,270 km2 (938,330 sq mi)
Currency
Belgian franc, Congolese franc and Ruanda-Urundi franc
Belgium controlled several territories and concessions during the colonial era, principally the Belgian Congo (modern DR Congo) from 1908 to 1960, Ruanda-Urundi (modern Rwanda and Burundi) from 1922 to 1962, and Lado Enclave (modern Central Equatoria province in South Sudan) from 1884 to 1910. It also had small concessions in Guatemala (1843–1854) and Belgian concession of Tianjin in China (1902–1931) and was a co-administrator of the Tangier International Zone in Morocco.
Roughly 98% of Belgium's overseas territory was just one colony (about 76 times larger than Belgium itself) – known as the Belgian Congo. The colony was founded in 1908 following the transfer of sovereignty from the Congo Free State, which was the personal property of Belgium's king, Leopold II. The violence used by Free State officials against indigenous Congolese and the ruthless system of economic extraction had led to intense diplomatic pressure on Belgium to take official control of the country. Belgian rule in the Congo was based on the "colonial trinity" (trinité coloniale) of state, missionary and private company interests. During the 1940s and 1950s, the Congo experienced extensive urbanization and the administration aimed to make it into a "model colony". As the result of a widespread and increasingly radical pro-independence movement, the Congo achieved independence, as the Republic of Congo-Léopoldville 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. Following the Rwandan Revolution, the mandate became the independent states of Burundi and Rwanda in 1962.[2]
^Kenny, Gale; Wenger, Tisa (2020). "Church, State, and "Native Liberty" in the Belgian Congo". Comparative Studies in Society and History. 62 (1): 156–185. doi:10.1017/S0010417519000446. ISSN 0010-4175.
^"Belgium's role in Rwandan genocide". Le Monde Diplomatique. 1 June 2021. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
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