Belgian colonial empire

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Image:Belgian colonial empire.png The Belgian colonial empire was the set of colonies of Belgium, lasting from 1901 to 1962. Within Belgium its overseas possessions were referred to as "the colonies" rather than as an empire. ^{[citation needed]}

Belgium has had two notable colonies, both in Equatorial Africa: Belgian Congo (1908-1960) and Ruanda-Urundi (1916-1962). In 1901 Belgium also gained a concession zone in Tientsin (or Tianjin; a Chinese Treaty port) along with several other European powers and America, as a result of the Boxer Rebellion.

The Berlin Conference of 1885 agreed to hand over Congo to King Leopold II as his private possession, called the Congo Free State. In 1908, it was ceded to Belgium as a colony, henceforth called the Belgian Congo. The rich Katanga province was originally exploited by a separate company. A temporary, leased annex was the Lado Enclave in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.

The former German colonies Ruanda-Urundi were occupied by Belgian Congo in 1916. They were mandated in 1924 to Belgium by the League of Nations, later again by the UN.

Belgian Congo gained its independence on 30 July 1960 during the Congo Crisis, and the halves of Ruanda-Urundi became independent separately as the republics of Rwanda and Burundi in 1962.

Following the independence of both colonies, Belgium kept strong but eventful political and economical relationships with the three succeeding republics, which still refer to the 'special relationship' whenever that seems to suit: Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo), Rwanda and Burundi.

Belgium's major modern day vestige of colonialism is its “universal jurisdiction” law which, it asserts, allows it prosecute human rights abuses no matter where in the world or by whom they were committed. Due to conflicts with the European Court of Human Rights, Belgium amended the law in 2003 in order to reduce its scope.