How long was congo a belgian colony

As members of the party began to protest more and more, they also began to provide functions and services provided by the Belgian administration, such as healthcare, judicial systems, taxes, etc.

The Parti Solidaire Africain became more and more like a quasi-government, stepping in to provide for the people, and uniting them in their membership and in a sense of belonging. Tell this, and re-tell it, to the children and to all those who are excited especially at such moments. In , the Belgian government decided to hold an election that would give Congolese puppets formal power over the governance of the Congo. Only men were allowed to vote. The Parti Solidaire Africain urged its members and the Congolese people to boycott the elections, by not registering and not participating in the election.

This movement and protest was extremely successful for a variety of reasons. The Parti Solidaire Africain was in contact with the Belgium government and did have some negotiations, as they worked out the terms and process of the protest. The Belgian government continued with the elections, not only underestimating the clout the political parties, but also the passion of the people. Many people were tempted by the idea of an election that promised genuine self-governance, so the Parti Solidaire Africain had to work extremely hard explaining the deception.

While Belgium tried at first to arrest Congolese men who tried to avoid registering for the election, they soon found that it was difficult to catch everyone, since so many Congolese men were complicit in the protest.

The Belgium administration issued the threat of seven days in prison and a fine of francs. Although many men were arrested, especially in the more rural areas, the boycott persisted and was enormously successful. Approximately 5. The overwhelming success of the boycott proved to the Belgian administration that Congo was ungovernable for them.

Deciding against a bloody and possibly drawn out and politically costly affair to make the Congolese comply, like the war in Algeria, the administration chose to cut the increasingly unprofitable colony. Moreover, international pressure was against them, as the United States was pressuring European nations to give up their colonies, aligned with the idea of self-determination.

On January 20, , the Belgian government invited members of 13 different political parties — 96 different Congolese — to the month-long Brussels Round Table talks. At the talks the Congolese demanded immediate independence while the Belgian government preferred a process spanning three to four years.

Free elections for the government were set for May. However, a rift between the leadership and the masses was exposed once the unifying desire for independence was achieved. The Parti Solidaire Africain broke along the true disparity of power and influence that existed all along between the elites and the masses and between different ethnic groups. After the May elections, the Parti Solidaire Africain began to fall apart along issues of ideology, power differences, and ethnicity.

However, everything was wiped clean when the military, the Force Publique, rebelled and mutinied against the new government and threw the Congo into complete crisis on every level.

The development of political parties and the boycotts were stirred up and influenced by other African colonies, such as Algeria, rising up and fighting for their independence. The goal of this campaign was to gain Congo's independence from the Belgium administration. Time period notes. Time period. Location Description. Thousands of Belgians have demonstrated in recent weeks and statues of Belgium's colonial leader King Leopold II have been vandalised.

Authorities in Antwerp have removed a statue of him from a public square. More than 10 million Africans are thought to have died during his reign. King Philippe is a descendant of the 19th Century ruler. This is the first time a Belgian monarch has formally expressed remorse for what happened during the country's colonial rule.

The remarks, however, fell short of an outright apology. In a letter sent to President Tshisekedi and published in Belgian media, King Philippe praises the "privileged partnership" between the two nations now.

But he says there have been "painful episodes" in their history, including during the reign of King Leopold II - who he does not directly name - and in the 20th Century. I encourage the reflection that has been initiated by our parliament so that our memory is definitively pacified. The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit.

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You cannot download interactives. A petition calling on the city for its removal has reached 74, signatures. I never imagined this happening in my lifetime," Ms Kayembe adds. It would be "really significant for Congolese people, especially those whose families perished," she explains. She does not believe it will not be quick or easy.

There are at least 13 statues to Leopold II in Belgium, according to one crowd-sourced map , and numerous parks, squares and street names.

Warning: This piece contains graphic pictures. One visitor to the Africa Museum, where an outdoor statue was defaced last week, disagreed with the idea of removing them - "they're part of history," he explained. On Friday the younger brother of Belgium's King Philippe, Prince Laurent, defended his ancestor saying Leopold II was not responsible for atrocities in the colony "because he never went to Congo".

The royal palace is yet to give its own response. For many years Leopold II was widely known as a leader who defended Belgium's neutrality in the Franco-Prussian war and commissioned public works fit for a modern nation. In , former Belgian foreign minister Louis Michel and the father of future prime minister Charles Michel, called Leopold "a hero with ambitions for a small country like Belgium".

He promised a humanitarian and philanthropic mission that would improve the lives of Africans. In return European leaders, gathered at the Berlin Conference, granted him 2m sq km , sq miles to forge a personal colony where he was free to do as he liked. He called it Congo Free State. It quickly became a brutal, exploitative regime that relied on forced labour to cultivate and trade rubber, ivory and minerals.

Archive pictures from Congo Free State document its violence and brutality. In one, a man sits on a low platform looking at a dismembered small foot and small hand. They belonged to his five-year-old daughter, who was later killed when her village did not produce sufficient rubber.