A few notes: 1) Some are mentioning that the Congo genocide was when the Congo was personally the king's property rather than Belgium's colony itself. This is true, but I merely grouped them as all of Belgium's colonies were from their monarchs' aspirations. 2) I accidentally mixed up the Hutus and Tutsis in terms of which group was placed in control. The Tutsis were kept in charge.
@@lucinae8512 The Scottish attempt to colonize America (more there fail to do so) is one of the reasons why we have the UNITED Kingdom today (because the Scott's were broke afterwards)
Also the policies of Tutsi supremacy control in Rwanda-Urundi were not put in place by the Belgians, but by the Germans. The Belgians did continue those policies however after acquiring Rwanda-Urundi from the Germans following the end of the first world war and seeing how effective they were
It is quite wrong to group them. Belgian Congo and Congo Freestate are very different things even if the first was a consequence of the second. Belgian Congo is the name for Congo after parliament took away the colony from the king and functioned entirely differently from the quasi anarcho-capitalist madness of Leopold the Second.
Also naming it an genocide is not correct (I do know a huge amount of people were killed and more but it wasn't a targeted killing of a people out of desire to exterminate that people)
@@Wickedonezz Americans have similar tax rates to Europeans, it's just that theirs go to programs that benefit ordinary citizens, while ours go to another 5 aircraft carriers.
Xenotiic Some private company in the Holy Roman Empire founded a colony in modern Venezuela called “Little Venice/Klein Venedig” but it failed really quickly. I’m not sure what state funded it, or if it was funded by the emperor himself, but yeah, it existed.
Given that it was mostly a Dutch Colonial Governor who pledged allegiance to Sweden instead of the Netherlands, there is some interesting stuff there, but it shouldnt just be about New Sweden.
Alternate World where Texas became a Belgian colony "You failed the cattle quota, YOU'VE LOST YEE HAW PRIVILEGES." "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"
@@levmarchuk998 at the time, New Courland (Tobago colony) was owned by regular Courland, which was basically just Latvia. It was a puppet state of the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth. It could do its own things but in all aspects still was essentially a freer part of the PLC. Good catch though :)
history of hawai is so confusing, it's currently american, I know it was controlled by the british, I recently learned that france controlled it at some point and and learn that russia did too
WW2 Belgium: "We shall never surrender, and if, which I do not for a moment believe, our country or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the Texan Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old."
I wanna know more about this plan to colonize pennsylvania, a founding state of the union right in the middle of it. How exactly did they intend to pull that off?
@@StatiusLegioen Wether Belgium is possible is still up for debate, they exist as a country but due to their crappy systems it takes them a long while to form a government
@@morisco56 The last Portuguese colony to fall was Macau in 1999, and they've kept all their modern colonies until 1974. By "modern colonies" I'm not including early outposts in India, Japan and Morroco, nor Brazil
*Sees territory Leopold wanted in America* Me: "Um what? What is this Leopold? State-sponsored border-gore? This was an early sign of the atrocities to come."
On the topic of small countries having colonial empires, I'd love a video about Courland's attempts at colonies since that is the most obscure and tiny nation
@@mammilainen9003 You must be living in Texas , but actually a merge between the corevalues of TXS and BLG could be a great system , Texas better healthcare and we get to carry some guns , i will inform our" prime minister" , but she wouldnt understand me , she speaks worse Dutch then i speak French. Democracy is a complete farce over here , you wouldnt believe....
Lot's of Europeans founded cities in Texas after the Revolution. We have towns founded by Italians, Czech's, Dutch, and most notably the Germans who founded a colonial society and many cities in Texas such as Fredericksburg, Schulenberg, and the largest being New Braunfels. For a long time German was actually the third most spoken language in Texas after English and Spanish due to these colonies until the language and the German culture were kind of repressed during both World Wars as Germans were the enemies in those wars. Though German Texans remained loyal to the US including my Great Grandfather who jumped with the 82nd airborne on D-Day and Admiral Chester Nimitz who was born and raised in Fredericksburg, Texas. If you're ever in the area there's a really cool museum dedicated to him in the town that you could check out.
wait he wanted territories that were already states? so he wanted Pennsylvania, Florida, Michigan, Missouri, Republic of Texas, which is now part of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Texas, Wyoming, and Kansas and then other territories in Latin America, he just looked at central America and said "mine" I find it funny he didn't want any territory from Canada but being that Canada was still part of the British empire he didn't want to go to war with the British
@@math3000 damn, the very first king of Belgium rolling a nat20? that's luck for life. Sadly enough Leopold II then rolled a nat 1 on his colonization check and his international reputation saving throw.
Hey, fellow belgian here, I didnt even know we tried to get land in Texas, it was really inrerresting ! But careful when documenting about Hutus and Tutsis. When we aquired Rwanda, the Germans had already made the racial segregations, thus setting the groundwork for the genocide.
I wonder how the relationship between Mexico and Belgium would have been if the former had kept it's (second) monarchy and Belgium had gotten it's American colonies, considering that the Empress of Mexico was a Princess of Belgium.
King Leopold II personally owned the Congo as his private property before it was turned to the Belgian government because of public outrage of atrocities that occurred there, so the worst of the slave labor occurred while not having anything to do with the Belgian government.
Funny how even though Leopold was the favorite candidate to be king of Peru, right after its independence before he was crowned king of Belgium, he doesn't consider Peru on his ambitions in América
In WHEN WE WERE KINGS, the documentary about the 1974 Rumble in the Jungle boxing match, they mentioned that George Foreman brought his pet German shepherd to Congo (then Zaire), only to find out that the locals had unpleasant memories of Belgians sicking German shepherds on their subjects!
Congo was independent in 1960, what the hell are you talking about? You're confusing the Congo Crisis (which Belgium didn't even involve itself in) and the Belgian rule in Congo under Leopold II. Not only that, you're lumping the colonial regime of Leopold II in with the colonial regime under the Belgian government. Nearly every colonial power made use of slavery and genocidal regimes against slaves, the notion of "oh wait we don't talk about what they did" is as stupid as one toad calling another toad slimy.
Correction, the King engaged in genocidal atrocities. Belgium can only be held responsible for actions taken after 1909, since before then, it was the personal property and personal responsibility of King Leopold II
@@outerspace7391 There were around a thousand Belgians in the entirety of the Congo, which is about a quarter of the size of the entire USA. Most of them being something akin to a governor. Attrocities were rarely *directly* commited by Belgians. Obviously, those on top still have responsibility.
Belgium under Leopold I sent a lot of poor unemployed people from my area to the region of Verapaz in Guatemala. In rememberance of that, the city of Ghent named a new bridge the Verapazbridge. I visited the construction site yesterday.
@the Belgian Yes but Belgica was sadly enough not geographically placed where modern day Belgium is. Belgica was a region more in the region of France.
1:00 People have probably mentioned already that it was the other way around, Tutsis over the Hutus. Shows you didn't really know what you were talking about but just wanted to make Belgium look like they caused the genocide. IRL the Tutsi had been the dominant tribe in the country since precolonial times.
Others have probably mentioned this already about the Congo: the Belgian government did not want a colony and they refused to have one. Belgium was extremely wealthy at that time because of industry and a new colony would only cost money. The king, Leopold II, then acquired with the help and approval of other colonial powers the Congo Basin as his "personal colony". The name was the Congo Free State. The Belgian government was forced to take control over that Colony in 1908 because of the atrocities and the international scandal. They did not want it but there was no other country willing to take control.
Leopold I almost became Great Britain's Prince Consort, like Prince Albert: he married George IV's daughter Princess Charlotte, but she died in childbirth. (He was Queen Victoria's uncle, and both came from the House of Saxe-Coburg.)
2:03 it's mispelled ! It should be "Archives du Ministère des Affaires Étrangères et du Commerce Extérieur" (Archives of the Foreing Affaires and External Trade Ministry).
It was actually the King Leopold 2 who owned privately the colony known as 'Belgian Congo' during the time of the atrocities and enslavement of the locals. When the Belgians learned about this, there was a huge scandal and the King had to let go of his possessions and the slavery ended.
I know that there were pioneers from Sweden and The Netherlands, and a bit later on Germany in PA. Perhaps they thought 'Amai! That is easy we have Dutch/German speakers too' LOL
Exactly! I wanted to know what that was about, but i guess Tigerstar wanted a shorter video. The Texas thing was really interesting, though. I'm Texan, but i had never heard of it
Just one remark (and a mistake way to many history people make): the monstrosities in Congo were done in the Congo Freestate when it was a personal possession of Leopold II. After his death Belgium took over the colony from the royal family.
Livingstone, Stanley, Mackinnon, de Winton, Sanford, Conrad, Ward, Barttelot, Johnston, Stairs, Moloney, Bodson, and the list goes on. Most of the colonization of the Congo Free State was done by British people, often personally hired by King Leopold II. By 1900 only half of the 3000 Europeans in Congo were Belgian, mostly mercenary soldiers. When the Belgian Government took over in 1908 most of the brutal exploitation was ended. But of course colonization is colonization and that was and is an utterly negative thing. As the British and other historic world powers have proven over and over again in the history of colonization by committing atrocious genocides all over the world.
A group of Belgians did settle along the Colorado River and established the settlement of Waterloo Then Mirabeau B. Lamar moved the Republic's capital there and named it Austin.
As a belgian, I don't want to know what would have happened to Texas and Belgium. Maybe guns, pick-up trucks and country music in Europe and Texas the chocolate capital of the world instead of the firearms capital. Most of these colonial ambitions are ignored in history class.I might send this to my history teacher, maybe he'll like it.
Well back in those days a lot of Belgians were well armed, we had just fought a war for independence and culturally it was accepted to have weapons, the disdain for personal weapons is actually quite new, barely 100 years old... accelerated by industrialiation and don't forget the 2 German occupations and mass dis-armaments.
I'm curious if you could look into Klein Venedig, from what I know its pretty interesting, many german settlers in Venezuela and then basically all disappearing.
Something tells me the phrase "ultimate territorial acquisition" meant, to the Belgians, potential colonial territory. That is to say the phrase "ultimate territorial acquisition" meant potential colonial territory.
dude, your videos are really nice to watch but couldn't you invest in a better mic/ foam pads around your walls so it doesn't sound so echoey? besides that, your content is great.
Sorry to point out a discrepancy on you’re map at 2:24 but the 1830’s map of North America shows the border’s of Labrador that wouldn’t be established until 1929😕, as for the rest of the map , ummmmm………9 out of 10😉😅.
Around 46 sec you have the name wrong, the period you refer too is congo free state, it was the personal property of king leopold 2. Belgian congo was the name after the Belgian state took control becausr off the attrocities committed by the regime of the king. Belgian congo is 1908 and leopold congo freestate is 1885 till 1908. Just so you know so you can chane that name at 46 sec. Huge difference.
Sir Jaojao belgian congo had the most hospitals and schools in Africa, i know it was very paternalistic colonialism but you cant compare congo free state leopold 2 with the Belgian Congo. Two very different systems.
Horrible typo at 2:11 It should read: "Archives du ministère des affaires étrangères et DU COMMERCE extérieur" (Archives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and foreign trade)
Weren't the atrocities committed in the Congo in the 19th century by Leopold II's henchmen (because it was his private possession) rather than the Belgian state (and consequently the Belgian people) itself? Congo became a colony of Belgium from 1908 onwards but people tend to blame the Belgians as a whole for the atrocities committed there before 1908. Is there any reason to blame the country of Belgium for crimes against humanity before 1908 in the Congo? Or was what happened there the product of Leopold II's personal reign? Just asking out of curiosity and because I never saw this questions asked before, since most people assume the interests of Belgium in the Congo were identical to the interests of Leopold II.
Come on, this isn't fair. The Belgian king Leopold II was responsible for the Congo's misery, as a private citizen; the Belgian government stepped in to stop his monstrous regime. And blaming the Belgians for the Hutu-Tutsi mutual massacres is also absurd. The Belgians were guilty of colonialism, but they kept the peace between Hutus and Tutsis, cannot be blamed for fomenting hatred between the two, and the ethnic, racial violence erupted after decolonization.
2:22 That looks like my EU4 colonizing where I quickly try to grab 5 provinces in each area to block all other catholics with the magic of Tortillas. And also just grab the most developed and resource rich provinces.
A few notes:
1) Some are mentioning that the Congo genocide was when the Congo was personally the king's property rather than Belgium's colony itself. This is true, but I merely grouped them as all of Belgium's colonies were from their monarchs' aspirations.
2) I accidentally mixed up the Hutus and Tutsis in terms of which group was placed in control. The Tutsis were kept in charge.
Scotland tried to make its own colony in Central America, but came across the same problems as Belgium. Talk about that next.
@@lucinae8512 The Scottish attempt to colonize America (more there fail to do so) is one of the reasons why we have the UNITED Kingdom today (because the Scott's were broke afterwards)
Also the policies of Tutsi supremacy control in Rwanda-Urundi were not put in place by the Belgians, but by the Germans. The Belgians did continue those policies however after acquiring Rwanda-Urundi from the Germans following the end of the first world war and seeing how effective they were
It is quite wrong to group them. Belgian Congo and Congo Freestate are very different things even if the first was a consequence of the second.
Belgian Congo is the name for Congo after parliament took away the colony from the king and functioned entirely differently from the quasi anarcho-capitalist madness of Leopold the Second.
Also naming it an genocide is not correct (I do know a huge amount of people were killed and more but it wasn't a targeted killing of a people out of desire to exterminate that people)
"Hey Texas can we make a colony on your land?"
"You can send people over to settle."
"So we can make a colony?"
"That's not what I said."
@gianni bude your "free" healthcare isn't free, you have increased taxes
@@Wickedonezz Americans have similar tax rates to Europeans, it's just that theirs go to programs that benefit ordinary citizens, while ours go to another 5 aircraft carriers.
@Rick K arrogant is acting like john wayne againts the world
@@Wickedonezz Yeah we here in America have taxes and no free healthcare.
@@felixbabuf5726 the carriers are protecting Europe so that you don't have to run a large military budget
This made me remember of the German colonies in Venezuela.
Wait what
Xenotiic Some private company in the Holy Roman Empire founded a colony in modern Venezuela called “Little Venice/Klein Venedig” but it failed really quickly. I’m not sure what state funded it, or if it was funded by the emperor himself, but yeah, it existed.
Found out it was bankrolled by a noble family in Augsburg, purchased from Spain/the Holy Roman Emperor
Or the Scottish ones on Panama
Wait really?
The short lived colony of New Sweden along the Delaware. Conquered by the Dutch. I’d love to see a dedicated vid about that.
Given that it was mostly a Dutch Colonial Governor who pledged allegiance to Sweden instead of the Netherlands, there is some interesting stuff there, but it shouldnt just be about New Sweden.
@@MrPbhuh Man, there were a lot of Dutch Colonial Governors of non-Dutch colonies.
hello
@Dr ROLFCOPTER! That isn't really true though. The Dutch fought against Sweden in the Second Northern War
John B. At your house lol
Belgium’s like that new kid at school who tries to be one of the cool kids
Belgium also happens to be the little brother of an older kid whos also at that school.
@@Ismail-db1vj Belgium is that cute girl that secretly hide a corpse in her basement
@@ludwigvonkoopa4998 She also has a multiple-personallity disorder.
(Hands soaked in Congolese blood) "I just want to be part of the cool kids!"
"You'll never be cool!"
"Weeeeh"
Putain! Putain!
I like how at the beginning the map of Austria-Hungary includes Belgium
Mopscrub Haha,austria go BRRRT and eat up belgium!
It owned it for a while, Spain owned it for a while as well
Austrian Habsburg
@@briguy345
I mean, both Spain and Austria were ruled by the same family so...
Because it was
The last time I was this early , Belgium was still Spanish
Last time I was this early , Spain was still part of Roman Empire .
The best Belgium were the spanish low countries.
I still didn't had a beard.
@@AbrahamLincoln4 oversimplified reference?
@papa joe stalin of Stalinist stanistan last time i was this early hafia sophia was a mosque
To be fair, Belgium had a pretty hands-off approach to colonisation in Congo.
I see what you did there!
Oh God
ruthless
Based and rubber-pilled
Eyyyyyy
Alternate World where Texas became a Belgian colony
"You failed the cattle quota, YOU'VE LOST YEE HAW PRIVILEGES."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"
It's all fun and games until you remember both Poland and Italy tried to colonize the Americas and Russia owned part of Hawaii
Wasn’t Tobago technically first colonized by Latvians?
@@levmarchuk998 yeah that would have been so cool
@@levmarchuk998 at the time, New Courland (Tobago colony) was owned by regular Courland, which was basically just Latvia. It was a puppet state of the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth. It could do its own things but in all aspects still was essentially a freer part of the PLC. Good catch though :)
history of hawai is so confusing, it's currently american, I know it was controlled by the british, I recently learned that france controlled it at some point and and learn that russia did too
extrawaterplease I see, and by that measure Poland Lithuania would get to tax all colonial ventures
If their were a Belgian colony in Texas, the German Texans would march through it to get to French Mexico.
arch3223 lmoa 🤣🤣🤣This is a criminally underrated comment
@@luishart5279 thank you I'm glad a couple people recognize my genius
WW2 Belgium: "We shall never surrender, and if, which I do not for a moment believe, our country or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the Texan Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old."
Congo: **King Leopold II's Reign Flashbacks**
Fun Fact: There's actually a written porno with king Leopold.
@@Ismail-db1vj Rule 54: If it exits, there's porn of it.
wasn't rule 34?
@@marcello7781 yeah it's r34
@@wlinden It's rule 34.
Belgium: *attempts to colonize America*
Spain, Portugal, France, and the UK (especially Americas): You're too late to the party
*sad dutch noises* and the spanish and portuguese where almost none existend anymore
@@raccoon5046 The Belgian were attempting to colonize Mexico.
McWaffles, what a missed opportunity
We still made fries..there belgian fries not french fries!
I wanna know more about this plan to colonize pennsylvania, a founding state of the union right in the middle of it. How exactly did they intend to pull that off?
No way they could even think to afford to buy it. And that's besides that the government would never sell it for any amount.
@@JohnSmith-wx9wj Especially since the U.S's main goal at the time was "get more land".
Frank Bixler Dude, if ‘Belgium’ itself is possible...anything is possible! Hence, it is not a question if or how...but when. ;)
@@StatiusLegioen Wether Belgium is possible is still up for debate, they exist as a country but due to their crappy systems it takes them a long while to form a government
@@beu9245 downsides of democracy my dude. The US delegate-system ain't much better.
0:09 when you're sure he was going to say Portugal but then says maybe even the UNiTeD sTAtES
Portugal was the one who fought the hardest to keep their colonies. Mad respect to them.
@@morisco56 The last Portuguese colony to fall was Macau in 1999, and they've kept all their modern colonies until 1974. By "modern colonies" I'm not including early outposts in India, Japan and Morroco, nor Brazil
*Sees territory Leopold wanted in America*
Me: "Um what? What is this Leopold? State-sponsored border-gore? This was an early sign of the atrocities to come."
Yeah I'd be curious what are the explanations for the individual ones for that map
I feel like HOI4 AI were based on Leopold I
On the topic of small countries having colonial empires, I'd love a video about Courland's attempts at colonies since that is the most obscure and tiny nation
the idea of "Belgian Texas" is enough to send shivers down my spine
Why ? Not so different from French Luisiana, Spanish Florida and English Virginia if you ask me.
@@thomasvan3786 yeah. but its belgium. BELGIUM
@@cowboymooman8776 Yes Belgium is Belgium , what do you mean , tell me i live in the country.
I think belgian texas are the best thing for Texas
@@mammilainen9003 You must be living in Texas , but actually a merge between the corevalues of TXS and BLG could be a great system , Texas better healthcare and we get to carry some guns , i will inform our" prime minister" , but she wouldnt understand me , she speaks worse Dutch then i speak French.
Democracy is a complete farce over here , you wouldnt believe....
5:10 you accident;y repeated the sentance, just thought to let you know. Great video though.
Lot's of Europeans founded cities in Texas after the Revolution. We have towns founded by Italians, Czech's, Dutch, and most notably the Germans who founded a colonial society and many cities in Texas such as Fredericksburg, Schulenberg, and the largest being New Braunfels.
For a long time German was actually the third most spoken language in Texas after English and Spanish due to these colonies until the language and the German culture were kind of repressed during both World Wars as Germans were the enemies in those wars. Though German Texans remained loyal to the US including my Great Grandfather who jumped with the 82nd airborne on D-Day and Admiral Chester Nimitz who was born and raised in Fredericksburg, Texas. If you're ever in the area there's a really cool museum dedicated to him in the town that you could check out.
the first place Belgium chose was Texas makes absolutely a hundred percent sense
wait he wanted territories that were already states?
so he wanted Pennsylvania, Florida, Michigan, Missouri, Republic of Texas, which is now part of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma,
New Mexico, Texas, Wyoming, and Kansas
and then other territories in Latin America, he just looked at central America and said "mine" I find it funny he didn't want any territory from Canada but being that Canada was still part of the British empire he didn't want to go to war with the British
I would give a hand but it seems I've lost mine
I see what you did there ;)
It would be amazing if they actually taught this in Texas school. It would've made 7th grade a bit more interesting
texas history was underwhelming. it was half about the texan revolution and then half about the rest of the world's history
@@royisdabest Don't forget about how the Civil War was about muh states rights (owning slaves)
@@axelmaldonado2642 I remember that we just sort of glossed over the Civil War, but maybe we were just running out of time or something
@@BloodRider1914 in the same way my British education...glossed over... the American Revolution...
@@axelmaldonado2642 you’re one of those
No sense of national pride
Imagine what insane combination of luck and skill would've been required for Leopold I to have gotten all those American colonies.
He had to be very handy to pull that off
Leopold I rolled a Nat 20
Even as a Belgian, i must say i'm happy that didn't happen.
@@math3000 damn, the very first king of Belgium rolling a nat20? that's luck for life. Sadly enough Leopold II then rolled a nat 1 on his colonization check and his international reputation saving throw.
I think at 2:08 it's "commerce Exterieur" and not "ommerce Exterieur"
Hi
True "Du commerce extérieur" (I'm half French, half Belgian).
@Juicebox Honestly, I'm good on history but not in Colonies. So I don't think I'll schedule it xD
@Juicebox Ye I'm sry I just realized..
Hey, fellow belgian here, I didnt even know we tried to get land in Texas, it was really inrerresting !
But careful when documenting about Hutus and Tutsis. When we aquired Rwanda, the Germans had already made the racial segregations, thus setting the groundwork for the genocide.
dutch perspective: ok belgium we've left you alone for a few decades, lets see if you've been a good b...
GODSKOLERE
**insert joke about me being a Belgian here**
Also what is this music called i love it
NieldoesYT I just call classic educational RUclips music.
@@SirGrass ok thanks :)
@@warrenlehmkuhleii8472 finnally something that isn't hip hop
As a Dutchman i would make fun of you but i'm not certain wether you're Flemish or a Walloon
@@beu9245 Flemish
I feel bad for Belgium that they had to pretend they had Guatemala. They need some Juche
Long live kim il sung!!!
I love how frequently I find the Supreme Leader in the comment section.
Apfelmator long live the supreme leader
@@apfelmator I know right.
I wonder how the relationship between Mexico and Belgium would have been if the former had kept it's (second) monarchy and Belgium had gotten it's American colonies, considering that the Empress of Mexico was a Princess of Belgium.
Mexico will probably be speaking French.
1:02 you made a mistake they set uo the system that put the Tutsis in charge of Hutus
Hello
Hi
A correction: Belgium didn't put in place the system where the Hutus were in charge in Rwanda, the Hutus themselves set that up centuries beforehand.
Do you mean the Tutsis?
The tutsi were in charge mate?
Centuries beforehand there was not Rwanda and Tutsis with Hutus were just different classes of same people.
King Leopold II personally owned the Congo as his private property before it was turned to the Belgian government because of public outrage of atrocities that occurred there, so the worst of the slave labor occurred while not having anything to do with the Belgian government.
@vicky 2 gaming look at it this way: Not every american liked the Vietnam skirmish problem thing in the 60's - 70's....It's of all ages.
Mah boy tigerstar posted bout a interesting subject for the thousand time
Maybe he will do a video on hidden colonies of the Ukraine? ;)
1:57 And the reasoning used by Germany and Italy, of course...
Wow, those territorial ambitions are wierd. I’d like to see how they were going to colonize Wisconsin
Slowly taking over Wisconsin, 1 brewery at a time...
As a Mexican I'd like to know how they would try to get a part of modern Mexico lol
@@GetMeOutOfMyMisery Mexican with Jugoslavija flag? Nice 🇷🇸🤝🇲🇽
@@SaveznaRepublikaJugoslavija yuh
@@GetMeOutOfMyMisery May I ask why you take interest in Yugoslavia?
Funny how even though Leopold was the favorite candidate to be king of Peru, right after its independence before he was crowned king of Belgium, he doesn't consider Peru on his ambitions in América
He was a candidate to be King of Greece too
@@funnySIMON99 he declined the offer
First leopold not the second
He was married to someone to was to be queen the ku before she died too
Argentine litoral exists in the 1830
European empires: IT'S FREE REAL ESTATE
Back in that time wasn't argentinian it was land of the Mapuche's nation
Belgium isn't good at colonizing
Oh wait we don't talk about when they did do that in Africa as late as the 1960s.
Till the congo crisis
In WHEN WE WERE KINGS, the documentary about the 1974 Rumble in the Jungle boxing match, they mentioned that George Foreman brought his pet German shepherd to Congo (then Zaire), only to find out that the locals had unpleasant memories of Belgians sicking German shepherds on their subjects!
I wouldn‘t say Belgium specifically. Every country used slaves for their own benefits. Slave trade and racism were sadly common in those times.
"as late as the 1960's"... Congo became independent in 1960. Loser.
Congo was independent in 1960, what the hell are you talking about? You're confusing the Congo Crisis (which Belgium didn't even involve itself in) and the Belgian rule in Congo under Leopold II. Not only that, you're lumping the colonial regime of Leopold II in with the colonial regime under the Belgian government.
Nearly every colonial power made use of slavery and genocidal regimes against slaves, the notion of "oh wait we don't talk about what they did" is as stupid as one toad calling another toad slimy.
Glad you got back to work. Wouldn't want one of my favorite history/geography RUclipsrs to lose a hand
Correction, the King engaged in genocidal atrocities. Belgium can only be held responsible for actions taken after 1909, since before then, it was the personal property and personal responsibility of King Leopold II
Ma Pa My point being, it isn’t the responsibility of the country before 1909, but after, a whole hell of a lot of crap sure is
Yeah but it wasn't just King Leopold doing everything by himself, he had some *Belgians* execute his orders.
Outer Space bruh by your logic every serial killer was ordered to kill people by their governments
@@outerspace7391 There were around a thousand Belgians in the entirety of the Congo, which is about a quarter of the size of the entire USA. Most of them being something akin to a governor. Attrocities were rarely *directly* commited by Belgians. Obviously, those on top still have responsibility.
@marios gianopoulos source?
0:57 you have it backwards, it was the Tutsis who ruled the Hutus
You should talk about New Luxembourg 🇱🇺 next
@@turco-taiwanasegamer4852 Luxembourg is its surrounding countries' tax haven and a warehouse
Don't forget Andorra's claim to Siberia!
“War does not determine who is right - only who is left.”
― Anonymous
Didn't Churchill say that?
I saw you in the comment section of a psych2go video an hour ago
@@TheDarkDoritoWasTaken good ol anonymous churchill
Think Different - Thought Provoking Ideas You just spam quotes on everyone’s videos
Bot deteced
imagine the poor soul that dug through hundreds and hundreds of records just to find out that his direct ancestors were belgian-american
Belgium under Leopold I sent a lot of poor unemployed people from my area to the region of Verapaz in Guatemala. In rememberance of that, the city of Ghent named a new bridge the Verapazbridge. I visited the construction site yesterday.
“I’m still confused on what Belgium is.”
Waffles
South-netherlands
Us Canadians understand...
@@jojojojo4332 oh nice, so south-netherlands and north-netherlands are part of the Spanish lowlands yeah?
@the Belgian Yes but Belgica was sadly enough not geographically placed where modern day Belgium is. Belgica was a region more in the region of France.
1:00 People have probably mentioned already that it was the other way around, Tutsis over the Hutus. Shows you didn't really know what you were talking about but just wanted to make Belgium look like they caused the genocide. IRL the Tutsi had been the dominant tribe in the country since precolonial times.
Others have probably mentioned this already about the Congo: the Belgian government did not want a colony and they refused to have one. Belgium was extremely wealthy at that time because of industry and a new colony would only cost money. The king, Leopold II, then acquired with the help and approval of other colonial powers the Congo Basin as his "personal colony". The name was the Congo Free State. The Belgian government was forced to take control over that Colony in 1908 because of the atrocities and the international scandal. They did not want it but there was no other country willing to take control.
"Archives du ministère des Affaires Étrangères et *due ommerce* Extérieur"
Je croyais être le seul à l'avoir remarqué ._.
🙋🏻♂️ Moi aussi. Prof de français ici. 🇧🇪🇫🇷🇺🇸 Et sans blague, je suis texan aussi.
hon hon oui le baget
The cringe was too real
Quelqu'un va-t-il redresser le mensonge des prétendues atrocités de Léopold 2 ? Il les a dénoncées et arrêtées quand il en a eu connaissance.
Leopold I almost became Great Britain's Prince Consort, like Prince Albert: he married George IV's daughter Princess Charlotte, but she died in childbirth. (He was Queen Victoria's uncle, and both came from the House of Saxe-Coburg.)
2:03 it's mispelled ! It should be "Archives du Ministère des Affaires Étrangères et du Commerce Extérieur" (Archives of the Foreing Affaires and External Trade Ministry).
It was actually the King Leopold 2 who owned privately the colony known as 'Belgian Congo' during the time of the atrocities and enslavement of the locals. When the Belgians learned about this, there was a huge scandal and the King had to let go of his possessions and the slavery ended.
Belgium put him in charge
Damn, my country sucks, we either suck at colonizing or else we are doing way too hard
5:25 -- "On a diplomatic mission to . . ." - brain says "Alderaan"
3:08 Pennsylvania? Really? I'm from Pennsylvania and would love to know about that.
I know that there were pioneers from Sweden and The Netherlands, and a bit later on Germany in PA. Perhaps they thought 'Amai! That is easy we have Dutch/German speakers too' LOL
Haha, WOW. Nice one, Texas.
This is almost as absurd to me as the first time I heard the Order of FRICKING MALTA had colonies.
2:23 He wanted to colonize some random rectangle in the Gulf of Mexico?
No no no, you can't just show a map saying Belgium wanted Wisconsin or Pennsylvania or Missouri and not talk about it, lol.
Exactly! I wanted to know what that was about, but i guess Tigerstar wanted a shorter video. The Texas thing was really interesting, though. I'm Texan, but i had never heard of it
Love your channel man
I don’t want to live in a world where BELGIAN TEXAS is a thing
To be fair, you could have put pictures. There's exceptions to certain disturbing media as long as they hold educational/historical/etc value
well as a belgian i didn't knew it, thank you for this piece of history my country.
7:55
Alternate History Hub: Allow me to introduce myself
Notice how they only mention European colonial states , Turkey is ignored as are China and Indonesia 2 states that still occupy other peoples
Dang, Belgium had plans to colonize my home state?!
0:08
Germany!?
Hallo!?
*FRECHHEIT!* :D
Just one remark (and a mistake way to many history people make): the monstrosities in Congo were done in the Congo Freestate when it was a personal possession of Leopold II. After his death Belgium took over the colony from the royal family.
They might've stopped chopping off hands, but that doesn't mean there were no further atrocities committed. Please inform yourself before speaking.
Even though I'm Belgian, this is a story I haven't heard much about
Interesting video. I like your pronunciation of ‘Pirson’ as if it were ‘Pierson’.
You aren't gonna talk about how he wanted to just take the state of Pennsylvania?
I don't know if any one has done a video on the Klein-Venedig colony in Venezuela. But I think it would be interesting.
Small error I think you said the Belgians put the Hutus in charge over the Tutsis. It was a Tutsis minority ruling a Hutu majority.
Livingstone, Stanley, Mackinnon, de Winton, Sanford, Conrad, Ward, Barttelot, Johnston, Stairs, Moloney, Bodson, and the list goes on. Most of the colonization of the Congo Free State was done by British people, often personally hired by King Leopold II. By 1900 only half of the 3000 Europeans in Congo were Belgian, mostly mercenary soldiers. When the Belgian Government took over in 1908 most of the brutal exploitation was ended. But of course colonization is colonization and that was and is an utterly negative thing. As the British and other historic world powers have proven over and over again in the history of colonization by committing atrocious genocides all over the world.
7:58
I hate to think of what they would have done to the Comanche
Well, that's one part of the colonisation history of my country I never saw in class.
A group of Belgians did settle along the Colorado River and established the settlement of Waterloo
Then Mirabeau B. Lamar moved the Republic's capital there and named it Austin.
As a belgian, I don't want to know what would have happened to Texas and Belgium. Maybe guns, pick-up trucks and country music in Europe and Texas the chocolate capital of the world instead of the firearms capital. Most of these colonial ambitions are ignored in history class.I might send this to my history teacher, maybe he'll like it.
Well back in those days a lot of Belgians were well armed, we had just fought a war for independence and culturally it was accepted to have weapons, the disdain for personal weapons is actually quite new, barely 100 years old... accelerated by industrialiation and don't forget the 2 German occupations and mass dis-armaments.
Why there’s Italian music in the background
Barbeque flavored belgium waffles would be a nightmare
I'm curious if you could look into Klein Venedig, from what I know its pretty interesting, many german settlers in Venezuela and then basically all disappearing.
Something tells me the phrase "ultimate territorial acquisition" meant, to the Belgians, potential colonial territory. That is to say the phrase "ultimate territorial acquisition" meant potential colonial territory.
6:35 That was a pretty good pronunciation
Belgium also partially controlled tangiers / had a part of the famous tianjin city and lateron got rwanda AND burundi with the treaty of versailles
When you mention Sweden and Austria and not the Netherlands feelsbadman
They had a pretty big colonial empire for their size tho
small? Bruh
“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.”
― Voltaire
"Kill one man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill them all, and you are a god.
"
― Jean Rostan
dude, your videos are really nice to watch but couldn't you invest in a better mic/ foam pads around your walls so it doesn't sound so echoey? besides that, your content is great.
Belgium has a new colony now, it’s called the European Union.
Sorry to point out a discrepancy on you’re map at 2:24 but the 1830’s map of North America shows the border’s of Labrador that wouldn’t be established until 1929😕, as for the rest of the map , ummmmm………9 out of 10😉😅.
Around 46 sec you have the name wrong, the period you refer too is congo free state, it was the personal property of king leopold 2. Belgian congo was the name after the Belgian state took control becausr off the attrocities committed by the regime of the king. Belgian congo is 1908 and leopold congo freestate is 1885 till 1908. Just so you know so you can chane that name at 46 sec. Huge difference.
Then again much of the mistreatment of the natives continued, even if the worst atrocities were stopped, even in the Belgian Congo
Sir Jaojao belgian congo had the most hospitals and schools in Africa, i know it was very paternalistic colonialism but you cant compare congo free state leopold 2 with the Belgian Congo. Two very different systems.
Horrible typo at 2:11
It should read: "Archives du ministère des affaires étrangères et DU COMMERCE extérieur" (Archives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and foreign trade)
Weren't the atrocities committed in the Congo in the 19th century by Leopold II's henchmen (because it was his private possession) rather than the Belgian state (and consequently the Belgian people) itself? Congo became a colony of Belgium from 1908 onwards but people tend to blame the Belgians as a whole for the atrocities committed there before 1908. Is there any reason to blame the country of Belgium for crimes against humanity before 1908 in the Congo? Or was what happened there the product of Leopold II's personal reign? Just asking out of curiosity and because I never saw this questions asked before, since most people assume the interests of Belgium in the Congo were identical to the interests of Leopold II.
4:05 - I heard "Texas, yeah Texas" and immediately Thunderstruck started playing in my head...
Come on, this isn't fair. The Belgian king Leopold II was responsible for the Congo's misery, as a private citizen; the Belgian government stepped in to stop his monstrous regime. And blaming the Belgians for the Hutu-Tutsi mutual massacres is also absurd. The Belgians were guilty of colonialism, but they kept the peace between Hutus and Tutsis, cannot be blamed for fomenting hatred between the two, and the ethnic, racial violence erupted after decolonization.
The Belgian were that close to colonize Mexico. I wonder how Mexico will look if the Belgian colonize Mexico. Mexico will be speaking French.
2:22 That looks like my EU4 colonizing where I quickly try to grab 5 provinces in each area to block all other catholics with the magic of Tortillas. And also just grab the most developed and resource rich provinces.
It's a good thing Belgium didn't end up colonizing Texas. How would Texans draw pistols at high noon without hands?