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Belgian Colonial Empire
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 1894 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 countr ...
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Belgian French
Belgian French () is the variety of French spoken mainly among the French Community of Belgium, alongside related Oïl languages of the region such as Walloon, Picard, Champenois, and Lorrain (Gaumais). The French language spoken in Belgium differs very little from that of France or Switzerland. It is characterized by the use of some terms that are considered archaic in France, as well as loanwords from languages such as Walloon, Picard, and Belgian Dutch. French is one of the three official languages of Belgium, along with Dutch and German. It is spoken natively by around 40% of the population, primarily in the regions of Wallonia and Brussels. The French spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi is largely based on Belgian French, as all three countries are former colonies of Belgium. Influences While a number of Oïl languages have traditionally been spoken in different areas of Wallonia, French emerged as the regional language of liter ...
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Baudouin Of Belgium
Baudouin (; 7 September 1930 – 31 July 1993) was King of the Belgians from 17 July 1951 until his death in 1993. He was the last Belgian king to be sovereign of the Congo, before it became independent in 1960 and became the Democratic Republic of the Congo (known from 1971 to 1997 as Zaire). Baudouin was the elder son of King Leopold III (1901–1983) and his first wife, Princess Astrid of Sweden (1905–1935). Because he and his wife, Queen Fabiola, had no children, at Baudouin's death the crown passed to his younger brother, King Albert II. In 2024, the Holy See opened the cause for his beatification, which gave him the posthumous title "Servant of God". Biography Childhood Prince Baudouin was born on 7 September 1930 at the Château of Stuyvenberg in Laeken, northern Brussels, the elder son and second child of Prince Leopold, then Duke of Brabant, and his first wife, Princess Astrid of Sweden. In 1934, Baudouin's grandfather King Albert I of Belgium was killed in ...
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Tangier International Zone
The Tangier International Zone (; ; ) was a international zone centered on the city of Tangier, Morocco, which existed from 1925 until its reintegration into independent Morocco in 1956, with interruption during the Spanish occupation of Tangier (1940–1945), and special economic status extended until early 1960. Surrounded on the land side by the Spanish protectorate in Morocco, it was governed under a unique and complex system that involved several European nations, the United States (mainly after 1945), and the Sultan of Morocco, himself under a French protectorate in Morocco, French protectorate. Due to its status as an international zone, Tangier played a crucial role for Moroccan nationalists, who wanted independence, to establish international contacts and recruit allies as well as organising gatherings and events. Background: early international governance in Tangier For nearly a century after the end of English Tangier, English rule in 1684, Tangier was primarily ...
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Belgian Concession Of Tianjin
The Belgian concession of Tianjin (; ; ) was a 120-acre Belgian colonial empire, Belgian Colonialism, colonial Concessions and leases in international relations, concession in the China, Chinese city of Tianjin between 1902 and 1931, the only Belgian concession in China. Although its own concession had not been developed, Belgium had been very active in the infrastructure construction of Tianjin Huajie and other concessions, and can be called the "engineering captain" in the concessions of various other countries including the old city of Tianjin. History Despite not sending in troops to fight during the Boxer Rebellion, Belgium was able to claim the parcel of land east of the Hai River in negotiations under consul Maurice Joostens, even though Russian Empire, Russia had claimed the land previously. After claiming that Belgium would build factories in the area, Russia relented. On February 6, 1902, Zhang Lianfen of the Qing government signed the Tianjin Belgian Concession Contra ...
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Santo Tomás, Guatemala (1843–1854)
Santo ('saint' in various languages) may refer to: People * Santo (given name) * Santo (surname) * El Santo, Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta (1917–1984), Mexican wrestler and actor * Bob Santo or Santo, stage name of Ghanaian comedian John Evans Kwadwo Bosompem (1940–2002) * Ferdinand III of Castile (1200–1252) called "''el Santo''" ("the Saint") Places * Santo, Ouest, Haiti, a village * Santō, Shiga, Japan, a town * Santo, Texas, United States, an unincorporated community * Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua, Italy, known locally as ''il Santo'' *Espiritu Santo, the largest island of Vanuatu, nicknamed Santo **Luganville, known locally as Santo Arts and entertainment *Santo (art), a wooden or ivory statue depicting a holy figure * ''Santo'' (EP), by Alonso Brito, 2008 * "Santo" (song), by Christina Aguilera, 2022 *"Santo", a song by Ely Buendia * ''Il Santo'' (novel), Antonio Fogazzaro, 1905 See also * * *Los Santos (other) *Santos (other) *Santa (disambigu ...
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South Sudan
South Sudan (), officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the north by Sudan; on the east by Ethiopia; on the south by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya; and on the west by the Central African Republic. South Sudan's diverse landscape includes vast plains and plateaus, dry and tropical savannahs, inland floodplains, and forested mountains. The Nile, Nile River system is the defining physical feature of the country, running south to north across its center, which is dominated by a large swamp known as the Sudd. South Sudan has a population of just over 12.7 million in 2024. Juba is the Capital city, capital and largest city. Sudan was occupied by History of Egypt under the Muhammad Ali dynasty, Egypt under the Muhammad Ali dynasty and governed as an Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian condominium until Sudanese independence in 1956. Following the First Sudanese Civil War, the Southern Sudan Autonomous ...
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Central Equatoria
Central Equatoria is a states of South Sudan, state in South Sudan. With an area of , it is the smallest of the original South Sudanese states. Its previous name was Bahr al-Jabal (also Bahr-el-Jebel), named after a tributary of the White Nile that flows through the state. It was renamed Central Equatoria in the first Interim Legislative Assembly on 1 April 2005 under the government of Southern Sudan (2005–2011), government of Southern Sudan. Central Equatoria seceded from Sudan as part of the South Sudan, Republic of South Sudan on 9 July 2011. The state's capital, Juba, is also the national capital of South Sudan. On October 2, 2015, the state was split into three states: Jubek State, Jubek, Terekeka State, Terekeka, and Yei River State, Yei River. The state of Central Equatoria was re-established by a peace agreement signed on 22 February 2020. Administrative divisions Central Equatoria, like other states in South Sudan, is subdivided into counties, which are further divid ...
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Lado Enclave
The Lado Enclave (; ) was a leased territory administered by the Congo Free State and later by the Belgian Congo that existed from 1894 until 1910. Situated on the west bank of the Upper Nile in what is now South Sudan and northwest Uganda, it was neither an Enclave and exclave, enclave nor exclave in the strict geographic sense. Its capital was the town of Lado, South Sudan, Lado. History Traditionally the home of the Lugbara people, Lugbara, Kakwa people, Kakwa, Bari people, Bari,Gleichen, p. 79. and Moru peoples, the area became part of the Ottoman-Egyptian province of Equatoria, and was first visited by Europeans in 1841/42, becoming an ivory and slave trading centre. Lado, as part of the Bahr el Ghazal (region of South Sudan), Bahr-el-Ghazal, came under the control of the Khedivate of Egypt and in 1869 Sir Samuel Baker created an administration in the area, based in Gondokoro, suppressed the slave trade and opened up the area to commerce. Charles George Gordon succeeded Bake ...
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Burundi
Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is located in the Great Rift Valley at the junction between the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa, with a population of over 14 million people. It is bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and southeast, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west; Lake Tanganyika lies along its southwestern border. The political capital city is Gitega and the economic capital city is Bujumbura. The Great Lakes Twa, Twa, Hutu and Tutsi peoples have lived in Burundi for at least 500 years. For more than 200 of those years, Burundi was an independent Kingdom of Burundi, kingdom. In 1885, it became part of the German colony of German East Africa. After the First World War and German Revolution of 1918–19, Germany's defeat, the League of Nations mandated the territories of Burundi and neighboring Rwanda to Belgium in a combined territory called Rwanda-Urundi. After the Se ...
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Democratic Republic Of The Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is the List of African countries by area, second-largest country in Africa and the List of countries and dependencies by area, 11th-largest in the world. With a population of around 112 million, the DR Congo is the most populous nominally List of countries and territories where French is an official language, Francophone country in the world. Belgian French, French is the official and most widely spoken language, though there are Languages of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, over 200 indigenous languages. The national capital and largest city is Kinshasa, which is also the economic center. The country is bordered by the Republic of the Congo, the Cabinda Province, Cabinda exclave of Angola, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the west; the Cen ...
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Belgian Congo
The Belgian Congo (, ; ) was a Belgian colonial empire, Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964. Colonization of the Congo Basin, Colonial rule in the Congo began in the late 19th century. Leopold II of the Belgians, King Leopold II of the Belgians attempted to persuade the Federal Government of Belgium, Belgian government to support colonial expansion around the then-largely unexploited Congo Basin. Their ambivalence resulted in Leopold establishing a colony himself. With support from a number of Berlin Conference, Western countries, Leopold achieved international recognition of the Congo Free State in 1885. By the turn of the century, the violence used by Free State officials against indigenous Congolese and a ruthless system of economic exploitation led to intense diplomatic pressure on Belgium to ...
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Belgium
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to the south, and the North Sea to the west. Belgium covers an area of and has a population of more than 11.8 million; its population density of ranks List of countries and dependencies by population density, 22nd in the world and Area and population of European countries, sixth in Europe. The capital and Metropolitan areas in Belgium, largest metropolitan region is City of Brussels, Brussels; other major cities are Antwerp, Ghent, Charleroi, Liège, Bruges, Namur, and Leuven. Belgium is a parliamentary system, parliamentary constitutional monarchy with a complex Federation, federal system structured on regional and linguistic grounds. The country is divided into three highly autonomous Communities, regions and language areas o ...
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