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• Ethnic/religious groups of Habsburg Empire
• Historical breakup of Yugoslavia ('91-'09)
• Muslim populations in European countries
• History of Christianization of Europe
• Soviet Union, Communist influence
• Map of European ethnic groups
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• Detailed map of French colonization
• Detailed map of British colonization
• Napoleon's conquests & legacy
• Ethnic & religious map of pre-Nazi Poland

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• Pecs, Hungary: collision point between
Muslim and Christian empires

• Auschwitz and Birkenau
• Poland's resistance to Nazis in pictures
• Muhammad cartoon crisis in pictures
• Stalin's private summer home
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• Islamic Mujahidin vs. Christian Spain
• Poland-Lithuania vs. Teutonic Order
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• Prussia vs. France (Nazi Propaganda)
• Libya: Europe will soon be Islamic
• Ivan the Terrible vs. Muslim Tatars
• Soviet Propaganda: Defeat of Germany  

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An analysis of Mussolini's 1938 racialist legislation
The disastrous effects of Soviet collectivization on Kazakhstan
Changing meaning of Italian identity under Fascist rule
Yugoslavia's independent break from East and West
The Galicians: the Celts of Spain
The modern Macedonian Slavs and Alexander the Great
• An argument for the Romanians' links to ancient Dacians
• Mussolini's Italian death camp for Jews, Slovenes, and Marxists
• The disappeared Jews of Hungary and the Arrow Cross regime
• The Gypsies in history and today, Europe's public enemy
• History of Jihad in Chechnya vs. Russians
• History of the Muslim Tatars in Eastern Europe
• Post-WWII expulsion of 10 million ethnic German civilians
• Ethnic & religious history of Serbs, Croats, & Bosnians
• Breakaway states and independence movements in Europe
• The ancient Germanic Runic alphabet and Runestones
• Teutonic Order and their 800-year legacy in Eastern Europe
• 460-year struggle for Albanian homeland, and 540 for Kosovo
• 2,800-year-old white mummies of China, bringers of Buddhism?
• Alexander the Great's Greek descendents in Pakistan?
• Visual History of Yugoslavia and its breakup (1918-2008)

 

--MORE & NON-ENGLISH--

 

Map of Belgian colonization history
by James Mayfield (Chairman, European Heritage Library)

Print this Article        About the Author        Bibliography/Sources

Below is an exclusive map the ELA has published charting the historic power and influence of the Belgian nation and history in the last 200 years. Detailed dates and information are noted aside visual aids to trace Belgium's difficult colonial history in its African colonies. It does not show the power extent of the the Belgian Empire at a specific time, but rather all throughout its colonial history. If you have any questions, notify us.

Mapping Information & Extra Notes:

Belgium is one of the youngest countries in Europe. Its ethnic situation and unique history makes its political evolution very unusual. "Belgium" and the "Belgians" never existed. The region consisted of wealthy trade cities like Antwerpen, Brugge, and Ghent -- primarily populated by Germanic people rather than French -- who passed from original membership in Germany (the First Reich) to France, Burgundy, Austria, Spain, and the Netherlands. Its French minority increased over time, especially during the Napoleonic conquest of the region of Belgium. Napoleon's invasion excited the French minority into national revolt. After Napoleon's crushing defeat, the region was to pass to the Netherlands. The French minority, refusing to become subjects to the ethnic Dutch (the majority in Belgium and obviously in the Netherlands) as well as to become Catholic subjects to a Protestant nation, declared a national revolution. Many in the ethnic Dutch majority also sought to escape from Protestant Dutch rule. Ultimately, by 1830, a new nation was declared that gave the French minority great cultural and political dominance over the Dutch majority (which has continued since).

Electing an ethnic German king, Belgium now sought to become a wealthy colonial power. Belgium, with Italy and Germany, was among the last colonial powers in Africa. Like the Italians and Germans, Belgians sought to expand their coffers and influence by seizing the few tribal regions of Africa that superior powers (the British and French) had not already annexed. As the backwater tribal jungles of the Congo were free from European hands, the Belgians quickly marched into central Africa, ultimately annexing the central Congo by 1885. Today, the Congo is divided thricefold: the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with the Belgian Congo only referring to the last (the previous three were French). The Belgian Congo has a history noted for the brutality of Emperor Leopold, who blindly sacrificed the native population in an effort to harvest the vast resources of the Congo to Belgium. Liberal estimates cite as many as one million or even three million dead, though only some of this can be confirmed as being performed due to Belgian activity. After World War I, when the Allies forced the German empire to abolish its colonial empire, the German colonies of Rwanda and Burundi were given to Belgium due to their proximity. Belgium is also blamed for inciting tribal conflict in Rwanda and Burundi between the Hutus and the Tutsis, though the hardship and ethnic discrimination/stratification existed long beforehand. All three of these colonies were given freedom by 1962 as new and independent nations. They are among the poorest on earth.

Today, the ethnic situation of Belgium remains difficult to the point that many are concerned Belgium may partition itself into two nations in the near future. The Dutch majority population despises French minority influence, and vice versa.

Regions marked in red denote full colonial conquest by Belgium. Regions marked in orange refer to territories that Belgium acquired after World War I from Germany following the Versailles Treaty at the command of the Allies.

Click the below map for the full-size version! Click on the map again to zoom.

If an error has been made, please notify the EHL Staff.

 

 

________________________________________

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

James Mayfield is a historian and the Chairman of the European Heritage Library. I have a Cum Laude BA in History with a Minor in Germanic Studies (language and history), am presently working for my Masters in History, and plan to immediately progress to my PhD Doctorate. I have a special academic interest in Europe's diverse ethnic identities, languages, and cultures, and the political struggles of native European and immigrant minority identities. See my staff entry for more information.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY/SOURCES USED:

The image used as the basis for the map is widely redistributed and is not protected.


Copyright ongoing since 2008-, European Heritage Library®. www.euroheritage.net. All Rights Reserved. The European Heritage Library is a non-profit academic organization owned by
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