This is an interesting one for sure, so just relax, get a cup of coffee and enjoy!

Colonialism is a major chapter in Western Europe’s history. The period of colonization begins as early as the Great Geographical Discoveries and Christopher Columbus’s voyage to the New World. Since than the Americans have been the primary target for Europeans to explore, conquer and eventually settle and christianize.

The creation of the United States of America in 1776 marked the beginning of a new era in the Western Hemisphere.

In 1823 the Monroe Doctrine was issued (a document, delivered to Congress by the president of the U.S. James Monroe), which stated, that the United States would not tolerate any further colonization attempts by the European powers. These attempts were gradually reduced to a minimum, even though they did not disappear entirely (if you are interested you can read my article here about the time when France tried to colonize Mexico despite the Monroe Doctrine).

Back to Europe. 7 years after the new foreign policy of the U.S. as a protector of the Americas was implemented, a certain revolution in the Old Continent took place.

After the defeat of Napoleon in 1914 and his exile, a new country in Europe was created – the United Kingdom of the Netherlands (a buffer state, between France and the rising power of Prussia.) Now, this country was immediately shaken by revolutionary upheavals, which sparked into a full-blown-decade-long revolution, which ultimately ended with the proclamation of the state of Belgium (1839). The newly formed kingdom sought international recognition as a powerful state by embracing the two factors, which distinguished the European powers from all other countries around the globe at that time – rapid industrialization and established colonies.

Yes, both King Leopold I and his son Leopold II believed that since all modern, industrialized Western European countries possessed colonies outside of Europe, then Belgium too should acquire some.

Enough pre-history already. King Leopold of Belgium had expressed interest in establishing colonies wherever he could, just for the sake of building an empire, though he had a particular interested in the Americas and more importantly in the than existing Republic of Texas (btw. Texas was the only American state to ever be an independent country…just so you know 😊).

Texas won its independence from the Mexican empire back in 1836 and maintained its status as a country to 1845, when the U.S. officially annexed the republic. Long story short, being a new independent entity, Texas needed allies and economic support.

Belgium’s king thought that Texas could potentially be a very profitable colony, so numerous meetings were attended between officials from both sides to discuss the benefit of a hypothetical Belgian-Texas investment and alliance. It is worth mentioning that Texas was at the time in a much need of weapons, so a supply of war equipment and materials was a crucial part of the negotiations between Belgium and the Republic. In 1841 the Texas commissioner of War James Hamilton wrote a letter to the Belgian foreign minister, which basically said that if enough weapons were to be delivered in aid to the Republic’s war needs, then an “ultimate territorial acquisition” could be considered. That particular phrase of the letter was interpreted as a guarantee to securing the Belgium colonial interests in the region, so the king sent a man by the name of Captain Victor Pirson on a diplomatic mission to discuss the details of the future colonization.

Little did he know, when Pirson arrived in Texas he was immediately informed that the offer, sent in the letter previously, was withdrawn.

Apparently, general Hamilton had offered more than he was allowed to. Captain Pirson was obviously disappointed by the way things went out, but at least he was assured that the Texas government had nothing against Belgian settlers creating their own communities in the region. Nevertheless, Pirson still managed to visit a couple of Texas cities, which he wrote about in reports he would send back to Europe and according to him the trip was pretty enjoyable.

Although the Belgian colonization attempt in Texas was a failure, the kingdom still managed to take a bit of land in North America. Guatemala ended up offering an area around the port city of Santo Tomas to be administrated by the “Belgian Company of Colonization”, much like for example the “British East India Company”, just a lot more insignificant. The colony was not a success though, because the Belgians soon abandoned it after 11 years due to the yellow fever epidemic.

Belgium also had other colonization attempts in the Americas for instance in Brazil and Venezuela, but they were much more insignificant. At this point it was already pretty clear that the small kingdom wouldn’t be able to establish colonies in the Americas, but the Leopold and his infamous son never gave up on the idea. It wouldn’t be till 1908 when Leopold II acquired the Belgian Cong or the Congo Free State as it was then known.

Well, that’s all from me for today folks! Hope you enjoyed and remember: read, educate yourselfers and never ever stop being curious. There is so much more out there waiting to be discovered about our unusual history.