EARLY BELGIAN COLONIAL EFFORTS - The University of Texas at ...

colonization of, Brazil. The Société was one of several companies being formed at the
end of the 1830s and early 1840s to create Belgian outlets for its industrial products.
The country had been in the depths of the depression that the closure of Dutch ports and
rising protectionist tariffs had produced. The Société’s windfall, or so it appeared, was
the fact that it came into contact with Charles Van Lede. Like Abraham Cohen in the
Rio Nunez affair below, Van Lede has been the subject of various allegations with
regard to the nature of his loyalties. 286
Much of the discussion revolving around Van Lede is similar to that involving
Cohen. In the name of whose interest did he undertake the Santa Catarina colonial
effort? The answer, at least according to some Brazilian historians, 287 is that he was no
doubt working for himself. The Belgian sources, of which there are very few, do not
shed much light on Van Lede in any context other than the benefactor who abandoned
the colonists after 1845. 288 The tendency in Belgian works, especially among the
diplomatic officials at that time, was to place the blame on those who followed Van
Lede, such as Philippe Fontaine and Henry Schutel, while applauding the actions of
Gustave LeBon. 289
285 The story of Madame Marie Van Langendonck is an exception See Madame van
Langendonck, Une Colonie Au Brésil: Récits Historiques (Antwerp: Imp. L. Gerrits, 1862).
286 Van Lede was never able to overcome the accusations of the Belgian chargé d’affaires in Rio
de Janeiro that he had tried to negotiate the grant for himself and his own company
287 See Johann Jakob von Tschudi, As Coloì‚Nias De Santa Catarina (Blumenau, Brazil: Fundção
"Casa Dr. Blumenau", 1988); and Carlos Ficker, Charles Van Lede E a Colonizacìaìƒo Belga; Subsidios
Para a Historia Da Colonizacìalo De Ilhota, No Rio Itajai-Acu Pela "Compagnie Belge-Bresilienne De
Colonisation." (Blumenau, Brasil: Blumenau em Cadernos, 1972).
288 Charles Maximilien Louis van Lede, De La Colonisation Au Brésil.
Mémoire Historique, Descriptif, Statistique Et Commercial Sur La Province De Sainte-Catherine,
(Brussels: La Librairie Polytechnique D'Aug Decq, 1843).
289 Charles van Lede, De La Colonisation Du Brésil (Brussels: s.n., 1846).
139