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

The Belgian people responded to these various attempts in lukewarm or hostile
terms. Most immigration was to the cities of Belgium, not the coast of Guatemala. On
the other hand, the unemployment and general disruption of the economic life of many
Belgians did create motivation to emigrate. The irony of this was that the most
successful emigrations were without substantial governmental involvement and in areas
that offered no real commercial or colonial options such as Wisconsin, Louisiana, and
Texas in the United States. The opposition of the chambers to the use of government
funds on overseas adventures at the expense of investment at home during this time of
economic strife was certainly understandable.
Religion and missionary zeal simply did not play any role in Belgian efforts.
The two most involved colonial establishments discussed, Santo Tomas and Santa
Catarina, were in Catholic countries, as was Belgium. There would have been little
success for Catholic missionary activity in either Texas or Rio Nunez due to what
would have been strong and vociferous opposition by the Protestant and Muslim
residents, respectively. Lastly, it is necessary to remember that despite his acceptance of
and acquiescence to Catholicism as the predominant religion in Belgium, Leopold was a
Protestant with little interest in conversion of any nature.
The issue of racial superiority that so permeated late nineteenth century Europe
was certainly not absent from the first half of the nineteenth century. It was simply
disorganized and general in its outlook. It took Herbert Spencer’s reworking of Charles
Darwin, to produce a workable, if not distorted, view of survival of the fittest and its
related hierarchy of race. No effort by Belgium or Leopold, however, reflected this
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