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

significance of the maps of Santo Tomas was their apparent use as propaganda. The
images produced gave stability and order to a world where none existed. This use seems
to differentiate Belgium in this respect. The maps by Dally were also used to give
Leopold, for whom they were produced and to whom they were dedicated to by the
Compagnie, propaganda in terms of the colony’s stability and order as well as the
grandeur of a cartographic representation of a Belgian colony to Leopold.
Why then did the colonial efforts of Belgium and the imperialistic dreams of
Leopold fail? The people, institutions, and economy of Belgium simply had no colonial
memory. Leopold had a colonial and imperialistic impulse, but it was a British one,
which only existed because Britain had been a colonial power for over three hundred
years. Belgium did not possess the economic, political, and military capabilities to
create and maintain an empire. Belgium was a minor player on the world colonial stage.
It, or more specifically Leopold, was playing outside its league. Leopold’s death ended
his imperialistic dreams and the colonial interest of the people and government of
Belgium. However, Leopold I’s endeavors only whetted the appetite of Leopold II.
There is no doubt that Leopold II has become the arch villain of European
colonialism as a result of, The King Incorporated by Neal Ascherson and especially
Adam Hochschild in King Leopold’s Ghost. Despite the criticism that rained down
upon him both during his life and thereafter as a result of his actions in the Congo Free
State, there is one certain fact. Leopold II was overwhelmingly successful in the
creation of a personal empire in an unprecedented way. What did Leopold II do that
Leopold I did wrong?
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