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

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were the one by which they are generally referred to by Belgian historians and not<br />

necessarily the actual name or loc<strong>at</strong>ion.<br />

If this is the why and the where, wh<strong>at</strong> is the how? <strong>The</strong> method used herein will<br />

be to first discuss the political and economic conditions in Belgium, the personality and<br />

background <strong>of</strong> Leopold I, and his position in Europe. This will necessarily entail a look<br />

<strong>at</strong> his unique rel<strong>at</strong>ionship with his niece Queen Victoria <strong>of</strong> Gre<strong>at</strong> Britain, her then<br />

Foreign Minister Lord Palmerston, and Leopold’s physician Baron von Stockmar.<br />

Secondly, it will <strong>at</strong>tempt to discern the involvement and interactions, if any, <strong>of</strong> the<br />

Belgian legisl<strong>at</strong>ure the chambers, the Belgian people, the C<strong>at</strong>holic Church, and<br />

Belgium’s commercial sector. Lastly, for reasons to be discussed, it will look <strong>at</strong> the<br />

influence <strong>of</strong> maps in these <strong>at</strong>tempts as either participant or record 9 .<br />

It should be noted th<strong>at</strong> there are intrinsic difficulties involved in this analysis.<br />

<strong>The</strong> first is the st<strong>at</strong>e <strong>of</strong> the records and variability <strong>of</strong> the sources. Belgium is one <strong>of</strong><br />

those unique countries with two <strong>of</strong>ficial languages, in this case French and Flemish. 10<br />

As a result, a true scholar hoping to study anything involving Belgian history should<br />

have working knowledge <strong>of</strong> both <strong>of</strong> these languages. I have no knowledge <strong>of</strong> Flemish<br />

and where necessary have used Flemish transl<strong>at</strong>ors. In addition, I have <strong>at</strong>tempted to<br />

verify my French transl<strong>at</strong>ion with appropri<strong>at</strong>e pr<strong>of</strong>essionals whenever possible. Where<br />

9 Robert Ansiaux and Dennis Reinhartz, "<strong>The</strong> Truth Is ... Maps Are Weapons! Cartographic<br />

Impressions and the Doomed Belgian Colony <strong>of</strong> Santo Tomas." in Margaritae cartographicae. Studia<br />

Lisette Danckaert 75um diem n<strong>at</strong>alem agenti obl<strong>at</strong>a (Bruxelles: Archives et Bibliothèques de Belgique,<br />

2006), 241-259.<br />

10 Flemish, a language rel<strong>at</strong>ed closely to Dutch, was not recognized as an <strong>of</strong>ficial language in the<br />

country until the 1840’s, where after all <strong>of</strong>ficial pronouncements and government public<strong>at</strong>ions were<br />

required to be in both Dutch and French.<br />

9

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