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

markets and there was a series of droughts and crop failures that destroyed this
previously self-sufficient sector of the economy. As elsewhere, this resulted in
migration to the increasingly overcrowded cities, where the local response was often
less than welcome. There was no remedy available to these peasants, as strikes and
unions were outlawed. The government simply denied any social responsibility.
The government’s response was to begin a process of cooperation between itself
and business that has continued to the present. 89 There was a significant outpouring of
legislation regarding corporations and corporate interests that became closely tied to the
government. The availability of investment capital from both within and without the
country, especially France and Holland, allowed for a rapid development of business
entities whose identification as public, private, or royal could not easily be determined.
These eventually reversed the economic situation, but only over a period of almost
twenty years. Even more complex would be the involvement, especially under Leopold
II, of the king in his capacity as a wealthy individual as opposed to a sovereign.
Much of the confusion that revolved around the Guatemalan and Brazilian
colonial efforts can be, as we shall see, blamed on the inability to determine the position
or backing of the government or the king for these colonial ventures. The requirement
of governmental, if not royal approval, of these enterprises often confused the general
public as to whether these were royally, privately, governmentally, or commercially
sponsored entities or colonies. The Belgian Constitution does not clarify this issue. Both
88 Manhès, 124-26.
89 Ibid., 122-24.
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