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

information, however, to allow a discussion in this regard. One thing that becomes
evident is that sometimes opportunity and chance, more often than desire and planning,
made the final determination as to colony, commercial venture, or nothing at all. This
was certainly the case in Texas. The Belgian interest in the Republic, especially when
viewed against the interests of the United States and Britain in Texas, and the Belgian
and British opportunities in Mexico, would require that decisions and actions be made
on the basis of sound field work in the areas of interest and a constant supply of deft and
accurate political intelligence.
The earliest contacts between the Republic of Texas and Belgium occurred in
1837 with the republic’s request for diplomatic recognition by Belgium. The initial
response of the Belgian government was to wait and see. Initially, the question was
whether the Republic would survive and secondly, how it would impact the ongoing
negotiations with Mexico for a commercial treaty. The Belgian attempt to place a
colony in the Republic of Texas must be viewed from three different perspectives. The
first was the desire for a solid commercial treaty with Mexico. The second was the
potential problem of how a colony would impact the United States and Britain. The
third was the contemporary Belgian colony in Guatemala.
The deft use of political intelligence contributed to the continuing Belgian
colonial interests in Mexico and, by extension, the Republic of Texas. During the
1830s, Belgian naturalists were involved in substantial research in Mexico that no doubt
contributed to the knowledge, political or otherwise, that allowed it to assess its colonial
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