Germany On Stamps: German East Africa 5Ct Postcards

Ruanda-Urundi Territory

In the First World War, Ruanda-Urundi (part of German East Africa) was conquered by forces from the Belgian Congo in 1916.

The former German colony was a Belgian suzerainty from 1916 to 1924, a League of Nations Class B Mandate from 1924 to 1945 and then a United Nations trust territory until 1962, when it became the independent states of Rwanda and Burundi.

Brief History

The independent Kingdoms of Rwanda and Burundi were annexed by Germany along with the other states of the Great Lakes region in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Attached to German East Africa, the region only had a minimal German presence.

In the First World War, the area was conquered by forces from the Belgian Congo in 1916. The Treaty of Versailles divided German East Africa with the vast majority known as Tanganyika going to Great Britain. The westernmost portion, which was formally referred to as the Belgian Occupied East African Territories went to Belgium. In 1924, as the League of Nations issued a formal mandate that granted Belgium full control over the area. The territory officially became Ruanda-Urundi.

To implement their vision, the Belgians used the indigenous power structure. This consisted of a largely Tutsi ruling class controlling a mostly Hutu population. The Belgian administrators believed in the racial theories of the time and convinced themselves that the Tutsi were racially superior.

While before colonization the Hutu had played an extensive role in governance. The Belgians simplified matters by stratifying the society on racial lines. The anger at the oppression and misrule among the population was largely focused on the Tutsi elite rather than the distant colonial power. These divisions would play an important role in the decades after independence.

After the League of Nations was dissolved, the region became a United Nations trust territory in 1946. This included the promise that the Belgians would prepare the areas for independence, but the Belgians felt the area would take many decades to ready for self rule.

Independence came largely as a result of actions elsewhere. In the 1950s an independence movement arose in the Belgian Congo, and the Belgians became convinced they could no longer control the territory. In 1960, Ruanda-Urundi's larger neighbour gained its independence.

After two more years of hurried preparations the former colony became independent on July 1, 1962, broken up along traditional lines as the independent nations of Rwanda and Burundi. It took two more years before the government of the two became wholly separate.

Ruanda-Urundi 5Ct Postcards Pages // Páginas dos Postais de 5Ct do Ruanda-Urundi

Posted in: Colonies/Colónias, East_Africa, GermanyOnStamps, Postcard/Postal