エピソード

  • Léopoldville 1944: The Force Publique Mutiny That Shook Belgium

    Léopoldville 1944: The Force Publique Mutiny That Shook Belgium
    2026/06/07
    In February 1944, while World War II raged in Europe, a mutiny erupted in the heart of the Belgian Congo. Congolese soldiers of the Force Publique stationed in Léopoldville rose up against their white officers, demanding better pay and an end to racial discrimination. The revolt was sparked by a simple but explosive grievance: African soldiers were paid a fraction of what their European counterparts earned, even though they were fighting for the same colonial power. Lucas and Luna explore the events of the 1944 Léopoldville mutiny, from the simmering tensions in the Force Publique to the violent crackdown that followed. They discuss the role of the évolués, the influence of Allied propaganda about freedom and democracy, and how the mutiny exposed the contradictions of Belgium's colonial project. This episode also touches on the broader context of wartime Congo, including the uranium shipments that fueled the Manhattan Project, and the growing aspirations for independence among Congolese elites. A pivotal moment in Belgian colonial history that is often overlooked. #Léopoldville #ForcePublique #Mutiny1944 #BelgianCongo #ColonialHistory #WWII #CongoHistory #Évolués #Kinshasa #Belgium #Africa #LéopoldII #RacialInequality #ManhattanProject #Uranium #Decolonization #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    8 分
  • The 1930s Luluabourg Railroad Strike: Belgium's Colonial Labour Revolt

    The 1930s Luluabourg Railroad Strike: Belgium's Colonial Labour Revolt
    2026/06/06
    In 1931, Luluabourg in the Belgian Congo erupted in a strike by African railroad workers that exposed the brutal contradictions of colonial labour policy. This episode explores the strike's origins in the construction of the Port-Francqui railway, the role of the Luba and Kuba peoples, and the violent suppression by the Force Publique under Colonel Léon Fiévez. We examine how the strike forced Belgium to negotiate with its subjects and set a precedent for later independence movements. The conversation touches on the chicotte whip, the Bula Matari system, and the emergence of African trade unions. #Luluabourg #BelgianCongo #RailroadStrike #ForcePublique #Luba #Kuba #PortFrancqui #LéonFiévez #BulaMatari #chicotte #ColonialLabour #1930s #CongoHistory #AfricanResistance #LabourHistory #Colonialism #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    11 分
  • The 1927 Lovanium Medical Faculty: Belgium's Colonial Healthcare Paradox

    The 1927 Lovanium Medical Faculty: Belgium's Colonial Healthcare Paradox
    2026/06/06
    In 1927, the Catholic University of Louvain opened a medical faculty at Lovanium in Léopoldville, training Congolese évolués as doctors. But behind the progressive veneer lay a deeply segregated system: Belgian physicians treated European patients with advanced medicine, while Congolese doctors were restricted to African clinics with limited resources. This episode explores the life of Dr. Thomas Kanza, one of the first Congolese medical graduates, who later became a key figure in independence. We examine the racial hierarchies in colonial healthcare, the role of the Force Publique in enforcing medical segregation, and how the Lovanium experiment inadvertently created a generation of educated Congolese leaders. The episode also touches on the 1930s sleeping sickness campaigns and the controversial use of African patients as research subjects. A nuanced look at how colonial benevolence and exploitation coexisted. #Lovanium #Congo #ColonialMedicine #ThomasKanza #ForcePublique #Evolues #SleepingSickness #Leopoldville #BelgianCongo #KatholiekeUniversiteitLeuven #MedicalApartheid #1920s #Africa #History #FexingoHistory #Colonialism #Healthcare #Race Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    9 分
  • The 1930s Belgian Congo Uranium Rush

    The 1930s Belgian Congo Uranium Rush
    2026/06/05
    This episode dives into the little-known story of Belgium's control over the global uranium supply in the 1930s, centered on the Shinkolobwe mine in the Katanga province of the Belgian Congo. Discover how a radium mining operation accidentally became the world's primary source of high-grade uranium ore, the secrecy surrounding the find, and how this resource would later shape the Manhattan Project. We explore key figures like Edgar Sengier, the Belgian mining executive who stockpiled uranium in New York, and the colonial dynamics that kept the mine's true value hidden. We also touch on the human cost: the forced labor in the mine, the health effects on miners, and the strategic game between Belgium, the United States, and the Congo Free State's legacy. A story of resource extraction that bridges colonial history and the atomic age. #Shinkolobwe #Katanga #BelgianCongo #EdgarSengier #uranium #radium #ManhattanProject #ForcePublique #Luba #AlbertI #Léopoldville #UnionMinière #1930s #ColonialHistory #AtomicAge #Mining #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    7 分
  • The 1950s Belgian Colonial Housing Crisis in Leopoldville

    The 1950s Belgian Colonial Housing Crisis in Leopoldville
    2026/06/05
    In the 1950s, Leopoldville (now Kinshasa) underwent a dramatic transformation as tens of thousands of Congolese moved to the city, straining the colonial administration's ability to control urban life. This episode delves into the infamous 'cités indigènes' — segregated African neighborhoods like Kintambo and Matonge — where overcrowding, police surveillance, and the hated chicotte coexisted with the birth of the Congolese jazz scene and the emergence of a literate African elite. We explore the 1957 municipal elections, the first democratic vote for Africans in Belgian Congo, and how the housing crisis radicalized figures like Joseph Kasa-Vubu and Patrice Lumumba. The episode also examines the 'Plan d'Urbanisme' of 1952, which tried to impose European-style order on African quarters, and the backlash it sparked. A story of urban planning as colonial control, and its unintended role in forging a nationalist consciousness. #Leopoldville #Kinshasa #Kintambo #Matonge #BelgianCongo #1950s #colonialurbanism #citesindigenes #JosephKasaVubu #PatriceLumumba #chicotte #CongoJazz #PlanUrbanisme #1957elections #segregation #colonialhousing #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    7 分
  • The 1931 Lovanium University: Belgium's Colonial Education Experiment

    The 1931 Lovanium University: Belgium's Colonial Education Experiment
    2026/06/04
    In 1931, Belgian colonial authorities opened Lovanium University in Léopoldville (now Kinshasa), the first Catholic university in Central Africa. But was it a genuine effort to educate Congolese elites, or a tool of colonial control? This episode explores the founding of Lovanium, the role of the Catholic Church and the Université Catholique de Louvain, the curriculum designed to produce 'évolués' — Africans who would serve the colonial system — and the tensions between missionaries who saw education as a path to emancipation and administrators who feared educated Africans. We follow the story of Joseph Kasa-Vubu, one of Lovanium's early graduates who later became Congo's first president, and examine how the university's teaching of Latin, Greek, and European philosophy alongside practical agriculture and medicine created a paradoxical space: a site of both colonial indoctrination and anti-colonial awakening. We also look at the 1954 'Lovanium crisis' when students protested the arrest of a fellow student, and consider how the seeds of Congo's independence were partly sown in these classrooms. #Lovanium #BelgianCongo #colonialeducation #évolués #JosephKasaVubu #Kinshasa #Léopoldville #CatholicChurch #UniversitéCatholiqueDeLouvain #1931 #1954 #CongoleseIndependence #missionaries #forcedlabor #History #FexingoHistory #Africa #Education Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    8 分
  • The 1895 Kongo-Sundi Tax Revolt: Belgium's First African Uprising

    The 1895 Kongo-Sundi Tax Revolt: Belgium's First African Uprising
    2026/06/04
    Before the rubber atrocities and the Force Publique campaigns, the Belgian Congo's first major anti-colonial revolt erupted in 1895 among the Kongo and Sundi peoples of the Lower Congo. This episode looks at the rebellion sparked by forced labor and hut taxes imposed by the Compagnie du Kasai, the brutal suppression by Léon Fiévez's troops, and the legacy of resistance that shaped later uprisings. Learn about the role of the Bakongo prophetess Ndundu, the strategic importance of the Matadi-Stanley Pool railway line, and how this early revolt foreshadowed the violence of Leopold II's regime. Lucas and Luna examine the colonial records and oral histories that survive, asking what the Kongo-Sundi Tax Revolt reveals about African agency and Belgian brutality in the 1890s. #KongoSundiTaxRevolt #BelgianCongo #LeopoldII #ForcePublique #LéonFiévez #Bakongo #Ndundu #CompagnieduKasai #Matadi #huttax #forcedlabor #1895 #LowerCongo #anticolonialresistance #oralhistory #colonialviolence #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    7 分
  • The 1921 Uele Uprising: Cotton, Coptis, and Colonial Resistance

    The 1921 Uele Uprising: Cotton, Coptis, and Colonial Resistance
    2026/06/03
    In 1921, the Uele district of the Belgian Congo erupted in rebellion. This episode examines the roots of the uprising: colonial cotton quotas, the forced cultivation of coptis (a medicinal root), and the brutal labor system enforced by the Force Publique. We focus on the role of the Nsimba secret society among the Azande and Banda peoples, the leadership of a prophet named Mbange, and the violent suppression that followed. The episode also touches on the broader context of colonial economic exploitation in the 1920s, the Office des Produits Agricoles du Congo (OPAC), and the long-term impact on the region. #UeleUprising #BelgianCongo #ForcePublique #CoptisTeeta #OPAC #Azande #Banda #Nsimba #Mbange #ColonialResistance #1921 #CottonQuotas #ProphetRebellion #ColonialHistory #Africa #History #FexingoHistory #Belgium Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    5 分