Download Scramble for Africa

The Scramble
for Africa
THE “DARK” CONTINENT
• “Dark Continent” – racist terminology
referred to both the peoples of Africa
and their alleged ignorance
• In reality, Africa has always had
diverse groups of people with their
own unique cultures and histories
– Civilizations
– Languages
– Religions
GEOGRAPHY OF AFRICA
• Continent – not a country
• Continent is three times larger than
Europe
• Northern Africa – desert
• Mid-to-southern Africa – diverse
climates and topography
FOREIGN HISTORY IN AFRICA
• Greeks controlled Egypt after conquest by
Alexander the Great
– Ptolemaic dynasty
• Romans ruled all areas along the
Mediterranean coastline, including
northern Africa
– Mediterranean – “Roman lake”
• Arab traders converted many Africans to
Islam from the 7th century
• Source of slaves for the Americas from
the 17th century
• But little foreign interest in the interior of
sub-Saharan Africa
The “OPENING UP” OF AFRICA
• Mid-1800s
• Missionaries and explorers
sparked foreign interest in
Africa
DAVID LIVINGSTONE (1813-1873)
• Scottish missionary
• 1841-1873 – lived in central Africa
– Explored Africa
• Named Lake Victoria after the British queen
– Converted many Africans to Christianity
– Wrote books on Africa which piqued
foreign interest
• 1871 – reported “lost”
– “Found” by Henry Stanley
– “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”
HENRY STANLEY (1841-1904)
• Welsh-American reporter
• “Found” Dr. Livingstone in Africa
– “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”
• Explored Africa
– Congo River
– Lake Tanganyika
– Lake Victoria
• Worked with Belgium’s King Leopold II
and his African colonization company
– International African Society
KARL PETERS (1856-1918)
• German explorer in Africa
• Organized and propagandized for
Germany’s colonial expansion
– Founded the Society for German
Colonization
• Acquired German East Africa
(modern-day Tanzania)
• Convinced Otto von Bismarck to
take over German East Africa and
increase Germany’s colonies in
Africa
CECIL RHODES (1853-1902)
• British businessman and politician in
southern Africa
• Made a fortune from African diamond
mines
• Established South African Company
– Land later became Rhodesia (Zimbabwe)
• Prime minister of Cape Colony (1890-1896)
– Wanted British control over South Africa
– Wanted Cape-to-Cairo Railroad
• Architect of British imperialism in southern
Africa
– Great Britain became leading colonial power
in southern Africa
CECIL RHODES (1853-1902)
KING LEOPOLD II OF BELGIUM
(1835-1909)
• Took over land in central Africa
• Berlin Conference (1885)
– Leopold’s control over Congo Free State
recognized by major powers
• Belgian Congo (1908)
– Leopold criticized for the cruelty of his rule
in the Congo
– Leopold forced to sell Congo Free State to
Belgian government
– Renamed Belgian Congo
• Created European race for African
colonies – “Scramble for Africa”
– Diamonds, foodstuffs, gold, ivory, rubber
BRITISH IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
• 1815 – British took Cape Colony from
the Dutch
– Boers moved north
• Transvaal
– 1886 – gold discovered and British moved in
– 1881 and 1895 – British attempted to take
Transvaal from the Boers
• Orange Free State
• Boer War (1899-1892)
– Dutch led by President Paul Kruger
– British won
UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA
• Created in 1910
• Included Cape Colony, Orange Free
State, Natal, and Transvaal
• Self-government
BRITISH COLONIES IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
• Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe)
– Named for Cecil Rhodes
– North of Union of South Africa
• Bechuanaland (now Botswana)
– 1885 – became a British protectorate
• Kenya
– 1888 – became a British protectorate
BRITISH IN NORTH AFRICA
• Egypt – in name ruled by Ottoman Turks,
but largely independent
• European capital investments
– Suez Canal opened in 1869
• Built by the Egyptians and French
• Taken over by the British (1875)
– British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli
» Bought shares in Suez Canal Company from Egypt
• Egypt was nearly bankrupt from the expense
of building the Suez Canal
» British government became largest shareholder
EUROPEANS IN EGYPT
• 1870s – with the Egyptian government
bankrupt, the British and French took
over financial control of the country
– Egyptian monarchs (technically Ottoman
viceroys) ruled as puppet leaders
• 1882 – Egyptian nationalist rebellion
– France withdrew its troops
– Great Britain left in control of Egypt
• Lord Cromer introduced reforms
– De facto British protectorate
• Made official in 1914
• Independence came in 1922
BRITISH IN NORTHERN AFRICA
• Sudan
–
–
–
–
Area south of Egypt
Under Anglo-Egyptian control
Cotton needed for British textile mills
Entente Cordiale (1904)
• Great Britain controlled Sudan
• France controlled Morocco
• Cape-to-Cairo Railroad
– Idea of Cecil Rhodes
– Would secure Great Britain’s dominance in Africa
– Never completed – sections missing through
modern Sudan and Uganda
Cape-to-Cairo Railway: Crossing over Victoria Falls
FRENCH IN AFRICA
• Algeria
– 1830 – invasion
– 1831 – annexation
• Tunis
– 1881 – controlled by France
• Led Italy to join the Triple Alliance with Austria-Hungary and
Germany
• Morocco
– 1881 – large part under French control
– 1905 and 1911 – nearly sparked a European war
between France and Germany
• 1906 – Algeciras Conference – Germany recognized French
rights in Morocco
• 1911 – Agadir Crisis – Germany recognized French protectorate
over Morocco in exchange for part of France’s territory in the
Congo
FRENCH IN AFRICA
• Madagascar
– 1896 – controlled by France
• Somaliland
– 1880s – partly under French control
• West Africa
– Late 1800s – largely under French control
• Sudan
– 1898 – met Britain’s area of control and
nearly went to war
– Entente Cordiale settled British-French
disputes in Africa
FRENCH IN AFRICA
• By World War I – 1914
– France controlled 3,250,000 square miles
in Africa
• 14 times the area of France
– France ruled 30,000,000 Africans
• 75% of the population of France
GERMANS IN AFRICA
• Togoland (now Togo and Ghana)
• Cameroons (now Cameroon and
Nigeria)
• Southwest Africa (now Namibia)
• East Africa (now Burundi, Rwanda, and
Tanzania)
ITALIANS IN AFRICA
• 1882-1896
– Eritrea (along the Red Sea)
– Somaliland (along the Indian Ocean, part
of today’s Somalia)
• 1896
– Defeated in attempt to conquer Abyssinia
(Ethiopia)
• 1912
– Won Tripoli from Ottoman Turks
BELGIANS IN AFRICA
• 1908
– Belgium gained control of Congo (Congo Free State)
from King Leopold II
– Leopold was infamous for the cruelty of his rule in the
Congo
• Congo Free State (today’s Democratic Republic of
Congo)
– 80 times the size of Belgium
– Source of uranium
PORTUGUESE IN AFRICA
• Under “old imperialism” Portugal
gained African territory and led the
early trans-Atlantic African slave trade
• Angola
• Mozambique
Portuguese territory
in Africa, 1810
SPANISH IN AFRICA
• Spain had
very few
possessions
in Africa
• Tip of
Morocco
• Rio de Oro
• Rio Muni
The British in India
• 1600 British traders established the
East India Company—became the
richest & most powerful trading
companies in the world
• By 1857 the East India Company
controlled most of India
• British considered India the brightest
“jewel in the crown”
• Sepoy Rebellion—1857- sepoys (Indian soldiers)
rebelled against the British
– British put down the revolt within a year
The British in India
• After the Sepoy Mutiny, the British
government took formal control of India and
abolished the East India Company.
• India officially became a British possession.
• Queen Victoria of England became the
Queen
Empress of India.
Victoria
The Sun Never Set on the British
Empire
England
Jamaica
Egypt
Canada
India
Impact of British Rule
• Government: The British government
provided a single system of law and
government, unifying India. They provided
jobs, increased educational opportunities,
and introduced English as a unifying
language.
Impact of British Rule
• Economic: The British built roads, bridges
and railroads and set up telegraph wires.
However, India’s cottage industries, in
which products were made by people in
their homes, were hurt by competition with
British manufactured goods.
Impact of British Rule
• Health: The British build hospitals,
introduced new medicines and provided
famine relief. At the same time, health care
improvements led to a population
explosion without a similar increase in
economic opportunities.
Impact of British Rule
• Social: Indians were looked down upon by
the British and their culture was treated as
inferior to European Culture. Indian
workers provided the British with
inexpensive labor—working for longhours,
often under terrible conditions.
Imperialism in China
• Prior to the 1800’s China was isolated from
the world under the control of powerful
emperors.
• By the 1830’s—China lacked the military
technology it needed to oppose Western
Imperialism
• Western Nations were interested in China
– Huge population offered potential markets for
European manufactured goods
– Valuable raw materials
Imperialism in China
• 1800s- British merchants broke China’s trade barriers—in exchange
for tea, silk, and porcelain the merchants smuggled in opium
Imperialism in China
• 1839—Opium War —Chinese tried to stop the smuggling of opium
– British easily defeat them b/c the Chinese had ancient
weapons
– 1842—Treaty of Nanjing—unequal treaty; China lost
many rights
• Granted British $$ for war losses and Hong Kong
Imperialism in China
• 1890s—European powers, and Japanese, claimed sections of China as
spheres of influence = areas where they had exclusive trading rights
China
• 1899—Open Door Policy = U.S. created it to open
Chinese trade to all nations
• China attempted to modernize the country
• Boxer Rebellion = peasants who upper class and
foreigners set siege on European section of Beijing for
months// Europeans soldiers finally defeated them (le
to strong sense of nationalism—resist foreign
intervention)
• The Revolution of 1911 —the Chinese who desired for
modern, independent republic rebelled against the Qi
dynasty and won
U.S.A.
Germany
Britain
Russia
France
Austria
Japan
China
Italy
Modernization of Japan
• Japan began trading in 1853 when American Matthew
C. Perry sailed into Japan (signed Treaty of Kanagawa
b/c of what had happened in China)
• 1870s Japan began to industrialize = modernized their
currency system; built telegraph networks, railroads,
and port facilities
• By 1914 Japan was one of the world’s leading industria
nations
• Aided Korea in a war w/ China; Korea won & Japan
gained partial control of their trade
• After Japan won a war with Russia in 1910, Japan
Matthew C. Perry
“It seems to be wise from time to time to
make new laws…If your imperial Majesty
were so far to change the ancient laws as
to allow free trade between the two
countries, it would be extremely beneficial
to both…”
~ President Millard Fillmore (letter that
Perry delivered to Japan)
Treaty of Kanagawa
Latin America
• By the 1800s most of the Latin American
countries had gained independence, but
they feared that Europe would try to reconquer them.
• United State defeated Spain in the Spanish
American war.
– US acquired the colonies of Puerto Rico, Guam
and Philippines
– Cuba independent but under US influence
Latin America
• United States builds the Panama Canal to
have easier access between the Pacific and
Atlantic Ocean.
• 10 years to build
• On the basis of the Monroe
Doctrine(1823—stated that the Americas
were NOT to be colonized by Europe
– Presidents sent armed forces to intervene in
the Caribbean area.
– Roosevelt Corollary made the US an
international police power in the Western
Hemisphere
Monroe Doctrine
Monroe Doctrine
AFRICANS IN AFRICA
• By the time of the First World War
(1914)
– Only 2 independent African countries
• Abyssinia (Ethiopia)
– Ruled by dynasty stretching back to at least the
13th century
– Last emperor was Haile Selassie, deposed in 1974
– Home to Ethiopian Orthodox Christian Church
(strongly tied to Egyptian Coptic Church)
• Liberia
– Formed by freed slaves under auspices of the
United States government
REVIEW QUESTIONS
Must be in Complete Sentences
1. Define Imperialism
2. What led to the “Scramble for
Africa”?
3. Which European nations controlled
the most land in Africa?
4. Who led British imperialism in Africa?
5. Which African nations were left
independent at the time of World
War I?