Download Imperialism

The Scramble
for Africa
Mr. Wells
Hickory Ridge HS
Causes of Imperialism
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Definition: When a stronger nation forces their will
over a weaker nation.
Industrial Revolution
 created demand for raw materials & markets
Nationalism
 European nations built empires in quest for power
Prestige – “the sun never sets on the British Empire”
Social Darwinism
 feelings of cultural superiority
Humanitarian
 Rudyard Kipling’s the “White Man’s Burden”
Christianity
Industrial
Revolution
Markets for
Finished
Goods
Source for
Raw
Materials
European
Nationalism
Missionary
Activity
European
Motives
For Colonization
Military
& Naval
Bases
Social
Darwinism
Places to
Dump
Unwanted/
Excess Popul.
European
Racism
“White
Man’s
Burden”
Humanitarian
Reasons
Soc. & Eco.
Opportunities
Social Darwinism
The White Man’s Burden
The White Man’s
Burden
(Responsibility)
-Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Types of Control
Indirect rule
 colonial power allowed rulers to maintain status
 Direct rule
 officials from the mother country replace local
elites
 Protectorate
 own government but protected by another
government
 Sphere of Influence
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 imperialist power held exclusive rights in region
Indirect Rule
British colonies such as Nigeria, India, Burma
 U.S. colonies on Pacific Islands
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Direct Rule
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French colonies in Vietnam
German colonies in Vietnam
Protectorate
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The United States in Cuba (Late 1800s – Early 1900s)
Great Britain in the Niger River delta
Sphere of Influence
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United States in the Pacific
and Latin America
The Scramble for Africa
Africa 1890
Africa 1914
Africa (Background)
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Africa divided into many
ethnic groups
 1,000 different
languages
European contact
 Mostly established on
the coasts of Africa
 Did not have
technology to travel into
interior
 Disease discouraged
European expeditions
The Congo
1860s
 David Livingston
Missionary/Humanitarian
 Central Africa
 Several Years Passed
 1871
 Am. Reporter Henry
Stanley found him
 “Dr. Livingstone, I
presume”
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 H.
M. Stanley found
Livingston (whom
westerners thought
to be dead) and his
newspaper reports
created European
interest in Africa;
Stanley sought aid of
king of Belgium to
dominate the Congo
region.
The Congo Free State or
The Belgian Congo ?
The Congo (Continued)
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Stanly commissioned by
King Leopold II of Belgium
 help the king acquire
land in the Congo
King Leopold’s Claims
 abolish slave trade
 Christianity
Real reason
 exploit & force Africans
to collect sap from rubber
trees
Humanitarians demanded
action
 1908, Belgian govt. took
Congo away from Leopold.
King Leopold II:
(r. 1865 – 1909)
Harvesting Rubber
Punishing “Lazy” Workers
5-8 Million Victims!
(50% of Popul.)
It is blood-curdling to see them (the
soldiers) returning with the hands of
the slain, and to find the hands of
young children amongst the bigger
ones evidencing their bravery...The
rubber from this district has cost
hundreds of lives, and the scenes I
have witnessed, while unable to help
the oppressed, have been almost
enough to make me wish I were
dead... This rubber traffic is steeped
in blood, and if the natives were to
rise and sweep every white person on
the Upper Congo into eternity, there
would still be left a fearful balance to
their credit.
-- Belgian Official
Belgium’s Stranglehold on the Congo
Africa: Berlin Congress 1884-85
Established the "rules"
for conquest of Africa =
“Paper Partition”
 14 European Nations
 Countries had to show
they could control the
area
 No African ruler was
invited to the meeting
 Only Liberia & Ethiopia
were free
 Agreed to stop slavery
& slave trade in Africa
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Berlin Conference of 1884-1885
Africa: Berlin Congress 1884-85
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Britain: perhaps the most enlightened of the imperialist powers
(though still oppressive)
 Pushed southward and took control of Sudan
Battle of Omdurman (1898): British defeated Sudanese tribesman and
killed 11,000 (use of machine gun) while only 28 Britons died
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Fashoda Incident (1898): France & Britain nearly
went to war over Sudan
 France backed down in the face of the Dreyfus
Affair
The Battle for South Africa
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3 Groups
 Africans, Dutch, English
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Shaka Zulu holds off
Europeans
1887: Zulu nation fell to
the British
Boers settle in the Cape
- Dutch Farmers
- Also known as
Afrikaners
British & Boers clash
over territory
Shaka Zulu
(1785 –1828)
The Boer War
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Boers begin to move north
 The Great Trek
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Boers fight with Zulu
1860-1880
 diamonds in S.Africa
Boer War
- Also known as South
African War
- 14,000 Africans die
- British victory in 1910
South Africa becomes
nation under indirect control
of Great Britain
The Great Trek,
1836-38
Diamond Mines
Raw Diamonds
The Boer War: 1899 - 1900
The Boers
The British
A Future British Prime Minister
British Boer War Correspondent,
Winston Churchill