Download European Colonization of Africa

European
Colonization of
Africa
Why Africa?
• Stories of Africa’s great wealth are spread
throughout western Europe (trade)
• Missionaries and explorers are sent to
Africa by various European countries
• Natural resources - cash crops, minerals,
land
• Human resources – slaves for colonies
Early Colonization
• Brits establish Capetown as a “rest stop”
between Europe & India (East India Co.)
• Portuguese, British, Spanish, French set
up forts along Africa’s west coast for
trading purposes
• Boers, Dutch farmers, come to southern
Africa to farm
Cecil Rhodes
• British explorer/capitalist
• Responsible for the failed
Cape-Cairo railway project
• Founder of the De Beers
Mining Company
• Owner of the British South
Africa Company, which
carved out Rhodesia for
itself
Atlantic Slave Trade
• 1500s Spanish want more laborers for their colonies in the Americas
• Slavery was not new to Africa (early kingdoms and Arabs enslaved Africans)
• Created civil unrest on the continent – tribes would capture members of
rival tribes and sell them to the slave traders
• Triangle Trade (see map) peaks in 18th century
• Europe sold cheap manufactured goods to Africans (cloth & guns)
• Africa traded humans (slaves)
• Middle Passage (journey b/w Africa & Americas – many slaves do not
survive)
• Slaves were sold to the colonists in exchange for cash crops
• Cash crops would then be sold in Europe
• Abolishing slavery
• 1794 – France is first
• Brits & other European countries follow suit
• Demand for slaves in the US still high – so slave trade cont. (approx
1860s)
Triangle Trade
1880’s
THE SCRAMBLE FOR
AFRICA
Who colonized where?
The Scramble
for Africa
Click the name of
the colonizing
country to see a list
of African colonial
holdings
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Benin
Burkina Faso
Côte d'Ivoire
Guinea
Mali
Mauritania
Niger
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Senegal
Togo
Cameroon
Morocco
Algeria
Tunisia
Central African
Republic
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Chad
Djibouti
Gabon
Republic of
the Congo
• Madagascar
• Comoros
• Mauritius
Colony
Map
Colony
Map
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Angola
Mozambique
Guinea Bissau
Cape Verde
São Tomé and
Príncipe
Colony
Map
German Colonies
• Tanzania*
• Burundi **
• Rwanda **
• Cameroon ***
• Togo ***
• Namibia ****
German colonies were divided among the European victors of WWI
*=became a British colony
**=became a Belgian colony
***=became a French colony
****=was occupied by South African government
Colony
Map
Belgian Colonies
• Democratic Republic of Congo
• Rwanda (after WWI)
• Burundi (after WWI)
Italian Colonies
• Libya
• Eritrea
• Somalia
Spanish Colonies
• Western Sahara
• Morocco
• Equatorial Guinea
Colony
Map
Independent
Countries
Liberia (often viewed as a US colony)
Ethiopia
Colony
Map
Decolonization/
African Independence
• Mid 1900s – Africans are rebelling against colonial
rule (nationalism); Europe is losing control over
colonies
• 1960-1965 – 27 countries see independence
• Africans are just going to adopt colonial borders
despite the fact these borders ignore ethnic
divisions
• Many rival tribes will be left to fight for control of
the country – civil wars erupt all over Africa
South Africa
• Most recent “independence”
• 1994 - gained independence
from the white Afrikaner
government known for its
apartheid practices
• Nelson Mandela
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First president of an independent South Africa
Had been jailed by the Afrikaner gov’t for 27 yrs
President from 1994 – 1999
Won Nobel Peace Prize for his struggle to end the injustices of
apartheid in 1993
Post Independence
Problems facing Africa today
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Overpopulation/ Population Density
Lack of technology & infrastructure development
Low GDP & GDP per capita
Disease – malaria & AIDS
Corrupt governments
Civil War
Famine
Poor use of natural resources
Still western imperialism – economic imperialism