Nigeria
British influence in the Niger area increased gradually over the
19th century, but Britain did not effectively occupy the area until 1885,
and then under competition from France and Germany. The slave
trade was engaged in by European state and non-state actors such as
Great Britain, the Netherlands, Portugal and private companies, as
well as various African states and non-state actors. With rising antislavery sentiment at home and changing economic realities, Great
Britain outlawed the international slave trade in 1807. Following the
Napoleonic Wars, Great Britain established the West Africa Squadron
in an attempt to halt the international traffic in slaves. In 1885,
British claims to a West African sphere of influence received
recognition from other European nations. The following year, it
chartered the Royal Niger Company under the leadership of Sir
George Taubman Goldie. In 1900 the company's territory came under
the control of the British government, which moved to consolidate its
hold over the area of modern Nigeria. On 1 January 1901, Nigeria
became a British protectorate, and part of the British Empire, the
foremost world power at the time.
The independent kingdoms of what would become Nigeria
fought many wars against the British Empire in the late 19th and early
20th centuries trying to regain independence. Following World War II,
in response to the growth of Nigerian nationalism and demands for
independence, successive constitutions legislated by the British
government moved Nigeria toward self-government on a
representative and increasingly federal basis. By the middle of the
20th century, a great wave for independence was sweeping across
Africa. Nigeria achieved independence in 1960.
Colonial flag of British Nigeria
The flag of Nigeria today
Egypt
In April 1882 Great Britain sent warships to Alexandria to
protect European lives and property. Egypt was in the hands of
nationalists opposed to European domination of the country and the
new revolutionary government began nationalizing all assets in Egypt.
Anti-European violence broke out in Alexandria, prompting a British
naval bombardment of the city. The purpose of the attack had been to
restore political stability to Egypt under a government of the Khedive
and international controls which were in place to streamline Egyptian
financing since 1876. It is unlikely that the British expected a longterm occupation from the outset; however, Lord Cromer, Britain's
Chief Representative in Egypt at the time, viewed Egypt's financial
reforms as part of a long-term objective. Cromer took the view that
political stability needed financial stability, and embarked on a
program of long term investment in Egypt's productive resources,
above all in the cotton economy, the mainstay of the country's export
earnings.
The Egyptian Revolution of 1952, also known as the 23 July
Revolution, began on 23 July 1952, by the Free Officers Movement, a
group of army officers led by Muhammad Naguib and Gamal Abdel
Nasser. This movement sought to abolish the constitutional monarchy
and aristocracy of Egypt and Sudan, establish a republic, and end the
British occupation of the country. The revolutionary government
adopted a staunchly nationalist, anti-imperialist agenda, which came
to be expressed chiefly through Arab nationalism, and international
non-alignment.
Pyramids at Giza
The Egyptian flag
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Colonial rule in the Congo began in the late 19th century. King
Leopold II of Belgium, frustrated by Belgium's lack of international power
and prestige, attempted to persuade the Belgian government to support
colonial expansion around the then-largely unexplored Congo Basin. The
Belgian government's doubt about the idea led Leopold to eventually create
the colony on his own account. With support from a number of Western
countries, who viewed Leopold as a useful buffer between rival colonial
powers, Leopold achieved international recognition for a personal colony,
the Congo Free State, in 1885. By the turn of the century, however, the
violence of Free State officials against indigenous Congolese and the
ruthless system of economic extraction had led to intense diplomatic
pressure on Belgium to take official control of the country, which it did in
1908, creating the Belgian Congo.
In 1960, as the result of a widespread and increasingly radical proindependence movement, the Congo achieved independence, becoming the
Republic of Congo-Léopoldville under Patrice Lumumba and Joseph KasaVubu. Poor relations between factions within the Congo, the continued
involvement of Belgium in Congolese affairs and the Cold War led to a fiveyear long period of war and political instability, known as the Congo Crisis,
from 1960 to 1965 which ended with the seizure of power by Joseph-Désiré
Mobutu.
King Leopold II of Belgium
Flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
South Africa
The discovery of diamonds in 1867 and gold in 1884 in the interior
started the Mineral Revolution and increased economic growth and
immigration. This intensified the European-South African conquest of the
indigenous people. The struggle to control these important economic
resources was a factor in relations between Europeans and the indigenous
population and also between the Boers and the British. Boer, is the term
for a native farmer of this region.
On 31 May 1961, the country became a republic following a
referendum in which white voters narrowly voted in favour thereof. Queen
Elizabeth II was stripped of the title Queen of South Africa, and the last
Governor-General, namely Charles Robberts Swart, became State
President. Despite opposition both within and outside the country, the
government legislated for a continuation of apartheid. Apartheid means,
“A separation of races.” The government harshly oppressed resistance
movements, and violence became widespread, with anti-apartheid activists
using strikes, marches, protests, and sabotage by bombing and other
means.
On April 27, 1994, Nelson Mandela, an anti-Apartheid activist, was
elected the first, black President of South Africa. When Mandela began his
term on 10 May 1994, he presided over the transition from minority rule
and ended the practice of apartheid, winning international respect for his
advocacy of national and international reconciliation.
President Nelson Mandela of South Africa
Flag of South Africa
Tanzania
In the late 19th century, Imperial Germany conquered the
regions that are now Tanzania (minus Zanzibar) and incorporated
them into German East Africa. The post–World War I peace
treaty (a war Germany lost and Great Britain won) and the League
of Nations charter designated the area a British Mandate. Control
of Zanzibar, an island off the coast of Tanzania, eventually came
into the hands of the British Empire; part of the political
motivation for this was the 19th century movement for the
abolition of the slave trade. Zanzibar was the center of the Arab
slave trade. Ships from the British Royal Navy were employed to
enforce the anti-slavery treaties by capturing any boats carrying
slaves, but with only four ships patrolling a huge area of sea, the
British navy found it hard to enforce the treaties as ships from
France, Germany, Spain, Portugal and the United States
continued to carry slaves.
British rule came to an end in 1961 after a relatively peaceful
(compared with neighboring Kenya, for instance) transition to
independence. The island of Zanzibar gained independence from
the British in December 1963 as a constitutional monarchy. A
month later, the bloody Zanzibar Revolution in which up to
20,000 of Arabs and Indians were killed in a genocide and
thousands more expelled, led to the establishment of the People's
Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba.
Monument to the slaves of Zanzibar
Flag of Tanzania
Kenya
The colonial history of Kenya dates from the establishment of a
German protectorate over the Sultan of Zanzibar's coastal possessions in
1885, followed by the arrival of the Imperial British East Africa Company in
1888. Initial colonial rivalries were anticipated when Germany handed its
coastal holdings to Britain in 1890. This was followed by the building of the
Kenya–Uganda railway passing through the country. This was resisted by
some ethnicities — notably the Nandi, still the British eventually built the
railway. The Nandi were the first ethnicity to be put in a concentration
camp to stop them from disrupting the building of the railway. In 1920 the
East Africa Protectorate was turned into a colony and renamed Kenya, for
its highest mountain. While building the railroad through Tsavo, a number
local African laborers were attacked by two lions known as the Tsavo maneaters.
From October 1952 to December 1959, Kenya was under a state of
emergency arising from the Mau Mau rebellion against British rule. The
British killed more than 4,000 Mau Mau during this time. Seeking to end
their occupation of Kenya and devote resources elsewhere, the first direct
elections for native Kenyans to the Legislative Council took place in 1957.
Despite British hopes of handing power to "moderate" local rivals, it was
the Kenya African National Union (KANU) of Jomo Kenyatta that formed a
government shortly before Kenya became independent on 12 December
1963, on the same day forming the first Constitution of Kenya.
On 12 December 1964 the Republic of Kenya was proclaimed, and Jomo
Kenyatta became Kenya's first president.
The Tsavo Maneaters on display at the Field
Musuem of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois.
Flag of Kenya
Algeria
The French invaded and captured Algeria in 1830. The conquest of
Algeria by the French took some time and resulted in considerable
bloodshed. A combination of violence and disease epidemics caused the
indigenous Algerian population to decline by nearly one-third from 1830 to
1872. The population of Algeria, which stood at about 1.5 million in 1830,
reached nearly 11 million in 1960. French policy was based on "civilizing"
the country. Algeria's social fabric suffered during the occupation: literacy
plummeted. To force French rule in Algeria, French troops would burn
native Algerian’s crops in a “scorched earth” policy. During this period, a
small but influential French-speaking indigenous elite was formed, made
up of Berbers mostly from Kabyles. Algeria became a destination for
hundreds of thousands of European immigrants. Between 1825 and 1847,
50,000 French people moved to Algeria.
Gradually, dissatisfaction among the Muslim population, which
lacked political and economic status in the colonial system, gave rise to
demands for independence from France. Tensions between the two
population groups came to a head in 1954, when the first violent events of
what was later called the Algerian War began. Historians have estimated
that between 30,000 and 150,000 Harkis and their dependents were killed
by the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN) or by lynch mobs in Algeria.
The FLN used terrorist attacks in Algeria and France as part of its war, and
the French conducted severe reprisals and repression. The war concluded
in 1962, when Algeria gained complete independence following the March
1962 Evian agreements and the July 1962 self-determination referendum.
Traffic sign in Algeria shows evidence
of cultural diffusion as it reads
in Arabic, Berber, and French.
Flag of Algeria
Uganda
Arab traders moved inland from the Indian Ocean coast of East Africa
in the 1830s. They were followed in the 1860s by British explorers
searching for the source of the Nile. Protestant missionaries entered the
country in 1877, followed by Catholic missionaries in 1879. Great Britain
placed the area under the charter of the British East Africa Company in
1888, and ruled it as a protectorate from 1894. In the 1890s, 32,000
laborers from British India were recruited to East Africa under indentured
labor contracts to work on the construction of the Uganda Railway. Most of
the surviving Indians returned home, but 6,724 decided to remain in East
Africa after the line's completion. As several other territories and chiefdoms
were integrated, the final protectorate called Uganda took shape in 1914.
From 1900 to 1920, a sleeping sickness epidemic killed more than 250,000
people.
Uganda gained independence from Britain in 1962, maintaining its
Commonwealth membership. The first post-independence election, held in
1962, was won by an alliance between the Uganda People's Congress (UPC).
After a military coup in 1971 the dictator Idi Amin seized control of the
country. Amin ruled Uganda with the military for the next eight years and
carried out mass killings within the country to maintain his rule. An
estimated 300,000 Ugandans lost their lives at the hands of his regime,
many of them in the north, which he associated with his opponents. Aside
from his brutalities, he forcibly removed the entrepreneurial Indian
minority from Uganda, which left the country's economy in ruins.
Ugandan dictator Idi Amin liked to dress in
European-style military clothing to show off
his power and influence. This is an example
of cultural diffusion.
Flag of Uganda
Sudan
In 1899, Britain and Egypt reached an agreement under
which Sudan was run by a governor-general appointed by Egypt
with British consent. In reality Sudan was effectively administered
as a British colony. The British were keen to reverse the process,
started under Muhammad Ali Pasha, of uniting the Nile Valley
under Egyptian leadership, and sought to frustrate all efforts
aimed at further uniting the two countries. The continued British
administration of Sudan fueled an increasingly strident
nationalist backlash in Egypt, with Egyptian nationalist leaders
determined to force Britain to recognize a single independent
union of Egypt and Sudan.
Egypt and Britain both sensed a great political instability
forming, and opted to allow the Sudanese in the north and south
to have a free vote on independence to see whether they wished
for a British withdrawal. On 1 January 1956, in a special ceremony
held at the People's Palace, the Egyptian and British flags were
lowered and the new Sudanese flag, composed of green, blue and
white stripes, was raised in their place by the Prime Minister
Ismail al-Azhari.
Sudan's flag raised at independence
ceremony on 1 January 1956 by the
Prime Minister Ismail al-Azhari.
Flag of Sudan