• “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
• What is it?
– Seeking out new territories to expand power
around the world.
• Who were the “imperialists” ?
– Europeans
• Result?
– Only two independent nations in Africa by the
start of WWI (1914)
Africa
1890
Africa
1914
Industrial
Revolution
Markets for
Finished
Goods
Source for
Raw
Materials
European
Motives
For Colonization
Social
Darwinism
European
Racism
“White
Man’s
Burden”
European
Nationalism
Missionary
Activity
Humanitarian
Reasons
Military
& Naval
Bases
1. Economic Needs
– A need for raw
materials that were
not domestically
available and those
raw materials were
abundant in Africa.
– Industrial Revolution –
place to dump
manufactured goods
2. Social Darwinism
– “Survival of the
Fittest”
– Only the strongest
nations survive and
only the strongest
nations have
colonies in Africa
3.
Missionaries
– “The White Man’s
burden”
– Europeans felt that
they needed to
civilize the rest of the
world. They also felt
that they needed to
convert everyone in
Africa to Christianity
• Term comes from Rudyard Kipling's famous poem,
which begins:
Take up the White Man's burden
Send forth the best ye breedGo bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wildYour new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half-devil and half-child.
4. Adventure
– Inspired by stories of
excitement &
adventure
– David Livingston &
Henry Stanley
• Scottish missionary
• Explored central 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
• Welsh reporter
• “Found” Dr. Livingstone in Africa
– “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”
• Explored Africa (for King Leopold)
– Congo River
– Lake Tanganyika
– Lake Victoria
• There was so much
competition for land
in Africa, Europeans
feared a war
– Held Berlin
Conference to carve
up Africa
– Sounds like a good
idea…. But no one
consulted the
Africans!
1.
2.
3.
Any sovereign power which
wanted to claim any territory
should inform the other powers
“in order to ... make good any
claim of their own.”
Any such annexation should be
validated by effective
occupation.
Treaties with African rulers were
to be considered a valid title to
sovereignty.
1. Summarize the four motivations for
European imperialism in Africa
2. What were Livingstone & Stanley know
for?
3. What occurred at the Berlin Conference?
• Cape Colony (now South Africa) obtained
after fighting the Boer War with the Dutch
• Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe)
– Named for Cecil Rhodes
• Bechuanaland (now Botswana)
– 1885 – became a British protectorate
• British businessman & politician in S. Africa
• Made fortune from African diamond mines
• DeBeers Diamonds
• Established South African Company which
became Rhodesia (Zimbabwe)
• Becomes prime minister of Cape Colony (S.
Africa)
– Wanted Cape-to-Cairo Railroad
• Architect of British imperialism in southern
Africa
• I contend that we (the British) are the first race in
the world, and the more of the world we inhabit,
the better it is for the human race… It is our duty
to seize every opportunity of acquiring more
territory and we should keep this one idea steadily
before our eyes that more territory simply means
more of the Anglo-Saxon race, more of the best, the
most human, most honorable race the world
possesses.
– Cecil Rhodes, Confession of Faith 1877
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Egypt
Sudan – split between French & British
Nigeria
Ghana
Sierra Leone
Kenya
Part of present day Libya
• Algeria
• Tunis (present day
Tunisia)
• Morocco
• Madagascar
• Somaliland
• West Africa
– Late 1800s – largely
under French control
• Sudan – split between
the French & British
• 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
• Togoland (now Togo
& Ghana)
• Cameroons (now
Cameroon & Nigeria)
• Southwest Africa
(now Namibia)
• East Africa (now
Burundi, Rwanda, &
Tanzania)
• Eritrea (along the Red
Sea)
• Somaliland (along the
Indian Ocean, part of
today’s Somalia)
• Defeated in attempt to
conquer Abyssinia
(Ethiopia)
• Libya
• 1908: Belgium gained control of Congo
(Congo Free State)
• King Leopold was infamous for the cruelty of
his rule in the Congo
• 80 times the size of Belgium
• Source of copper, rubber and minerals
• Conservative estimate:
– 10 million deaths
Villagers who failed to meet
the rubber collection quotas
had to pay with their hand.
Belgian soldiers used to shoot
a bullet through their hand,
but then decided to cut them
off to spare the expense of
ammunition.
• Led the early trans-Atlantic African slave
trade from:
– Angola
– Mozambique
• Spain had
very few
possessions
in Africa
• Tip of
Morocco
• Western
Sahara
• 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
• Liberia
– Formed by freed slaves under
auspices of the United States
government
1.
Africa was divided without
respect to culture, ethnicity,
and tribal boundaries
– Artificial borders
– Caused continued conflict
– Undermined traditional family life
2.
Ruined traditional African
Tribal governments, which has
led to UNSTABILITY
– Many civil wars and cruel leaders
4.
5.
6.
Europe exploited and depleted Africa’s
raw materials for their own purposes
Treated Africans with extreme
brutality
Left Africa with a desire for modern
technology and the same living
standard as westerners
– BUT, with little means to achieve those standards
• Exam on Intro. to Africa and
Imperialism.
STUDY!!!!