Early Colonial
Exploration and Expansion
AFRICA
Pre-Colonial Africa
Reasons for European Expansion
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1.
2.
3.
4.
Curiosity
Search for new trade routes
Desire for natural resources and wealth
Pride
Portugal
• Why were the Portuguese the first
Europeans to travel to Africa?
– Prince Henry the Navigator (west coast)
– Bartolomeu Dias (Cape of Good Hope)
– Vasco Da Gama (India)
PORTUGUESE EXPLORATION
Exploring Africa
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1.
2.
3.
4.
The Gold Coast
Western Africa
East Africa
Mozambique
The Early Slave Trade
• 1. Islamic Empire controlled the slave
trade.
• 2. Intra-African Trade
• 3. Establishment of Trade Posts (later for
slave trade) – 40 along the West Coast
• 4. European expansion to the New World
leads to increased demands for slaves.
Slave Trade
• Years
Number of Slaves % of overall trade
1450 -1500
81,000
1500 – 1600
328,000
2.0
1601 – 1700
1,348,000
12.0
1701 – 1800
6,090,000
54.2
1801 – 1900
3,466,000
30.9
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Total
11,233,000
100.0
Where Did the Slaves Go?
The Decline of Portuguese
Influence
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Few permanent settlements
Racial Assimilation
Annexation by Spain
Political Instability
Colonial Wars (Mozambique and Angola)
International Competition
Colonial Africa
• The Scramble for Africa (1880 – 1900)
– Britain
– Italy
– France
– Germany
– Spain
– Belgium
– Netherlands
THE BRITISH COME TO AFRICA
• 1553 - British ship brings back gold from Guinea
• 1650s – British begin building forts on the West
Coast of Africa, including the fort at Cape Coast
• 1700s – 1800s – British become heavily
involved in the slave trade
• 1807 – Britain abolishes the slave trade
• 1817 – Britain begins to take control of people
living on the coast with the consent of the
Ashanti state.
THE FRENCH COME TO AFRICA
• 1624 – France est. trading posts in
Senegal
• 1774 – 1815 - Conflict with Britain
destroys French colonialism
• 1830 – France invades Algeria
BERLIN CONFERENCE
• 1884 – Portugal requests Otto von
Bismark solve the “Africa Problem”
• 14 countries invited
– Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France,
Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands,
Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden-Norway
(unified from 1814-1905), Turkey, and the
United States of America.
– Germany France, G.B. and Portugal are the
major players
Carving Up Africa
• 80% of the continent was self-governed
• Africa is carved into 50 countries and
superimposed over the 1000 indigenous
cultures.
Who Got What?
• Great Britain – Egypt, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya (British
East Africa), South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana
(Rhodesia), Nigeria and Ghana (Gold Coast)
• France – Mauritania to Chad (French West Africa), and
Gabon and the Republic of Congo (French Equatorial
Africa)
• Belgium – Democratic Republic of the Congo (Belgian
Congo)
• Portugal – Mozambique, Guinea and Angola
• Italy – Somalia (Italian Somaliland) and Eritrea.
• Germany – Namibia (German Southwest Africa) and
Tanzania (German East Africa)
• Spain – Equatorial Guinea (Rio Muni)
Colonial Africa After WWI
Colonial Africa After WWII