Scramble for Africa
Overview
-between 1875 and 1900, African and European relations altered majorly -European imperial powers colonized almost all of Africa -the prospects of African resources and nationalist rivalries played a large part of the rapid colonization -this became referred to as the Scramble for Africa -European imperialists built on the information compiled by a series of adventurers and explorers that had chartered the interior of Africa Pre-Scramble -1875 European people's maintained little presence in Africa -several small coastal colonies and trading posts -only large ones were: Angola and Mozambique (Portugal), a colony in northern Algeria (France), and larger settler colonies (Britain and the Netherlands) -after slave trade ended there was an increase in commerce of African gold, ivory, Palm oil, guns, and other manufactured goods -this trade boosted the west African economy |
Important People
-some Europeans went to Africa as missionaries -most notable was Dr. David Livingstone, a Scottish minister -some Europeans went to Africa as adventurers -most notable was American journalist Henry Morton Stanley who publicized Dr. Livingstone's activities -Richard Burton and John Speke, English geographers, looked for the source of the Nile river -information from these travelers helped merchants exploit business opportunities in Africa -one of the important information they brought back was on the African rivers (Nile, Niger, Congo, and Zambesi) and their access to inland regions Congo -in the 1870s, King Leopold II of Belgium employed Henry Morton Stanley to help establish a colony called Congo Free State (modern-day Republic of Congo) in the basin of the Congo river -Leopold declared Congo a free-trade zone for other Europeans in order to forestall competition from powerful neighbors -he carved out a personal colony and filled it with lucrative rubber plantations by forced labor -working conditions were so brutal, taxes so high, and abuses so extreme that humanitarians protested Leopold's colonial regime -in 1908 the Belgian government took control of the colony, known after as Belgian Congo |
Egypt
-British established an imperial presence in Egypt
-Muhammad Ali and other Egyptian rulers sought to build up their armies, strengthen the economy, and distance themselves from Ottoman authority
-in order to do this they borrowed heavily from European leaders, Britain as one
-by the 1870s Egypt was in crushing debt, forcing high taxes causing popular unrest and military rebellion
-1882 a British army occupied Egypt to protect British financial interests and ensure the safety of the Suez Canal (crucial to British communications with India)
-British established an imperial presence in Egypt
-Muhammad Ali and other Egyptian rulers sought to build up their armies, strengthen the economy, and distance themselves from Ottoman authority
-in order to do this they borrowed heavily from European leaders, Britain as one
-by the 1870s Egypt was in crushing debt, forcing high taxes causing popular unrest and military rebellion
-1882 a British army occupied Egypt to protect British financial interests and ensure the safety of the Suez Canal (crucial to British communications with India)
Berlin Conference
-British and Belgian presence in Africa alarmed European statesmen and heightened nationalist rivalries -in order to bring order to imperialism, the German chancellor, Otto van Bismarck, invited delegates of 14 states to meet in Berlin and devise ground rules for colonization in Africa -the Berlin Conference (1884-1885) produced agreement that any European state could establish African colonies after notifying the others of its intentions and occupying previously unclaimed territory -provided European diplomats with the justification they needed to draw lines on maps and carve continents into colonies End of the Scramble -during the 1890s, European imperialists sent armies to stake their claim and impose their rule |
-with cannons and machine guns they hardly failed to defeat African forces with outdated muskets or spears
-by the 1900s European colonists embraced all of Africa, except Ethiopia and Liberia
-by the 1900s European colonists embraced all of Africa, except Ethiopia and Liberia