THE SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA

All of Europe went through liberalization in the 19^th century…more rights, less war, guarantees of freedom, abolishing of serfdom, expanded voting, higher levels of representation.

Many great documents emerged from this process: the Declaration of Independence, the Declaration of Rights of Man, Declaration of Rights of Woman and Citizen, the Napoleonic Civil Code, the Jamaica Letter, just to name a few.

Considering these advances, how does one explain the Scramble for Africa?

How would you justify or explain the total subjugation of another people if you seem to believe in rights, in rule of law, and in extending freedom? How could you justify imperialism?

 

IN CLASS STUDENT GENERATED RESPONSES:

REMEMBER, THESE ARE RESPONSES TO HOW EUROPE JUSTIFIED IMPERIALISM IN A TIME OF EXPANDING RIGHTS.

• benefit of your own people…(link to nationalism)
• Africa will make Europe wealthy (economic)...

• Europeans claimed Africans are different...
• Europeans claimed Africans are inferior/superior...

• Empire will lift Africa up from barbarism…(religion)
• Infrastructure…schools, hospitals
• Resources/markets...improve capitalism
• Empire won't do harm to Africa

I. MOTIVATIONS FOR THE NEW WAVE OF IMPERIALISM…

WHAT EXPLAINS NEW IMPERIALISM?

1.     TO IMPROVE THE OTHER NATIONS:

 “Take up the White Man's burden The savage wars of peace Fill full the mouth of Famine And bid the sickness cease; And when your goal is nearest The end for others sought, Watch Sloth and heathen Folly Bring all your hope to nought ....”

“Take up the White Man's burden Ye dare not stoop to less Nor call too loud on Freedom To cloak your weariness; By all ye cry or whisper, By all ye leave or do, The silent, sullen peoples Shall weigh your Gods, and you.”

“Take up the White Man's burden

Have done with childish days

The lightly proffered laurel,

The easy, ungrudged praise.

Come now, to search your manhood

Through all the thankless years,

Cold-edged with dear-bought wisdom,

The judgement of your peers!”

From “The Five Nations” Rudyard Kipling

U.S. becomes an Empire…the Philippines

President William McKinley admitted that when he first heard the news of the victory, he "could not have told where those darned islands were within 2,000 miles."

Historian A.J.P. Taylor wrote, "Tot up the national balance sheet of any imperial country over the last fifty years and you will find the community is staggeringly out of profit."

2.     EXPLORATION

David Livingstone

Henry Morton Stanley

3.     DOUBLE STANDARDS…freedom and democracy are okay in Europe but not in Africa.

In 1897, 23-year-old Winston Churchill fought against the Pashtun in the Swat Valley—Pakistan: In his words, "a lot of jolly little wars against barbarous peoples."

The people held a "strong aboriginal propensity to kill".

In 1920s, talking about the Kurds, he said,

"I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilized tribes...it would spread a lively terror."

Cecil Rhodes on how to treat African tribesmen:

“You should kill all you can, as it serves as a lesson to them when they talk things over at their fires at night.”

Rudyard Kipling: 

“Africans are half devil, half child.”

4.     A HIERARCHICAL VIEW OF HUMANITY:

Darwin, On the Origin of Species (1859)

                  vs.

Social Darwinism…

      Herbert Spencer “survival of the fittest” (Principles of Biology in 1864)

      Francis Galton (cousin of Darwin)

                  “eugenics”  “hereditarianism”

II.                        Early Efforts at Attaining Africa:

A.             The French occupy Algeria in 1830:

"Le coup d'eventail"

The Flyswatter Attack:

Dey Hussein strikes the French Consul, Pierre Duval

B.             The Suez Canal…connects the Mediterranean and Red SeasEUROPE AVOIDS INTERNAL CONFLICT…BERLIN CONFERENCE (1884-1885)

The Berlin Conference: The General Act of Feb. 26, 1885

Chap. I  

I. The trade of all nations shall enjoy complete freedom

II. All flags, without distinction of nationality, shall have free access to the whole of the coast-line of the territories . . .

III. Goods of whatever origin, imported into these regions, under whatsoever flag, by sea or river, or overland, shall be subject to no other taxes than such as may be levied as fair compensation for expenditure in the interests of trade . . .

IV. Merchandise imported into these regions shall remain free from import and transit duties [subject to review after 20 years]

V. No power which exercises or shall exercise sovereign rights in the . . regions shall be allowed to grant therein a monopoly or favor of any kind in matters of trade...

VI. All the powers exercising sovereign rights or influence in the aforesaid territories bind themselves to watch over the preservation of the native tribes, and to care for the improvement of the conditions of their moral and material well-being and to help in suppressing slavery, and especially the Slave Trade Christian missionaries, scientists, and explorers, with their followers, property, and collections, shall likewise be the objects of especial protection.

Freedom of conscience and religious toleration are expressly guaranteed to the natives, no less than to subjects and to foreigners . . .

Chap. II   Documents relative to the Slave Trade

IX. Powers which do or shall exercise sovereign rights or influence in the territories forming the .. basin of the Congo declare that these territories may not serve as a market or means of transit for the trade in slaves, of whatever race they may be. Each of the Powers binds itself to employ all the means at its disposal for putting an end to this trade and for punishing those who engage in it.

EUROPE IN AFRICA:

Ø  Germany in Togo, Cameroon, Namibia, Tanzania

Ø  France in North Africa

Ø  Spain held the coast southwest of Morocco

Ø  Italians were in Somaliland and Eritrea.

Ø  Great Britain annexed Bechuanaland and South Africa

Ø  Belgium in the Congo Free State.

Ø  Italy acquired Tripoli and Cyrenaica from Turkey and formed them into Libya.

Ø  At the start of World War I in 1914, only Liberia and Ethiopia remained independent.

Ø  After the war the German colonies were mandated to France, Great Britain, Belgium, and Portugal.

Ø  Ethiopia was seized by Italy in 1935.

Ø  Rhodes himself took over Zambezia.

III.                    IMPERIALISM BECOMES CONFLICT…

A.             Fashoda Crisis…

France—Major Marchand

British—Lord Kirchener

Result?

France recognizes British presence in Egypt and Sudan.

Britain recognizes French presence in Morocco.

B.             Belgian Congo…

C. EUROPE CREATES THE “TRIBAL” SYSTEM

TWO EXAMPLES:

1. The Nyakusa (present day Tanzania)

Various peoples along Lake Tanganyika, similar in language in custom, so the British support a single leader, “the paramount chief,” and call them the  Nyakyusa tribe.

2. The Igbo (southern Nigeria)

In 1900, noone considers him or herself Igbo

           

By 1950, the tribe was widespread.

John Iliffe, A Modern History of Tanganyika (1979):

“Europeans believe Africans belonged to tribes; Africans built tribes to belong to.”

                                   

IV. CONCLUSION:

Carving up Africa from 1885 to 1914:

(97% colonized by 1914)

                                    Britain 30%

                                    France 15%

                                    Germany 9%

                                    Belgium 7%

                                    Germany 1%

 

THE MOST LASTING IMPACT OF THIS IS ON THE MINDSET OF MANY IN AFRICA…

“We are reclaiming our land. The British pushed us out, and we’re taking it back. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t regret the British coming…we would have still been in the Stone Age”