West Africa and North Africa

Why were European countries interested in West Africa and North Africa?

  • Before 1880, Europeans controlled little of the African Continent directly
  • Between 1880 and 1900 Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, placed all of Africa under European rule.

West Africa

Why were Europeans interested in Africa?

  • Europeans were interested in West Africa’s raw materials such as peanuts, timber, hides, and palm oil
  • Europeans had once profited from slave trade in this region of Africa, however by the late 1800s trade in enslaved people had mostly ended
  • Growing European presence in in West Africa increased tensions with African governments in the region
  • Most African states were able to maintain independence until 1874 when Britain annexed the west coastal states as the first British colony of Gold Coast
  • Britain also established a protectorate in Nigeria around this time
  • France was left in control of the largest part of West Africa

North Africa

What motivated the British to compete for control of Egypt?

  • Egyptians sought their independence as the Ottoman rule declined
  • An officer of the Ottoman army, known as Muhammad Ali, seized power and established a separate Egyptian state in 1805
  • Muhammad Ali began to modernize Egypt with a new army, a public school system, and creating small industries to refine sugar, produce textiles, and build ships
  • Europeans gained the desire to build a canal east of Cairo when the development of steamships increased economic importance of the Nile Valley
  • The British took interest in Egypt after the Suez Canal was opened
  • They believed it was the “lifeline to India”
  • In 1875 Britain bought Egypt’s share in the Suez Canal

Central and East Africa

Why did European Countries compete for colonies in Central Africa and East Africa?

  • Central African territories were added to a list of European colonies
  • European explorers had popular interest in dense tropical jungles of Central Africa
  • An example of this explorer was David Livingstone
  • Arrived in Africa in 1841 and stayed for 30 years trekking through uncharted regions

South Africa

How was European dominance different in South Africa?

What role did Cecil Rhodes play in promoting British imperialism in the South Africa?

How did European presence grow rapidly In South Africa?

  • South Africa’s white population rose to almost 200,000 people by 1865.
  • The original Dutch settlers were called The Boers or Afrikaners and had occupied Cape Town and other surrounding areas in South Africa in the seventeenth century.
  • Britain seized these lands from the Dutch during the Napoleonic Wars, and encouraged the settlers to come to Cape Colony.

The Boer Republics

What did the Boers do in response to British role?

  • Boers were unhappy with British role causing them to move from the coastal lands and head northward on the Great Trek
  • They eventually settled between the Orange and Vaal rivers
  • They formed two independent republics, The Orange Free State and The Transvaal (later known as the South African Republic.)

How was the Boers society built?

  • They believed that white superiority was ordained by God
  • The denied non-Europeans any place in their society, aside from laborers and servants
  • Boers placed most of the indigenous people, which are those native to the region, in areas on reservations

Cecil Rhodes

Who was Cecil Rhodes and how did he affect British policy in South Africa?

  • In 1880’s the British was greatly influenced by Cecil Rhodes
  • Rhodes had gained a fortune by founding diamond and gold mining companies
  • One of his goals included creating a series or British colonies all linked by a railroad

The Boer War

What was the result of the Boer War?

  • The war lasted from 1899 1902
  • The Boers resisted the British which caused them to respond by burning crops and forced 120,000 Boer women and children into detention camps
  • The Larger British army won the war
  • The British created an independent Union of South Africa in 1910

Imperialism

How did European governance lead to African Nationalism?

  • Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain, and Portugal all divided up Africa by 1914.
  • Liberia and Ethiopia remained free states
  • Natives who dared to resist were devastated by Europeans military force

Colonial Rule in Africa

  • European governments ruled new territories in Africa with the least effort and expense possible
  • Relied on existing political elites and institutions
  • Indirect rule was introduced in the Islamic state of Sokoto, in northern Nigeria in 1903
  • In French colonies European nations governed their African possesions directly
  • The French wanted to assimilate African subjects into French Culturerather than preserve native traditions