Transcript The Age of Imperialism 1800-1914

Why did Europeans colonize Africa?
African Trade [15c-17c]
Pre-19c European Trade with Africa
Imperialism – one country’s domination of the political, economic and
social life of another country.
Three key factors:
•Nationalism prompted rival European nations to
build empires in their competitive quest for power.
•Industrial Revolution created a tremendous
demand for raw materials and expanded markets.
•Religious fervor and feelings of racial and cultural
superiority inspired Europeans to impose their
cultures on distant lands.
Economic Motives
The Industrial Revolution created
an insatiable demand for raw
materials and new markets.
Nationalism
European nations wanted to
demonstrate their power and
prestige to the world.
European nations were forced to
acquire new colonies to achieve a
balance with their neighbors and
competitors.
Balance of Power
White Man’s Burden
The Europeans’ sense of
superiority made them feel
obligated to “civilize the heathen
savages” they encountered.
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Actors on the world stage
Continuing enterprise that seemed to have
no limits
Communication
 Slow – governors and generals take matters into
their own hands
▪ Armies to expand borders
▪ Conflict over territories arose – remote battlefields
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Raw materials and manufactured goods
Search for new sources of raw materials and
new markets
 Rubber, copper and gold – Africa
 Jute – India
 Tin – Southeast Asia
▪ European and American industries and financial markets
▪ Colonies – also provided markets
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Needed loyal people to rule countries
Leaders urged citizens to move to colonies
Cecil Rhodes
 British adventurer who made a fortune from gold
and diamond mining in south Africa
 Went on to find Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe
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Religious and humanitarian impulses
Spread western technology, religion, customs
and traditions
Catholic and Protestant missionaries
 Built churches and taught Christian doctrine
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Superiority
 Impose western civilization
 Learn European languages and encouraged
western lifestyles
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Social Darwinism
Social Darwinism
The “White Man’s Burden”
Rudyard Kipling
The “White Man’s Burden”?
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Treaties, bought land, or conquered
Territorial control
 Colony – a territory that was ruled directly
▪ Direct or indirect rule
 Protectorate – had its own government, but
officials of a foreign power guided its policies,
particularly in foreign affairs
 Sphere of influence – held exclusive investment or
trading rights
Berlin Conference of 1884-1885
Another point of view? 
Berlin
Conference
of
1884-1885
European
Colonization/Decolonization Patterns
Berlin Conference of 1884-85
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Most live on a strip of land north of the
Sahara
1800s Muslim Arabs under Ottoman ruler
governed large territories west of Egypt
 Tripoli, Tunis, Algiers, and Morocco
▪ Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria
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1830 – King Charles X
of France ordered an
invasion of Algiers
Resistance from Abd
al-Qadir
 10 years to subdue
 Next Tunis in 1881
 Morocco in 1905
▪ I million French settled
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Egypt ruled under Muhammad Ali
Carried out building projects with European
assistance
 Debt rose and European political and economic
influence rose
 1859-1869 – Suez Canal
▪ Sold holdings to Great Britain
▪ 1882 – British force moved in – defeated Ahmed Arabi
▪ Egypt became a protectorate
▪ 1898 – the Sudan – dispute between Britain and France
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Entered race late – wanted a African empire
Declared war on Ottoman Empire in 1911
 Easily defeated the Ottoman Turks
 Took Tripoli as a colony, renamed it Libya
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Land between the Sahara and the southern
tip of the continent
The Congo Free State
or
The Belgian Congo
King Leopold II:
(r. 1865 – 1909)
Harvesting Rubber
Punishing “Lazy” Workers
5-8 Million Victims!
(50% of Popul.)
It is blood-curdling to see them (the
soldiers) returning with the hands of the
slain, and to find the hands of young
children amongst the bigger ones
evidencing their bravery...The rubber from
this district has cost hundreds of lives, and
the scenes I have witnessed, while unable
to help the oppressed, have been almost
enough to make me wish I were dead... This
rubber traffic is steeped in blood, and if the
natives were to rise and sweep every white
person on the Upper Congo into eternity,
there would still be left a fearful balance to
their credit.
-- Belgian Official
Belgium’s Stranglehold on the Congo
Leopold’s Conscience??
Leopold Defends Himself in Paris,
1903
King Leopold (to Loubert) :
How about that! John
Bull claims that I
tortured, robbed and
murdered more than he
did. . .
Loubert : No, your Majesty,
that's impossible .
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Henry M. Stanley
King Leopold II – Congo region
 1908 – gave Congo to Belgian government for
large loan
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Only country to remain independent in this
region was Ethiopia
 Menelik II
 1896 – when Italians attacked crushing victory
deterred others
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Trading posts
 Salt, gold, iron wares and slaves
▪ Econ0mies declined when slave trade abolished
▪ Reliance on cash crops – cotton and cacao beans
▪ Palm, ivory, and rubber
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European nations push inward
 1890s Samory Toure, ruler of a kingdom in present-
day Senegal led armies against the French, other
joined
▪ By 1900s, reluctantly accept European rule
▪ Liberia – only remaining independent state (1822) – support
from US
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1800s – slave trade illegal
Sought out West Africa’s gold, timber, hides,
and palm oil
Britain, France, and Germany took over the
areas along the Atlantic coast
1847 – African Americans freed created the
republic of Liberia
By 1900, only Libya remained free
1911 – Italy defeated the Ottoman Empire
and given control of Tripoli
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The Afrikaners – Dutch settlers who
conquered lands around Cape Town
 Cape Colony
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British seized during Napoleonic Wars
 Afrikaners resented British rule
 Boers
▪ Great Trek
 Zulu Nation – Shaka Zulu
 Union of South Africa
Dutch Landing in 1652
Shaka Zulu
(1785 – 1828)
Boers Clash With the Xhosa
Tribes
Boer Farmer
The Great Trek, 1836-38
Afrikaners
Diamond Mines
Raw Diamonds
The Struggle for South Africa
Cecil Rhodes
(1853-1902)
“The Colossus of Rhodes”
Paul Kruger
(1825-1904)
Boer-British Tensions Increase
 1877 – Britain annexed the Transvaal.
 1883 – Boers fought British in the
Transvaal and regained its
independence.
- Paul Kruger becomes President.
 1880s – Gold discovered in the
Transvaal
The Boer War: 1899 - 1900
The Boers
The British
A Future British Prime Minister
British Boer War Correspondent,
Winston Churchill
The Struggle for South Africa
As the Boers moved they fought African groups
already living there
 Zulu had created a large territory
 Zulu often fought the Boers
 By the 1800s also fighting the British
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 Eventually destroyed the Zulu Empire
1899 – war between British and Boers – fought over
gold and diamonds
 1910 – area became South Africa- self-governing
within the British Empire – Boers and British ran the
gov’t
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Mines, plantations, building factories and ports
Hired Africans with low wages and imposed taxes
Men housed in dormitories away from families,
treated brutally
 Schools
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 Taught European ways were best
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Missions – reject African customs and beliefs
 Learned to read European books and wear European
clothes
 Some
▪ Entire villages broke up, families came apart, ancient traditions
disappeared.
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Domination by one country or people over
another group of people
Changed the world during the later half of the
century
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Old
 Looking for a direct
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New
 Driven by Industrial
trade route to Asia
Revolution
▪ Established colonies in the
Americas, India, South
Africa, the East Indies, and
territory along Africa and
China
▪ Mercantilism
▪ Cost of colonies
outweighed the benefits
▪ Colonialism became less
popular
▪ Economic, military,
political, humanitarian,
religious, social Darwinism,
and western technology
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Race for the continent led to a war in South
Africa
Fought between the British and the Boers
Beginning
 1600s – Dutch settle Cape Town (Boers)
 1800s – British seized the Dutch territory –
renamed Cape Colony
 Boers moved inland
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Wanted to expand global markets
Need for cheap labor and a steady supply of
raw materials
Directly controlled these areas
Problem
 New colonies were too poor to buy European
goods
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Colonies crucial to military power, national
security, and nationalism
Needed naval ports to take on coal and
supplies
Britain needed to protect the Suez Canal
Possession of colonies was an indication of a
nation’s greatness
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Should civilize
“The White Man’s Burden” – Kipling
 Civilize the uncivilized
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Spread Christianity
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Charles Darwin’s – survival of the fittest
 Applied to human societies and nations
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White race was dominant and only natural to
conquer the inferior
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Better medicine
 Could survive tropical diseases and mosquito-
infected interior of Africa and Asia
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Steamboat and telegraph
 Quick response
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Machine gun
 Military advantage
Economic
Military/Political
Humanitarian/Religi
ous
Technology
Need for markets
Need for military
bases
White man’s
burden
New medicine
Raw materials
National security
Spread of
Christianity
New weapons
Source of
investments
Source of pridenationalism
Social Darwinism
Transportation
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Bought shares from Egypt, France owned
others
1882- established a protectorate over Egypt
Set off “African fever” in Europe
 Great Britain extended its control over the Sudan
as well
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Raised questions about the political fate of
Africa south of the Sahara
European nations were fearful that Leopold II
of Belgium would want to extend control over
the entire area
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Congress of Berlin (1884-1885)
 Established the principle that European
occupation of African territory had to be based on
effective occupation that was recognized by other
states, and that no single European power could
claim Africa
 Between 1878-1914, European powers divided up
the entire African continent except for the
independent counties of Ethiopia and Liberia