Transcript Britain and the partition of Africa

The partition of Africa
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Between 1880 and 1900 90% of the territory of
Africa was appropriated by a handful of
European powers.
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Britain acquired nearly 5 million square miles of land.
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France gained 3.5 million.
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Germany, Belgium and Italy shared 2.5 million between
them.
Britain and the partition of Africa
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Before the Partition, Britain's involvement in
Africa was on a relatively small scale.
In 1880 there were no plans to extend the
British Empire in Africa.
Yet in 1882 in a startling about face Gladstone,
the Prime Minister, ordered the occupation of
Egypt.
This turned out to be the starting point of the
Partition of Africa.
North Africa:
the occupation and defence of Egypt
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The Ottoman Empire had captured Egypt in 1517
and thereafter had expanded along the North
African coast to Tripoli, Tunis, Algeria and
Morocco.
But by the late 19th century the Ottoman Empire
was in decline.
This worried the British government which feared
that Ottoman possessions in North Africa would
fall into the hands of rival European powers and
thereby threaten British interests in the area.
North Africa:
the occupation and defence of Egypt
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In 1860 British politicians wished that Egypt
should have been attached to the Turkish Empire.
The French took a different view.
They encouraged Egypt to break away from the
Ottoman Empire and French investors poured
money into the country after 1850.
The most dramatic example of French investment
was a bold plan to construct the Suez Canal,
which opened in 1869.
North Africa:
the occupation and defence of Egypt
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The completion of the Suez Canal led to a large
influx of British investment.
British banks offered the Egyptian government
enormous loans which were used for economic
development.
Between 1863 and 1879 Egypt's foreign debt
increased from £3 million to £100 million.
In 1878 an Anglo-French rescue plan emerged.
French government officials and British financial
experts would take control of the Egyptian
economy.
North Africa:
the occupation and defence of Egypt
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The plan restored financial stability. But, in the
process, it brought misery to the vast majority of
the Egyptian people and led to starvation,
increased unemployment, street rioting and,
finally, a rebellion in the army.
On 11 June 1882 a national riot in Alexandria led
to the death of 50 Europeans.
This prompted the British government to order the
formal occupation of Egypt.
By October 1882 Britain became 'the Government
of Egypt'.
North Africa:
the occupation and defence of Egypt
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The British quickly ended Anglo-French 'dual
control', much to the annoyance of the French,
and stayed in Egypt until 1922.
The occupation of Egypt by the British led to bitter
recriminations between Britain and France which
were to last for over 20 years.
West Africa
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The British government viewed West Africa with
a great deal of detachment once the slave trade
was outlawed in 1807.
The only reason Britain remained interested was
due to the trade in palm oil.
However the leading forces in the Partition of
West Africa were France, Germany and Belgium.
West Africa
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In 1884 representatives of the major European
powers met in Berlin in order to reach a
settlement of the boundaries, trade and the rules
of occupation of West Africa.
The British gained a monopoly over the palm oil
trade on the Niger River and created Nigeria.
West Africa
George Dashwood Taubman Goldie
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Sir George Dashwood Taubman Goldie (20 May 1846 –
20 August 1925) was a Manx administrator who played a
major role in the founding of Nigeria.
He conceived the idea of adding to the British Empire the
then little known regions of the lower and middle Niger.
For over twenty years his efforts were devoted to the
realization of this conception.
The method by which he determined to work was the revival
of government by chartered companies within the empire - a
method supposed to be buried with the East India Company.
East Africa
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The major British interest in the region was trade
with the island of Zanzibar.
East Africa was divided by diplomatic agreement
into British and German 'spheres of influence'
between 1885 and 1895.
At first, the British government left the
administration of East Africa to the British East
Africa Company.
This proved beyond it. By 1895 Britain was in
formal control of a largely unwanted East African
Empire.
East Africa
The shortest war in history
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The Anglo-Zanzibar War was fought on 27 August 1896.
The conflict lasted approximately 38 minutes
The immediate cause of the war was the death of the proBritish Sultan Hamad bin Thumaini on 25 August 1896 and
the subsequent succession of Sultan Khalid bin Barghash.
The British authorities preferred Hamud bin Muhammed,
who was more favourable to British interests, as Sultan.
In accordance with a treaty signed in 1886, a condition for
accession to the sultanate was that the candidate obtain
the permission of the British Consul, and Khalid had not
fulfilled this requirement
Southern Africa
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The Partition of southern Africa was really a tale
of Anglo-Boer rivalry and the ambitions of Cecil
Rhodes, a British multi-millionaire who arrived in
South Africa in 1870, aged 17, and quickly made
a fortune from diamond mining.
He developed a 'big idea' for the expansion of the
British Empire.
Standing in the way of Rhodes' 'impossible
dream' were the independent Boer republics.
The Boer Wars
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The Boer wars were two wars fought
between the UK and the two independent
Boer republics, the Orange Free State and
the South African Republic (Transvaal
Republic). The first was fought between
1880-1881, and the second was fought
between 1899-1902.
The First Anglo-Boer War
(1880–1881),
Also known as the "Transvaal War," was a
relatively brief conflict in which Boer settlers
successfully resisted a British attempt to
annex the Transvaal, and re-established an
independent republic.
Southern Africa
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The Boers' insatiable desire for land created a
great deal of antagonism, not only with Britain, but
also with a large number of African tribal peoples.
The most important were the Zulus, proud people,
skilled in war and diplomacy.
The Boers became so frightened of the Zulu
threat that they called on the British government.
In 1877 Britain took control of the Transvaal and
then issued an ultimatum to the Zulus.
Southern Africa
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The Zulus choose war and were eventually
defeated in 1879 after a valiant struggle.
Shortly after the Zulu defeat the Transvaal asked
Britain to restore its independence.
The British refused and the Transvaal responded
by attacking and defeating British forces at
Majuba Hill in 1881.
The Second Anglo-Boer War
(1899-1902)
By contrast, was a lengthy war - involving large numbers of
troops from many British possessions - which ended with the
conversion of the Boer republics into British colonies (with a
promise of limited self-government).
These colonies later formed part of the Union of South Africa.
Unlike many colonial conflicts, the Boer War lasted three years
and was very bloody. The British fought directly against the
Transvaal and the Orange Free State. The bloodshed that
was seen during the war was alarming and many of the
British soldiers faced terrible conditions.
As Boer farms were destroyed by the British under their
“Scorched Earth" policy.
This included the systematic destruction of:
 Crops
 Slaughtering of livestock
 Burning down of homesteads and farms
 Poisoning of wells and salting of fields
This was done to prevent the Boers from re-supplying
from a home base many tens of thousands of women
and children were forcibly moved into the
concentration camps.
This was not the first appearance of internment camps.
Concentration camps (1900 - 1902)
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The English term “concentration camp" was first used
to describe camps operated by the British in South
Africa during this conflict.
The camps had originally been set up by the British
Army as “refugee camps" to provide refuge for civilian
families who had been forced to abandon their
homes for one or other reason related to the war.
The Spanish had used internment in the Ten Years’
War that later led to the Spanish –American War, and
the United States had used them to devastate
guerrilla forces during the Philippine-American War.
But the Boer War concentration camp system was the
first time that a whole nation had been systematically
targeted, and the first in which some whole regions
had been depopulated.
Eventually, there were a total of 45 tented camps built
for Boer internees and 64 for black Africans.
Of the 28,000 Boer men captured as prisoners of war,
25,630 were sent overseas.
The vast majority of Boers remaining in the local camps
were women and children.
Over 26,000 women and children were to perish in
these concentration camps.
However, when Kitchener succeeded Roberts
as commander-in-chief in South Africa in 29
November 1900, the British Army introduced
new tactics in an attempt to break the
guerrilla campaign and the influx of civilians
grew dramatically as a result. Kitchener
initiated plans to…..
"flush out guerrillas in a series of systematic
drives, organized like a sporting shoot, with
success defined in a weekly 'bag' of killed,
captured and wounded, and to sweep the
country bare of everything that could give
sustenance to the guerrillas, including
women and children....”
It was the clearance of civilians - uprooting a
whole nation - that would come to dominate
the last phase of the war."
Emily Hobhouse
Emily Hobhouse (April 9, 1860 – June 8,1926)
was a British welfare campaigner, who is primarily
remembered for bringing to the attention of the
British public, and working to change, the appalling
conditions inside the British concentration camps in
South Africa built for Boer women and children
during the Second Boer War.
Who is this?
Quotes
"I contend that we are the first race in the world, and that the
more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human
race...If there be a God, I think that what he would like me to
do is paint as much of the map of Africa British Red as
possible...
“We must find new lands from which we can easily obtain raw
materials and at the same time exploit the cheap slave
labour that is available from the natives of the colonies. The
colonies would also provide a dumping ground for the
surplus goods produced in our factories.”
"To be born English is to win first prize in the lottery of life.”
What’s this?
The link?
De Beers
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Cecil Rhodes was the founder of the
diamond company De Beers.
Which today markets 40% of the world's
rough diamonds.
At one time marketed 90%.
Conclusion
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The argument that Britain's reasons for becoming
involved in the Partition of Africa were a mixture
of power politics and economic necessity appears
impossible to deny.
This view fits most British actions during the
Partition.
It particularly seems to make sense of the events
that led up to the occupation of Egypt.
It was a fear that the Suez Canal might fall into
the hands of a rival power which lay behind much
of what was done.
Conclusion
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The issue that remains unresolved is the balance
between political and economic motives.
Perhaps the judgment whether Britain acted more
from a desire to protect and/or increase her power
than from a wish to protect and/or add to her
wealth will always have to be made depending on
the observer's values and prejudices.
Certainly there is plenty of evidence to support
both point of views.
Conclusion
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Any argument which sees the British as a
'reluctant' participant in the Partition is persuasive
The slow and deliberate way in which the British
government reacted both to events in Africa and
to the activities of rival European powers during
the early stages of the Partition certainly adds
weight to this interpretation.
However, it must be remembered that there was
never any doubt that the vast growth of British
investment in north and southern Africa was going
to be protected, and therefore too much should
not be read into the reluctance.
Conclusion
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The Victorian 'frame of mind' was
never passionate, always appeared
reluctant, but in practice never
flinched from defending British
economic interests whenever and
wherever they were felt to be
threatened.