Transcript The Partition of Africa

The Partition of Africa
Chapter 24, Section 2
Africa in the early 1800s
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North Africa: Into the early 1800s, north Africa was part of the declining
Ottoman Empire (primarily Muslim)
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West Africa: Islamic revival spread among among tribes, wanting social
and religious reform based on Sharia (Islamic law). This inspired many
to try to rebel against their European colonists
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East Africa: Also Muslim, and had a huge slave trade to the Middle
East, along with ivory and copper, in return for cloth or firearms from
India
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Southern Africa: Lots of war and conflict among tribes and the “boers”
(descendants of Dutch farmers)
Impact of the Slave Trade
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In the early 1800s, European countries slowly began to outlaw the
slave trade in Africa, but it took years.
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Slave trade to Asia and the Middle East continued
Some people helped freed slaves go back to Africa
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British began Sierra Leone as a colony for former slaves on the west coast
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Ex-slaves from the U.S. settled in Liberia on the west coast
European Contact
Increases
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Africans were happy to trade with Europe, but were not happy when
Europe began to stay in the country
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European explorers and missionaries were some of the first people
to enter the interior of Africa
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Catholic and Protestant, built schools, churches, and medical clinics
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Viewed Africans paternally  they saw Africans as in need of guidance
Dr. David Livingstone was the best-known explorer. He traveled for
30 years in Africa, writing about the people he met. He opposed the
slave trade and also wanted to spread Christianity
A Scramble for Colonies
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King Leopold of Belgium was the first to grab land inside Africa, in
the Congo, and it spurred France, Germany and England to do the
same.
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The Berlin Conference—In 1884, European leaders met in Berlin,
Germany to discuss Africa. (No Africans were invited.) This was the
beginning of official colonization.
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Belgium quickly began to exploit the Congo for copper, rubber and
ivory
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Reports of brutal treatment, savage beatings and mutilation of workers
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The Congo and its people were viewed as a possession to be exploited,
and had no representation or say in the government on their land
France and Britain
Join the Scramble
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France grabbed a giant piece of North Africa by waging war in Algeria
and Tunisia
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Cost thousands of French and African lives
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At its height, the French empire in Africa was as big as the U.S.
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British control was more scattered across Africa, and was in more
populated areas with more resources, such as Egypt, with the Suez
Canal, and the Sudan
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In the south, the British clashed with the Boers, when gold and
diamonds were discovered in Boer land.
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Led to the Boer War, which lasted from 1899 to 1902. England won.
Germany, Italy and Portugal also raced to grab land for themselves
Africans Resist Imperialism
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Africans did not take colonization quietly. They resisted everywhere.
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Algerians resisted the French, and women led two resistance
movements against the British
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The Germans were only able to take over after using the scorched-earth
policy and forcing thousands of locals in East Africa to starve to death.
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Only one country was able to resist Europe: Ethiopia. It was already
Christian, and had a modernizing ruler before Europeans came. He had
the weapons and technology to resist Europeans.
An African Elite Emerges
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During the Age of Imperialism, an upper class of
Africans appeared
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They were Western-educated, and some admired the
West and rejected their own traditions, while others
resented Europe’s treatment of Africans.
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By the early 1900s, many of these African leaders
were beginning to organize nationalist movements
to try to regain independence.