The Partition of Africa

Chapter 27

Exploring the “Dark Continent”

• Prior to the 1800’s, little was known of Africa other than north of the Sahara and the western and southern coasts

• David Livingstone – Scottish doctor and missionary, explored Africa starting in the 1840s

• Henry Stanley – British journalist and explorer, searched for Livingston

• Reports of natural resources started a land grab

• By 1914, 90% of the continent was controlled by European countries

Stanley and Livingstone

North Africa

• Area north of the Sahara• French areas

– 1830 King Charles X invades Algiers– Abd al-Qadir leads resistance to the French– 1840s French conquer Algiers– 1881 take Tunisia– Special rights granted in Morocco in 1904– @ 1 million French citizens settle in French North Africa

North Africa (cont.)• British in Egypt and Sudan

– Early 1800’s, Egypt independent Ottoman state under Muhammad Ali

– Ali began to modernize Egypt and grow cotton

– Suez Canal (Mediterranean and Red Seas)

• built by the French• British bought from Egypt

– 1882, Egypt became a British protectorate

– Sudan resisted British control, taken over in 1898 (help of better weapons like machine guns)

• Italy seizes Libya– 1911 Italy takes Tripoli from the

Ottoman Empire and renames it Libya

West Africa

• West coast traded with Europe starting in the 1500s (salt, gold, iron, slaves)

• European slave trade ends in 1800s, shift to trading palm oil, ivory, rubber, cotton, and cacao beans

• Steam ship & quinine (malaria) allowed for easier travel inland

• Despite resistance, Britain and France conquer many of the lands

• Liberia was the only independent western state in 1900 (ties to the U.S.)

Central and East Africa

• Continued slave trade to Middle East and Asia after European slave trade ended

• Congo– King Leopold II of Belgium makes

the Congo his private plantation• Destroyed the natural resources

– 1908 become the Belgian Congo

• Ethiopia– Italy tries to conquer starting in the

1880s– Emperor Menelik II put down Italian

attempts– Remained independent during

imperialism

Leopold II

Menelik II

King Leopold’s Belgian Congo

The Berlin Conference(1884 - 1885)

• 14 European countries (including the U.S.)• Came together to prevent war between European nations in

Africa• European nations could lay claim to African lands if they told

other European nations and could control the area• African nations were not invited• By 1914, only Liberia and Ethiopia were free

Southern Africa• Dutch settled Cape Town in

1652 (Afrikaners or Boers)• British took over area in early

1800s– Ended slavery, angered Afrikaners

• 1830s – Great Trek– Boers left to create their own states

(Transvaal and Orange Free State)

• Conflict with Zulus– Afrikaners fought Zulu nation over

land rights– British became involved and

eventually defeated the Zulu nation

Southern Africa (continued)

• Boer War (1899 – 1902)– British colonists moved into Boer territory

looking for gold and diamonds– Boers resisted British control and fought

back– Fighting included total war and concentration

camps

• Union of South Africa (1910)– After British victory in the Boer War, South

Africa would all eventually be unified under British control

– Constitution made it almost impossible for non-whites to vote

Total War and Concentration Camps of the Boer War

Cecil Rhodes: the Colossus of South Africa

Effects of Imperialism in Africa• Imperialists profited from

mines, plantations, factories, ports, cheap labor, and taxes

• Schools taught Western ideals– Most Africans accepted some

European ideas while holding on to their own cultures

• Western taught elite pushes for independence that will be won throughout the 20th century