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Explore the impact of European colonialism on Africa during the Scramble for Africa period, including the Berlin Conference, African diplomacy, varying responses to European encroachment, and violent reactions.
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European Colonialism in Africa
Thesis #1Throughout history, colonization has been a main concern of many nations. In the 1880s, there was a great desire by European powers to colonize and control Africa in order to gain resources. This became known as the Scramble for Africa. The hypocritical actions of the European powers led to an extreme contempt for the Europeans among the African people, which triggered violent rebellions that eventually helped lead Africa to liberty later on hroughout history, colonization has been a main concern of many nations.
Thesis #2 “For years after the Berlin Conference, various European powers raced to occupy and colonize land in Africa. It was a time of growth for Europe, but what was it for Africa? Africa’s fate was being decided for it by the European invader. Not all Africans just stood by and watched, however. There was a wide range of actions and reactions to the Scramble for Africa from the Africans themselves, from giving in peacefully to fighting back with all of their might.”
The “Scramble for Africa” The Berlin Conference • One European country after another began to claim parts of Africa • Able to take African territories easily because they had superior weapons and a lot of money • 1885 = the Berlin Conference = Several European nations met in Berlin to decide how to divide up Africa • No African leaders invited • Peaceful negotiations made between the European powers that officially decided “who got what” • By 1914 = Europeans controlled 90% of Africa • European powers often had to use extensive and bloody military action to maintain control within their acquired African territories
Diplomacy: Negotiating without war • Documents 2 and 3 reveal the effort among Africans to react with diplomacy. Prempeh’s (D2) rejection of protectorate status under British rule goes to great lengths not to offend “Her Majesty” and insists that the Ashanti kingdom must remain on good diplomatic terms with all “White men,” even as he flatly rejects the British offer. The cordial wording of his response can be read as an effort not to provoke the British into seizing the kingdom by force. Menelik II’s letter (D3) to European powers, meanwhile, clearly indicates his unwillingness to go along with plans to “divide Ethiopia among the distant Powers,” meaning the very countries to whom he’s writing. But his firm tone nevertheless draws heavily on the common religion that Ethiopia shares with those powers, and the constant references to Christianity are no doubt intended to reinforce the idea among Europeans that Ethiopia should be seen more favorably than other African nations, and thus be exempt from the Scramble for Africa. He even goes so far as to suggest that Europeans, as they carve up the continent, might help his country regain the seacoast land on the Indian Ocean that has fallen under Muslim control
Varying Responses to European Encroachment African Resistance to Colonial Rule Some tried to enlist Europeans in their own internal struggles for power or in their external rivalries with neighboring states Some tried to pit imperial powers against each other Some wanted to fight back against the Europeans Some believed resistance was futile and acceptance of the situation was the only option Some negotiated with Europeans in an effort to keep as much independence and power as possible
Violent Reaction: What would you do? • Documents 4, 5 and 8 show the African reaction to European colonization turning more violent. Kumalo (D4) provides a firsthand account of the deadly Ndebele Rebellion, in which his old gun was no match for the machine guns of the British. He explains the uprising as a spontaneous eruption against the ill-treatment of the British. He describes them as “overbearing” and says they “harmed our wives and daughters.” His reluctance to be more graphic reflects a conservative 19th-century sensibility to respect female virtue, to keep from adding any more shame onto the Ndebele women than they’ve already withstood. The painting (D5) depicts a well-armed Ethiopian force successfully defending its sovereignty against Italian aggression, while the German officer’s account (D8) of the Maji Maji Rebellion references “attackers” and “enemy bullets.” Menelik II’s letter five years earlier clearly failed to keep Ethiopia off the radar of the Italians, but the painting does accurately reflect that it was the Ethiopians’ modern arms that enabled them to fend off the Italians.
Under European Rule: Cooperation • Many groups and individuals willingly cooperated with colonial authorities • Many men found employment, status, and security in the European-led armed forces • Colonial rulers = expensive, in short supply, and could rarely communicate with their subjects • Result = local intermediaries needed • Local intermediaries = typically from elite or governing families • Local intermediaries = could retain their status and gain wealth by exercising authority at the local level
Religious response • Documents 3 and 8 illustrate African attempts to draw from their religious traditions in reacting to European colonization efforts. Menelik (D3) reminds the Europeans that his country has been a Christian island “in a sea of Pagans” for fourteen centuries and holds out that Jesus will advise those distant powers to not only refrain from colonizing Ethiopia but help it gain lost land. The account of the Maji Maji Rebellion against Germans in East Africa (D8) shows that a central element to the uprising was the animistic belief that a “magic medicine” passed from a spirit living in the form of a snake would help natives overcome their oppressors. The source of this information is a German military officer, but the amount of detail provided and the matter-of-fact tone lend credibility to its accuracy. There’s nothing disparaging or belittling about the officer’s words, which were published in a German military weekly newspaper. The account therefore comes across as a straight-forward effort to explain to fellow German officers exactly what it is they’re up against in colonizing East Africa.
Under European Rule: Cooperation • Many found it beneficial to pursue Western education • Western-educated class served the colonial state, European businesses, and Christian missions as teachers, clerks, translators, and lower-level administrators • Some with even more education = became lawyers, doctors, engineers, journalists, etc.
Accomplices in Africa? • Documents 1 and 9 reveal that some Africans chose to participate themselves in the Scramble for Africa, whether in resignation or out of a desire for personal gain. The African rulers who signed the Royal Niger Company’s standard form (D1) received monetary compensation for turning over their land. They may have recognized the futility of trying to resist the British government and decided to make the most of it by complying with the terms of the contract. Or they may not have truly understood what they were signing, given language barriers. When the company pledged not to disrupt the laws and customs of the country, the wording it then inserted – “consistently with the maintenance of order and good government” – can be read as a caveat that effectively gives the company the latitude to do whatever it wants. Almost anything could be defined as interfering with “the maintenance of order …” and so the British were bound to trample all over the native customs of the Niger River delta. Finally, Mojimba’s description of a battle he witnessed (D9) indicates that it pitted Africans against not only the British but also African mercenaries, so there were some Africans who chose to help Europeans suppress African resistance, getting paid as soldiers for hire. Mojimba’s words are filled with hatred, for good reason. But they’re being told 30 years after the battle, and so they may not be precisely accurate because the passage of time – coupled with the horrors he saw when he was younger – could very well distort his memories. Accounts of others present at the battle – perhaps from the African mercenaries – could be used to verify the accuracy of his recollection, if not provide the rationale for why those African mercenaries chose to side with the Europeans.
POV • Samuel Maherero is a leader of the Herero people who have already given in peacefully to the Germans. He has no reason to distort the truth of the situation his people are enduring at the hands of the Germans. He also can speak freely in a letter to a fellow African leader because it is a private correspondence. (Doc. 7) • Yaa Asantewa is speaking to chiefs in West Africa and there is no reason to believe any Europeans would have been present at such a meeting so she could speak freely and express the thoughts of other women in her tribe. As the “Queen Mother” she probably would be a reliable source of what other African women were feeling on the subject of imperialism since they would have felt safe to confide in her. (Doc. 6) • The German military officer describing an account of the supernatural beliefs of the African natives as they went into battle could be exaggerating the tale in order to win the approval of people back home for their aggression by painting a picture of the Africans as an inferior people who believe in magic and who would benefit from the presence of the more “evolved” Germans.
EuropeanNationalism Source for Raw Materials MissionaryActivity Industrial Revolution European Motives For Colonization Markets forFinishedGoods Military& NavalBases SocialDarwinism EuropeanRacism Places toDumpUnwanted/Excess Popul. HumanitarianReasons Soc. & Eco.Opportunities “WhiteMan’sBurden”
European Explorers in Africa 19c Europeans Map the Interior of Africa
1. Where Is Dr. Livingstone? DoctorLivingstone,I Presume? Sir Henry Morton Stanley Dr. David Livingstone
Africa 1890
Africa in 1914
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
Thesis #3 • In the early 20th century European countries met to carve up Africa. They did not care about what it did to Africa, but cared about dominating and getting resources. “Although the European powers felt as though they were doing great good in the African continent during the Scramble for Africa, the actions of the Africans was that of rebellion and reactions showing much determination to rid Africa of the unjust Europeans
Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 Another point of view?
European Colonization/Decolonization Patterns Berlin Conference of 1884-85
Boers Clash With the Xhosa Tribes Boer Farmer
The Great Trek, 1836-38 Afrikaners
Diamond Mines Raw Diamonds
Cecil Rhodes (1853-1902) “The Colossus of Rhodes”
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 British The Boers
A Future British Prime Minister British Boer War Correspondent, Winston Churchill
