Scramble for Africa: British Empire

BRITISH IMPERIALISM OF AFRICA

   Starting with the single act of the Belgian King Leopold, the few decades predating the 20th century were ablaze with the scramble for Africa. In the 1870's, King Leopold sent emissaries to the Congo to establish trade with the native Africans there. Once other countries had observed this, the race began. As seen in the chart below, European countries couldn't wait to get their hands on every single piece of land in the continent below them.

    This map shows which countries of Africa were controlled by which European country. As seen, the British dominated most of Africa, having power over Sierra Leone, Egypt, Gold Coast, Nigeria, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Somaliland, Uganda, Kenya, Nyasaland, Northern and Southern Rhodesia, Bechuanaland, Swaziland, Basutoland, and South Africa.

    Europeans had been trading with Africa since 1450, with the slave trade booming, but colonizing did not start until circa 1850. Portugal took Angola, the French had Algeria, and the British Cape Colony. Trade was the rage, with luxury goods like palm oil, ivory, and rubber being extremely desirable. Trade was so large it was noticed by every other European country, and soon became a competition. Below is a chart showing the increase of ivory and rubber exports out of only one country in Africa - Congo.

    One of the main proprietors of British colonization was the still controversial today Cecil Rhodes. Cecil Rhodes was a British businessman, mining magnate, and politian in South Africa, who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. Northern and Southern Rhodesia were both named after him, and have since been renamed Zambia and Zimbabwe. He is said to have wanted railroads reaching from one end of Africa to the other, all within British territory. Although he claimed not to discriminate against other skin colors, he stated that Europeans - namely the British - were a superior race, and that they were doing the Africans a service. Below is a cartoon of him stretching his stance over all of Africa.

This is another political cartoon, this time showing a man shown in European styled clothing grabbing the continent of Africa. This is relatively obvious in nature, but the hands can be interpreted as careless and harmful.

   Yet another political cartoon, showing a white male carelessly destructing the continent. He stretches out over the entire landmass, his feet knocking over villages that exist there. Multiple cartoons have been made during this time, only showing how unwelcome the Europeans were to the existing African world.

  Great Britain's primary interest in Africa was not monetary gain, unlike other countries. Great Britain was a country full of anti-slavery Protestants. Sitting in their homes, complaining over tea, they were much alike "Twitter activists" (those who preach and preach about problems but take no affirmative action to stop the problem). It was not until the British noticed financial opportunities in the Suez Canal and South Africa, that they became actually involved with the continent (geographically) below them.

   The Suez Canal was a strategic Monopoly-like gain for the British, as it cut out 6,000 tedious miles of travel a British ship would primarily have to make in order to reach India. At a cheaper cost, this canal was a financial necessity for the British. The majority of the shares for this canal remained with the French who built it, and the Egyptians who owned the land it was on.

 

   Above is a picture o f Henry Morton Stanley - a Welsh journalist and explorer who found Dr. Livingstone in 1871. Livingstone was another journalist, a Scottish missionary who went missing in Central Africa. Henry Stanley reported of the "new" slave trade (quotations due to the fact that they were not new, and had been in place for hundreds of years). In Africa, Stanley and Livingstone met an African pallbearer - Jacob Wright. Efforts to stop the terrible Swahili trade were sparked by Dr. Livingstone's death. Wright accompanied his body back to England. This honorable deed motivated the British to stamp out the slave trade, and shortly after, the British Navy stopped Zanzibar from trading with anyone. Zanzibar then came to the conclusion that slavery was immoral, making the British embargo effective and worthwhile. Meaning, the British gained a reputation in Africa for morality, thus opening the pathway for imperialism to begin.

   By 1914, almost every country in Africa was occupied by one European country or another. The only two that managed to stay independent were Ethiopia and Liberia.