African Colonialism & Nationalism

Patterns of European Expansionism

3 Gs (15th-18thC)

• Glory

• Gold

• God

3 Cs (19th-20thC)

• Commerce

• Christianity

• Civilization

Of these three reasons for colonizing Africa in the 15th Century, which do you think was the most Important?

Of these three reasons for colonizing Africa in the 15th

Century, which do you think was the most Important? • The conquest of Africa began as a battle for power

among European nations (glory) - During this era, European nations dominated world politics.

• Once the colonies were established, however, other factors such as economics and religion became increasingly important in the conquest of Africa.

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Definitions

• Imperialism: A policy of conquering and then ruling other lands as colonies.

• Colonialism: The process of acquiring and maintaining colonies.

• Legitimate Trade: The period of change from an economy based on the slave trade to one based on natural products

Imperialism

• Imperialism occurred in Africa during the late 19th century.

• Earlier, European greed had ruined Africa by a filthy exploitation of Africa people as a cheap means of slave labor

• During the Scramble for Africa, European imperialistic power carved up Africa and its resources into political partitions

• 1905, African soil was completely controlled by European might, mainly Britain, France, Portugal, Germany, and Italy

• Resource rich, empty continent up for grabs… European powers become involved in the “Scramble for Africa”

““The Magnificent African Cake”:The Magnificent African Cake”:Partition in AfricaPartition in Africa

The partition of Africa among the various European powers is also known as what? Why?

- Scramble for Africa - Because of the speed with which the partition was carried out.

‘Legitimate’ Trade• Prior to 19th Century (1800s), Africa’s largest export

was enslaved Africans

• Slavery began to fall out of favour during the 1830s, and it was formally abolished in the United States in 1865.

Continued…

• After abolition, Europeans in Africa found new items for trade,

including gold, ivory, cloves, peanuts, cotton, rubber, and palm oil

• This shift from slave-based trade to that of natural products marked the era of ‘legitimate’ trade

Why Africa?• Wealth: Production and export of palm

oil to Western countries. Palm oil was used to lubricate machinery and Europe was experiencing an Industrial Revolution.

King Leopold II

• King Leopold II was the First European to seize territory in Africa

• Hired Henry M. Stanley to investigate the Congo River

• Stanley claimed territory 80 times larger than Belgium in Leopold’s name

• Henry M. Stanley: European explorer who visited the Congo River and claimed much African land for Belgium. He misunderstood MoJimba’s welcome for an act of war.

• Chief MoJimba: African leader whose efforts to make the explorer Stanley welcome were misunderstood and thought to be an act of war.

Cecil John Rhodes

Cecil John Rhodes• Cecil Rhodes joined his

brother in south Africa on his cotton farm in 1870

• They failed to keep up with the competition of cotton, so Rhodes turned to diamond mining in Kimberley (south Africa.)

• He was very successful in mining and became a very wealthy man, he was a millionaire before the age of 25.

Cecil John Rhodes• Rhodes went back to England to study

business at oxford in 1873.• He didn’t graduate until 1881, due to his

frequent visits to Kimberly to see how his company was doing

• By the time he graduated he owned 90% of Africa’s diamond mines.

• Shortly after he graduated he became a politician

• Rhodes always had a dream of having a strip of British control down Africa

Cecil John Rhodes• Rhodes was a politician, he

started to serve in the parliament of the Cape Colony

• He became a member of the Cape House of Assembly.

• In 1889, Rhodes became the head administrator of the British South Africa Company

• During this time he came back to his dream of a strip of British control down Africa.

Cecil John Rhodes• He joined Britain and Bechuanaland (now

Botswana), in South Africa to stop the Boer Transvaal Republic from going northwards.

• One of Rhodes many dreams was to make a railroad from cape to Cairo, to aid in the British control.

• He met up with the leader of the Limpopo River, and took a translator, who intentionally incorrectly explained the details of Rhodes agreement. Because the leader did not understand what Rhodes was telling him he unknowingly agreed to let him explore and exploit territories to the north of Limpopo.

• These territories were later known as Southern and Northern Rhodesia, which was named after Rhodes.

Cecil John Rhodes• In 1890 he became

Prime Minster of the Cape region.

• His misfortunes soon started after he became Prime Minister

• His dreams of the railroad were destroyed because Germany received a strip of land cutting off the British from the north.

Cecil John Rhodes• Cecil Rhodes fought for

Kimberly in the Boer war 1899 – 1902, but his poor heath caught up with him and finally

ended his life. • He left much of his fortunes to

create the Rhodes Scholarships, which have aided hundreds of students of Oxford University.

Otto von Bismarck

• Motivated by politics• Germany entered the

“Scramble for Africa” in the hopes that Britain would follow, thereby creating competition between the British and the French

Rules of Partition

• Countries were ‘scrambling’ to occupy and control territories in Africa and the need for rules to partition, the

‘chopping up’ of the continent, arose• Otto von Bismarck called for a conference in Berlin in

1884-85• All the major European countries took part in the Berlin

Conference

The Berlin Conference

Countries Involved

Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, United States of America, Ottoman Empire.

Berlin Conference Regulations (outlined in Berlin Act 1885)

1. King Leopold II was to allow free trade in the Congo to all European nations.

2. European countries were free to colonize coastal areas that they already occupied and to extend their rule some distance inland.

3. Each nation was required to notify all other signing countries when they occupied a new territory

Berlin Conference Regulations (outlined in Berlin Act 1885)

4. Treaties with African kings were accepted as valid titles to territories.

5. European powers were to state their intent toward the African people. This included promises for the protection of Africans ‘in their moral and material being, the suppression of slavery and the slave trade [and] the education of the natives.’

Consequences of the Conference

• Partition of Africa sped up.

• Wars and Rebellions• 1902- 90% of Africa

was under European Control.

• 1914- All of Africa except Liberia and Ethiopia was under European control.

3 Major Stages of Partition

• Treaty-making between European nations and African rulers

• Treaty-making between European nations• Official occupation of the African countries: Pacification

Stage

Definitions

• Assimilation = a policy under which the colonized people were expected to assimilate to the culture of the colonial ruler.

• Direct Rule = Colonial System in which the colony was ruled by the government of the occupying country. (France is an example)

• Indirect Rule = Colonial system in which natives of the colony were permitted to form local governments, but these were in turn overseen by members of the occupying country. (Britain is an example)

Cash Crops• The controlling countries only

encouraged the production of cash crops for exporting for money.

• The long-term effect was that domestic crops were not grown to feed to the people of Africa

• Since many African economies were based on one crop, the entire economy of a country failed because of lack of rain or the price of the crop fell on the world market.

• This caused famines, which Africa still suffer from.

Ethiopianist Churches

• African Independent Churches• These churches were a reaction against European

domination and acknowledgement of the value of African culture and institutions.

Influence on African Resistance• W.E.B. DuBois = African American professor

and historian of West African medieval civilizations who advocated black social and economic independence.

• Marcus Garvey = African American Leader who advocated Africa for the Africans

• Harlem Renaissance = A movement of French-speaking African American writers and other artists celebrated their African past and their roles in modern society.

African Resistance

• Negritude = a movement of French-speaking Africans to reject French assimilation in favour of their own African heritage.

• Leopold Sedar Senghor = leader of the Negritude Movement

African Resistance PAN-Africanism

• Is various movements in Africa that have as their common goal the unity of Africans and the elimination of colonialism and white supremacy from the continent.

• A movement that celebrated the kingship of all people of African Descent and worked to improve their lives.

• Nationalism = A feeling of loyalty for one’s own land and people.

• Europeans colonized Africa throughout the 1800’s.

• European contact with sub-Saharan Africa began in the mid-15th century

• Colonization degraded Africans • Africans came together to protect their

local tribes which were being invaded by the Europeans.

• The First Pan-African Congress, convened in London in 1900

• Pan-African movement brought on combat to fight the European colonization.

African Resistance

African Resistance

• Samori Touré:– Mandinka empire in West Africa– Engaged in war with the French

for 7 years– Established a military workshop

that employed 300-400 men where they manufactured gun powder and repaired rifles

– 1898, forced to surrender– He saw it as the will of Allah

African Resistance

• Queen Mother Yaa Asatewa:– British officer offended the

Asante people when he demanded to sit on a golden ceremonial stool

– Asatewa and the Asante held the officer an his wife captive until they escaped

– The Asante fought the British for 4 years until they were overpowered

African Resistance

King Menelik II:– Ethiopia– Menelik’s army held off the Italians

that wanted his territory– Battle of Adowa, Italy suffered

great losses to their surprise and the surprise of other European nations

– Ethiopia managed to maintain their independence (as did Liberia)

DecolonizationThe action of changing from colonial to independent statusThe breaking of ties with the mother country

Independence

• Atlantic Charter = Document signed by countries that fought the Axis Powers in WWII. It contained language that suggested African countries should be allowed to govern themselves.

• Fifth Pan-African Congress = Meeting of African countries in 1945 in which delegates, recalling the Atlantic Charter, vowed to work for freedom

Independence in Africa

• Intellectual appeal, political campaign, bloody uprisings and desire for change, for national awakening, for throwing off the colonial rule were enable to push for independence

• 1957, Ghana became the first African nation to become independent

• By the end of the 1970s, almost no African soil remained constricted by colonial rule. Some gained independence peacefully and others in battle.

Independence in Africa• Kwame Nkrumah = African political leader who

worked to obtain the independence of Ghana and later all of Africa. He led campaigns and boycotts. It was passive resistance.

• Sekou Toure = Nationalist leader in French Guinea who led the French colonies in standing up to Charles de Gaulle (French President)

• Land and Freedom Party = Kenyan nationalist party that waged bloody warfare against British colonial power

• Front for National Liberation = Algerian liberation group that defeated the French colonial power.

• Jomo Kenyatta = Led the resistance in Kenya

The End