Chapter 12 Section 2The Partition of Africa

Lesson Objectives

• Explain why European contact with Africa increased during the 1800s.

• Understand how Leopold II started a scramble for colonies.

• Describe how Africans resisted imperialism.

Look at the map: Africa in early 1800’s had many regions, hundreds of languages, varied

governments

North Africa

• Sahara Desert, fertile land along Mediterranean

• Ruled by Ottoman Empire

West Africa

• Grassland regions – Jihad – Islamic reform

movement, a holy struggle to revive & purify Islam

– New Islamic states – trade, farming, herding

• Forests regions – Asante kingdom– Traded with Europeans

& Muslims

East Africa

• Strongly Islamic• Port cities – Mombasa,

Kilwa– Cargoes were slaves– Ivory & copper were

exchanged for cloth & firearms from India

Southern Africa

• Early 1800’s in turmoil• Shaka united Zulus• 1830’s Zulus battled

Boers

Slave Trade

• Early 1800’s European nations began to outlaw slave trade

• Continued in East Africa to Middle East & Asia

• Freed slaves– 1787 British organized

Sierra Leone as colony for freed slaves

– U.S. did the same for Liberia, became independent republic

European Contact with Africa Increased

• Difficult geography & diseases kept European from reaching interior; medical advances & river steamships changed things

• Explorers – early 1800’s tried to map the source & course of African rivers– Niger– Nile– Congo

Missionaries

• Goal was to win native Africans to Christianity– Built schools & medical

clinics with churches– Paternalistic view of

Africans – saw them as children in need of guidance

Dr. David Livingstone

• Best-known explorer/missionary– Criss-crossed Africa for 30

years– Opposed slave trade– Opened up interior of Africa

to Christianity & trade– 1869 journalist, Henry

Stanley, went to Central Africa to find Livingstone (hadn’t heard from for years)• Found Livingstone in 1871 in

Tanzania• “Dr. Livingstone, I presume.”

King Leopold II of Belgium

• He started scramble for colonies

• Hired Stanley to explore the Congo River Basin– Arrange treaties with

African basins

• Result - other European nations followed Belgium

Berlin Conference

• European nations met to avoid bloodshed/war over African lands– Recognized Leopold’s private

claims in Congo Free State– Free trade on Congo & Niger

Rivers– No European nations claim

any African land w/out setting up a government office first

– By 1850 European nations redrew the map of Africa

Belgians in Congo

• Exploited riches – copper, rubber, ivory– Brutalized villagers

• Leopold II forced to give up colony to Belgian government, became Belgian Congo in 1908

French in Africa

• French empire in Africa as large as U.S.– 1830’s invaded &

conquered North Africa (violent takeovers)

– Tunesia– Colonies in West &

Central Africa

British in Africa • Smaller, heavily populated regions, rich

in resources• Parts of East & West Africa, Egypt,

Sudan• Southern Africa & Cape Colony from

French– Clashed w/ Boers (descendants of Dutch

settlers)– Many Boers fled British rule & migrated

north– Gold & diamonds discovered

• Led to Boer War; British won• British won but at great cost

• 1910 Brits united Cape Colony & former Boer lands into Union of South Africa– Govternmen run by whites– Complete racial segregation

Other European nations

• Portuguese – Angola– Mozambique

• Italy– Libya– Southern end of Red Sea

• Germany– Eastern Africa– Southern Africa

How Africans Resisted Imperialism

• Algerians battled French for years• British battled:– Zulu in southern Africa– Asante in West Africa; Queen Yaa Asnatewaa– Queen Nehanda of Shona in Zimbabwe – captured

& executed

Germans Fought

• Yao• Herero• Fierce battle– 1905, Maji-Maji Rebellion– Germans won by using scorched earth policy –

burned farmlands & starved people

Ethiopia

• Ancient Christian kingdom, highlands of East Africa & number of kingdoms

• 1800 ruler Menelik II modernized his country– European experts to plan

roads, bridges, set up schools

– Imported weapons & had Europeans train army

– Able to defeat Italian at battle of Adowa

Western-educated African elite (upper class)

• Some rejected own culture• Others were nationalists & moved for

independence