Transcript BRITISH COLONIES

BRITISH COLONIES
…in Africa…
Romana Slámová – mcr-A1
Definition
= The domination one country over
another country normally by
military force, but can be accepted,
requested, or given. The one
country rules the other.
The Reasons of British
Colonisation
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Missionaries and explorers brought back stories and tales of
wonderful beasts, colourful peoples and incredible
geography
The British were some of the most anti-slavery Protestants
and felt morally obliged to stop the Swahili slave trade
The Suez Canal cut off six thousand miles of travel which
otherwise had to be made for a British ship to travel to
India. The canal made their colony, India, in the East much
more accessible than it had ever been before at a cheaper
cost -> In 1875, the British had bought the canal away
from the French by taking the majority of the canal's shares
An incredibly rich diamond field was discovered in 1870 in
present day Kimberley (The British annexed it in 1871)
Problems
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Fortunately for many Africans the
climate and naturally occuring
diseases meant that most
Europeans found it difficult to live in
the equatorial areas of Africa
Malaria was the chief barrier to
early colonisation
British Colonies
SOUTH AFRICA
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Thousands of British colonists settled in South Africa after
1820
1822 - English became the official language
South Africa developed into one of the most interesting
racial case studies.
Due to the large non-British element of the White
population, its relations with Britain were always stormy
The Anglo-Boer Wars
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1877 - the British annexed the Transvaal - the home to
many Boers and they weren't pleased to have their homes
stolen from them.
1881 - The Boers revolted and defeated the British. The
Boers were back in power until greed once again influenced
the British. This time it was gold in the Transvaal instead of
diamonds further South. The Boers desperately sought to
keep themselves in power and did so by oppressing the
British fortune seekers.
In 1895, Cecil Rhodes plotted to overthrow the Transvaal
government and failed. Relations between the two countries
became less and less friendly until the eventual outbreak of
the second Anglo-Boer war in 1899.
EGYPT
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Egypt still provided the quickest way of maintaining
communications between Britain and India
74 years long British occupation
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1882- the British landed at Alexandria, took control over
the Suez Canaland
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1914 - Britain declared Egypt a protectorate
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Effective British control of Egypt continued until 1922 ->
Britain declared the termination of the British Protectorate
and declared Egypt an independent state.
GOLD COAST
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the name of a British colony on the Gulf of Guinea
(present-day Ghana)
formed in 1821 the name „Gold Coast“ => due to the
large gold resources to be found in the area
it became the independent nation of Ghana in 1957
The Anglo-Ashanti Wars were a series of four wars
between the British and the Ashanti Confederacy (in 1826,
1873, 1893-1894 and 1895-1896)
The Ashanti= a major ethnic group in present-day Ghana,
was one of the few African nations to offer substantial
resistance to British imperial ambitions in Africa
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NIGERIA : - the British decided to take control of the
increasing trade in palm oil -> The coastal
enclave of Lagos became a British colony in
1861
- The British dependencies of Northern and
Southern Nigeria were merged into a single
territory in 1914.
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ERITREA : - Founded in 1787 by British philantropists
as an asylum for dismissed slaves
- It became British colony in 1808
SUDAN
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1882- The British invade Sudan.
It was known as the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
between 1898 and 1955.
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1955- Revolt and start of the civil war.
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1956- Sudan gains independence.
SOMALIA
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Britain was mainly concerned with keeping open
the route to India through the Suez Canal, which
had been opened in 1869.
At first it was Egypt who occupied some of the
towns on the Somali coast.
-> When the Egyptian troops left in 1882, Britain
started to occupy the territory.
In 1887, Britain proclaimed it a British
protectorate, and named it British Somaliland
Other British Colonies…
Key Words:
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Greed – chamtivost
Outbreak – vypuknutí, vzpoura
Opressing – utlačování
Plot – spiknout se
Overthrow – svrhnout