Transcript 19th Century Imperialism

19th Century Imperialism
Africa
MODERN IMPERIALISM: INTEREST IN
AFRICA (SINCE MID-19TH CENTURY)
• Work of Explorers. David Livingstone,
Scottish missionary and doctor, spent
many years (1840–1873) serving the
peoples and exploring the lands of
central Africa.
• Henry M. Stanley, American newspaper
reporter, headed an expedition in 1871
that "found" the presumably "lost"
Livingstone.
• Later Stanley undertook additional
explorations. In well-publicized reports
these two men, as well as other
explorers, described the geography,
resources, and peoples of Africa.
Other Groups Interested in
Africa.
• The glowing reports of explorers
reawakened Europe's interest in Africa.
Business leaders saw economic
opportunities.
• Missionaries wanted to convert the blacks
to Christianity. Nationalists dreamed of
empire building unopposed by the
primitive Africans.
Colonial Africa
Imperialism in Africa
Great Britain
1. To Protect Trade Routes to the East.
• In 1815 Britain acquired from Holland the Cape Colony.
• It included Capetown, a port at southernmost Africa that
served as a supply base for British ships enroute to
India.
• In 1875 Prime Minister Disraeli purchased from the
bankrupt ruler of Egypt sufficient stock to give Britain
control of the Suez Canal.
• By sailing through the canal, British ships eliminated the
long voyage around Africa.
• In 1882 Britain established a protectorate over Egypt.
• Britain's trade route to India—via Gibraltar, the
Mediterranean Sea, the Suez Canal, and the Red Sea—
became known as the lifeline of the British Empire.
Imperialism in Africa 2
Great Britain
2. To Gain a Rich Empire.
• Cecil Rhodes, foremost empire builder in Africa,
dreamed of an unbroken north-south line of British
territory to be linked by a Cape-to-Cairo railroad.
Rhodes' ambition became British policy.
• By 1914 the British dominated South Africa, Rhodesia
(now Zimbabwe), Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia),
Kenya, Uganda, and the Sudan, as well as Egypt.
• After World War I, Britain acquired the final link for the
railroad, the former German East Africa, or Tanganyika
(now Tanzania).
• Also, by the beginning of the 20th century, British control
was firmly established in Sierra Leone, Gambia, the
Gold Coast (now Ghana), and Nigeria—all on the west
coast of Africa.
Imperialism in Africa 3
France
• For economic gain and nationalist glory, the French
gained a considerable African domain.
• By 1847 the French had subdued the Moslem tribes and
gained control of Algeria.
• Between 1881 and 1912 France acquired Tunisia,
Morocco, West Africa (now Benin, Guinea, Ivory Coast,
Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, and Upper Volta),
Equatorial Africa (now Chad, Central Africa, Congo, and
Gabon), and Madagascar (now Malagasy).
Italy.
• A imperialist late starter Italy controlled Eritrea, Italian
Somaliland, and Libya by 1914.
• In 1936 Italy conquered and annexed Ethiopia.
Imperialism in Africa 4
Portugal.
• As a 16th-century maritime power, Portugal early established supply bases
and trading posts on the east and west coasts of Africa.
• In the mid-1970's Portugal granted independence to its African territories:
Portuguese Guinea [now Guinea-Bissau], Mozambique, and Angola.
Spain.
• By the early 20th century, Spain controlled Spanish Morocco (opposite
Gibraltar) and Spanish Sahara on the Atlantic coast of Africa.
• In 1956 Spain ceded Spanish Morocco to newly independent Morocco.
• In 1976 Spain surrendered Spanish Sahara [now Western Sahara] to
Mauritania and Morocco.
Belgium.
• In 1876 King Leopold II and a group of Belgian capitalists founded a private
company to manage the Congo region.
• The company reaped huge profits from rubber and ivory but shockingly
mistreated the natives.
• In 1908 the Belgian government took control of the Congo.
• In 1960 Belgium granted independence to the Congo (now Zaire).
Conflicts in African Imperialism
Boer War
Boers were Dutch descendants in South Africa
• Afrikaans (Dutch settlers in South Africa) called
Boers, objected to British rule.
• Many took up arms against Britain and were
eventually defeated.
Khartoum
• Local native people (aboriginal) objected to
British rule of Sudan. They chased the British
out of southern Sudan.
Germany challenged France over Morocco (1905,
1911), but France retained control .