Western Europeans Divide Africa

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Western Europeans Divide Africa

• (Ch.11 Sec. 1)

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Africa Before Imperialism

• Africa was divided into hundreds of ethnic groups
  (over 1,000 different languages)
• Some were Christian or Muslim (mostly in the
  North), but most believed in indigenous African
  religions

3
Keeping Euros Out 1450s-1850s

• Powerful African armies were able to keep
  Europeans out from 1450s-1850s
• by 1800 Euros only controlled 10 of Africa (on
  the coast)

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Keeping Euros Out

• up to 1800 Euros did not travel into the interior
  of Africa (they could not navigate Africas
  rivers until the steamboat engine)

• large African trade networks kept Euros from
  controlling trade in Africa up to 1850

5
Euros Compete for Overseas Empires

• ? David Livingstone
• late 1860s Scottish
• minister traveled deep
• into Africa in search of
• the source of the Nile
• River
• Euros read of his African adventures in books
  this sparks interest in Africa

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Belgium Colonizes Congo

• Belgium

• African Congo

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Belgium Colonizes Congo

• King Leopold II (Belgium)
• 1882 signed treaties with Congo chiefs that gave
  King Leopold II (Belgium) personal control of
  Tanzania and Lake Tanganyika

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Belgian Congo

• Tanzania

• Lake Tanganyika

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Belgian Congo

• ? King Leopold II allowed companies to brutalize
  local Africans by forcing them to collect sap
  from rubber plants
• ? Belgians treated Tanzanians and Congolese so
  bad that humanitarians demanded changes

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Belgian Congo

• Belgian Congo (colony) was 80 times bigger than
  Belgium!!!

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Other Euros Join In

• 1882 France took control of the Congo River (near
  Belgian Congo)
• Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and
  Spain felt left out

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Racism

• the belief that your ethnic group, nationality,
  and/or race is better than another
• racism was how Euros justified their imperialism

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Greed

• Imperialism The takeover of a country by a
  stronger nation with the intent of dominating the
  political, economic, and social life of the
  people
• Euros searched for new places to take raw
  materials from and new places to sell their
  finished products (made with raw materials)

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Pursuit of National Greatness

• Euros viewed an empire as national greatness Euro
  nations used this attitude to justify taking over
  much of the globe

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Social Darwinism

• the belief in survival of the fittest, or only
  the strong survive adapted from Charles
  Darwins theories in nature

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Social Darwinism

• many Western Euros saw people of color as
  inferior because they were not as technologically
  advanced
• ..since weaker people cant defend themselves,
  its our duty to take them over

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European Advantages

• Maxim Machine Gun (1889)
• Africans had outdated weapons

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European Advantages

• Steam Engine
• Allowed Euros to quickly navigate African rivers
  to set up bases of colonial control in Africa

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European Advantages

• Railroads, Telegraphs
• made communication and travel easy
• between colonies and the mother
• nation (made control easier)

21
European Advantages

• Drug Quinine
• ? allowed Euros to colonize the interior of
  Africa (not just coasts)
• ? gave Euros immunity to Malaria
• ? disease cause by African mosquitoes

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Internal Problems in Africa

• Africa has huge variety of languages and cultures
• made unity against European imperialism difficult

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Internal Wars and Resentment

• many wars between African cultural groups

Wars over land, trade, water rights led to
lasting resentment amongst different groups

• made unity difficult

• Europeans knew this they learned to play groups
  against each other while colonizing them all

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Berlin Conference

• 1884-1885 14 European nations met to prevent war
  for African colonies
• laid down the rules for carving up Africa like a
  pizza!

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Berlin Conference

• no African rulers were allowed to attend
• the meeting divided up Africa and sealed its fate

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Berlin Conference

• by World War I (1914) only Liberia and Ethiopia
  were independent African nations

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Cash Crops

• Europeans developed cash-crop plantations in
  Africa crops grown just for making money not for
  food
• peanuts, palm oil, cocoa, rubber, coffee
• Africans then became dependent on Europeans for
  food as well

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African Resources

• Belgian Congo rich in copper and tin
• South Africa rich in gold and diamonds

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South Africa

• ? Native Africans, Dutch, British continually
  clashed over land and resources in South Africa

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South Africa

• 1816 Shaka Zulu used disciplined military to
  organize a centralized state (Zulus African
  tribe in S. Africa)
• 1887 Zulu lands were conquered by British (after
  Shakas death)

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South Africa

• 1652 Dutch first colonized Cape of Good Hope
  (South Africa)
• a stopping point between Asia and The Netherlands
  (Dutch homeland)

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The Boers

• Dutch settlers in South Africa
• Dutch for farmers
• took over South Africans land and established
  large farms

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Great Trek

• 1830s Boers moved farther north into South
  Africa to escape British
• Boers fought wars with Zulu tribe and others
  whose land they were taking

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The Boer War (1899-1902)

• 1860s British wanted gold/diamonds from South
  Africa
• Boers rebelled against the British in S. Africa
  1899

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The Boer War (1899-1902)

• Boers used guerilla tactics (hit and run/hide and
  seek) against the British
• British responded by burning Boer farms and
  imprisoning women and children in concentration
  camps

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The Boer War (1899-1902)

• 1902 Britain won
• Britain allowed Boers to have some
  self-government in S. Africa but Britain owned
  the colony of South Africa

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The Boer War (1899-1902)

• Western Europeans fought the Boer War for South
  Africa
• Native South Africans had no control over the
  fate of their country

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Apartheid

• Boers (Dutch) left in South Africa established a
  system of separate facilities for whites and
  blacks in South Africa
• Black South Africans were second class citizens
  in their own country until 1991