THE

SCRAMBLE
FOR
AFRICA
p. 339-344

Objectives
Describe Africa before European domination

Summarize the motives of European colonizers and the

factors that allowed them to control Africa
Identify three groups that clashed in South Africa

Enlightenment
Agricultural Revolution

Scientific Revolution

Industrial Revolution
Nationalism

Imperialism
Seizure of a country or
territory by a stronger country

AFRICA BEFORE EUROPEAN DOMINATION

Nations Compete for Overseas Empires
100s of ethic groups

Speaking different languages

With different cultures
Large empires & individual villages

Europe had largely been kept out of Africa

1880 only 10%, mainly coast, was

controlled by Europeans

The Congo Sparks Interest

David Livingstone ----- Henry Stanley
Dr. Livingstone, I presume?
Exploration of the Congo River sparks King
Leopold II of Belgium
1879-1882 Stanley signs treaties giving control of the
Congo to Belgium

AFRICA BEFORE EUROPEAN DOMINATION

The Congo Sparks Interest

King Leopold II
Claimed to be establishing the colony to abolish
slavery
Exploited Africans through forced labor for
rubber

10,000,000 Congolese died under

Leopolds rule

France & Britain become

alarmed
Treaty give France north bank of
Congo River
Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, and
Portugal begin making claims in
Africa

FORCES DRIVING IMPERIALISM

Belief in European Superiority

Social, Political, and Economic forces

drove colonization

Nationalism

Industrialization

Racism

Created a need for more

Lands to be controlled
Markets
Raw materials

Each country was determined to plant its flag in as

much of the world as possible

Belief that one race is superior to others

Social Darwinism
The application of Darwins survival of the fittest
into human the social order

FORCES DRIVING IMPERIALISM

Factors Promoting Imperialism in Africa

Technology
Maxim gun
Whatever happens, we have got
The Maxim gun, and they have not.
Steam Engine

Disease
Malaria
Carried by mosquitoes

Languages
Huge variations in tongues
and cultures
Made it difficult to
organize resistance and
discouraged unity
European began to play
upon rivalries

THE DIVISION OF AFRICA

Berlin Divides Africa

South Africa

Berlin Conference

Gold

1884/1885
14 European Nations
Countries could lay claim in Africa by notifying and showing
control
Treaties
Buildings
Personnel
No Africans involved

1886

1914 only Liberia & Ethiopia free

Diamonds
1867

THE DIVISION OF AFRICA

Demand for Raw Materials Shapes Colonies

Africans were not buying European goods

Cash Crops

Raw materials were still abundant

Belgian Congo
Copper
Tin
South Africa
Diamonds
gold

Peanuts
Palm oil
Cocoa
Rubber

Displaced food crops

THREE GROUPS CLASH OVER SOUTH AFRICA

Zulus Fight the British

Shaka
Zulu King whose disciplines and well organized
army created a large centralized state

Battle of Ulundi
Zulus armed with spears and shields almost
defeat the armed British
Zulus lose control of the nation to the British

THREE GROUPS CLASH OVER SOUTH AFRICA

Boers and the British Settle in the Cape

Boers
Afrikaners
Dutch Farmers
1st to settle the Cap of Good Hope

British
took control in early 1800s
Disputs between the two followed over land and
slaves

Great Trek
Movement North
To escape the British Boers
began to move
Soon were fighting the Zulus
and other African tribes

THREE GROUPS CLASH OVER SOUTH AFRICA

The Boer War

Boer War

Black Africans

South African War

1st modern total war
To try to keep outsiders from gaining political
power
Commando raids & gorilla tactics by Boers
British burned farmers, imprisoned women &
children
Concentration camps

Many fought on the side of the Boers

When captures the were herded in to concentrations
camp
14,000+ died in the camps

British win 1910

Boer republics absorbed in the Union of South Africa

Signaled a change in life for the Africans

How did many linguistic and ethnic groups contribute

to European colonization?
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Why did colonization of Africa begin in the Congo?

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How did the Industrial Revolution lead to European

Colonization?
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What basic assumption of Social Darwinism would Africans

most likely disagree with?
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Why were there no African rulers invited to the Berlin

Conference?
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How did colonization change Africans basic economy?

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How did the Boer War differ from other patterns of

colonization in Africa?
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