Jay Wieczorek

Period 7

DBQ #2

The Scramble for Africa was a chaotic period in African and European history. Millions

of people were killed and millions of square miles of land were divided among the major

European powers. Although most of the native Africans agreed that European invasion was not

beneficial for Africa, they had mixed ideas on how to deal with the Europeans. One group

resorted to traditional, usually spiritual, ways, another group used the European weaponry

against them or wanted total war, while a third group was willing to work with the Europeans to

attempt to avoid.

The European Scramble for Africa caused a large group of African tribes or nations to

use traditional ways to resist European control. In a response from an Ashanti leader about a

proposed protectorate status under Britain (Doc 2), the leader says that the Ashanti Kingdom

must “remain as of old” and not accept the protectorate proposal. This response shows how the

Ashanti Kingdom values its traditional ways more than whatever benefit they would gain from a

protectorate status. These traditional ideals are exemplified in a speech from the Ashanti queen

mother, Yaa Asantewa, to local chiefs (Doc 6). Asantewa ridicules the chiefs, saying how they

are not like the brave men that the Ashanti people used to be and that the women will take up

arms if the men do not. Asantewa is most likely not actually going to call women to fight, but is

trying to inspire the men to fight. Traditional African values placed men higher than women, so

Asantewa is using this social system to make the men feel as though they are lower than women

if they do not fight. In a depiction of a battle on the Congo River by African chief Mojimba (Doc

9), villagers are described fleeing from their village in a forest. When the villagers return, they

seen piles of dead bodies and burning houses. Mojimba says the white men are “wicked” because

they think that just because they have guns, they can do whatever they please. Because the

Congo was relatively isolated from initial European contact, they only have primitive weapons

when compared to the Europeans’ machine guns. Because of this, they are no match for the

Europeans in battle.

Traditional values could be seen from the outside too. A German military officer’s

account of a ritual practice in East Africa (Doc 8) describes citizens pouring what was believed

to be a special spiritual drink over themselves in order to become “invincible” in battle. This

account of the practice shows how the African tribes’ spirituality could be seen from the outside.

It demonstrates the fact that the Africans were proud of their culture and didn’t need European

technology to fight. Because this document was written by a German, and the Germans were

trying to put down a rebellion at the time, the account was probably exaggerated in order to show

the inferiority that the Germans felt the natives had, and to convince them that German victory

was inevitable. One additional document that could be useful when analyzing resistance using

traditional methods would be from a warrior detailing why the natives did not think they needed

to use advanced technology even after they saw the bloodshed that occurred in battle. This

document would give an insight into the minds of the native people by explaining why the made

the decisions that they did.

Not everyone resorted to traditional values to resist, however. In fact, Africans used

European technology to make the playing field a bit more level than it previously had been or to

call for total war against European powers. In a recount of British advanced in southern Africa

(Doc 4), Ndansi Kumalo, an army veteran tells a story of the invasion by the “White people”.

Ndansi says that he “had an old gun”. This phrase shows how the Africans were starting to adapt

to the European invasion and began to use European technologies. Even though they had basic

guns, they were no match for the Europeans’ “big guns, machine guns, and rifles”, as described

when Ndansi describes the Ndebele Rebellion against the British. Samuel Maherero, a leader of

the Herero people, wrote a letter to another African leader (Doc 7) in which he says to not “hold

aloof” from rebellion. He wants the African tribes to attack the Europeans full on in total war.

The Germans had been shooting Herero people for no reason despite the natives’ cooperation.

Samuel probably figures that because they are going to die anyway, they might as well go to war.

An additional document that would be helpful when analyzing more aggressive rebellions would

be from a chief whose tribe was at war with the Europeans, but eventually was able to work with

the Europeans. This document would not only show why the natives rebelled in the first place,

but also what benefits there were from mutual cooperation between natives and Europeans.

Even still there was a different method of dealing with the Europeans in which the

natives would try, successfully or not, to offer cooperation with the Europeans. One of the more

successful times of this occurred was when the Royal Niger Company got African rulers to sign

a protectorate form (Doc 1). All signatories of this form agreed to cede to the Royal Niger

Company “forever” in return for protection and the “bettering” of the country. The Niger

Company also agreed not to interfere with local or laws. Even though it might first appear as

though the African leaders signed to be protected from other African nations, some of them were

probably blackmailed into signing it or to go to war directly with the British.

It was not just on the West side of Africa that cooperation was happening, but also in

Ethiopia. In a letter from Menelik II, emperor of Ethiopia, to Great Britain, France, Germany,

and Italy (Doc 3), Menelik expresses his view that the European powers and Ethiopia could

cooperate without Ethiopia being split among “distant Powers”. Menelik sees their Christian

commonality as a factor that could help foster a beneficial relationship, but also says that God is

on Ethiopia’s side and that any invasion would be futile. This statement is reinforced in a

painting showing Ethiopia fighting against Italy (Doc 5). God may have been on Ethiopia’s side,

but Ethiopia also used the same military technology as Italy and was therefore able to claim a

victory. This religious inspiration is depicted through a bible in the leader’s hand and a flaming

chariot charging toward the Italian troops. Because Ethiopia had been a minority for such a long

time, as a Christian nation among Muslim ones, Menelik was reassured that Ethiopia could

prevail and was not afraid to go to war. An additional document that would be helpful to

determine why some native groups wanted to work with Europe would be a letter from a native

tribe to the Europeans that expresses hopefulness in working together. This document would

switch the common pattern of European initiation of contact and would help show what lengths

the natives were willing to go to in order to work with the Europeans. It would also help show

how some natives took advantage of the Europeans to gain new technology.