The “Scramble for Africa”South African Diamond Mine

Change Over Time

• Evaluate the two pictures. What is the date of each?

• Who is shown to be powerful in each? How do you know?

• What major change is depicted as taking place over time?

“Scramble for Africa” Definition:

• Berlin Conference (1884-85) – Conference of Europeans in Berlin, Germany, at which they drew boundaries and divided up the African continent among themselves

• No Africans were present

a hurried land-grab by Europeans for African lands

BEFORE the Scramble

• Pre-1880, 10% of Africa was under foreign control [trading post colonialism]

• By 1914, ALL of Africa but Liberia and Ethiopia were under European colonization

Colonialism to Imperialism: Change Over Time

• Consistent contact between Europe & Africa begins after 1400; Europeans looking for luxury goods [Henry the Navigator & Portugal]

• Europeans thought of Africans as exotic, but equals

• Late 1500’s – Slave Trade. Europeans began taking enslaved Africans to the Americas to work. Racism develops

Change Over Time

• Late 1800’s - Industrialization + Nationalism = Competition.

• Race begins for Africa’s raw materials and potential new consumer markets.

• Slave trade & legal slavery had ended by this time.

“Scramble for Africa” cont.

• As a result of the Berlin Conference, by 1914 Europeans colonized all of Africa except for Liberia and Ethiopia.

• “The Sun Never Sets on the British Empire.”

Cecil Rhodes

• Analyze the two sources.

• What contrasting or similar views on imperialism do you see from Africans affected by the Scramble for Africa?

An Ndebel warrior in Zimbabwe in the 1890s:

A rubber worker in the Belgian Congo in the 1890s:

Examples of Colonial Resistance

• Past Examples: Tanzimat Reforms, Muhammad Ali in Egypt, Taiping and Boxer Rebellions, even Meiji Restoration

• Military Engagement:– Ethiopia, 1895-96– Well-organized Ethiopian military under

Menelik II annihilated an Italian army at the Battle of Adowa

Forms of Rule• Direct Rule – used mostly by France: Only

European administrators; intentionally weakened native political institutions (using boundaries that cut across ethnic lines, for example

• Indirect Rule – used mostly by Britain: Using indigenous political institutions, customary law, and local elites to help rule.

• Europeans often used extraterritoriality – living under the home nation’s laws and being tried in the home nation’s courts

• Allowed foreigners to feel above the law

Discussion Questions1. Who is the real loser in this “scramble”?

2. Because of the idea of nationalism, how will Imperialist power operate the economies of their colonies?

3. How did this dash for territory become a cause for WWI?

4. How are companies that made goods for consumption linked with this scramble?