Imperialists Divide Africa

1
Imperialists Divide Africa

• KEY IDEA Ignoring the claims of African ethnic
  groups, kingdoms, and city-states, Europeans
  established colonial claims.

2
Industrialization Leads to Imperialism

• Industrialism stirred the ambitions of the
  Europeans. They wanted more resources to fuel
  their industrial production.
• They looked to Africa and Asia as sources for raw
  materials and as markets for their products.

3
Africa Before Imperialism

• Before the Europeans arrived in Africa, the
  African people were divided into hundreds of
  ethnic and linguistic groups.
• Many continued to follow their traditional
  cultural traditions while others converted to
  Christianity and Islam.
• There were over 1,000 different languages spoken
  throughout the continent.
• The largest African kingdom was in the west and
  had a population that exceeded 10 million people.

4
African Defend their Homeland

• For nearly 400 years, since the first European
  explorers had reached Africa, the African were
  able to keep European from getting to deep within
  the interior.
• Africans had powerful armies to keep Europeans
  out.
• Geography was also important. Africa had very
  few navigable rivers because of the many
  waterfalls and cataracts.

5
Europeans Overcome Obstacles

• The invention of the steam powered boats made
  river travel possible into the interior of Africa.

6
Nations Compete for Overseas Empires

• In the mid-1800s, Europeans had renewed interest
  in Africa. This rose, in part, from a desire to
  create overseas empires, a movement called
  imperialism. European nations wanted to control
  lands that had raw materials they needed for
  their industrial economies.
• They also wanted to open up markets for the goods
  they made. Nationalism fed the drive for empires
  as well.

7

• Europeans learned about the mysterious African
  continent through books and newspaper articles
  that were written by explorers and missionaries.
• The disappearance of Dr. David Livingstone
  spurred many Americans and Europeans to embark on
  their own adventures to Africa.

8
Dr. Livingstone- I Presume!

• The disappearance of Dr. David Livingstone, a
  minister from Scotland, spurred many Americans
  and Europeans to embark on their own adventures
  to Africa.
• A reporter, Henry Stanley was hired to find
  Livingstone.
• Stanley found Dr. Livingstone alive and well on
  the shore of Lake Tanganika in South Eastern
  Africa.

9
Stanley Signs a Treaty with the Chiefs

• Henry Stanley returned to the Congo River Valley
  and convinced the tribal chiefs to sign a treaty
  offered by Belgiums king Leopold II.
• Leopold promised that if they would agree to
  allow Belgium to establish colonies, he would put
  a quick end to the slave trade.

10
The Natives Suffer

• Leopold did not keep his word. The natives were
  exploited and forced to work. They were terribly
  abused by their Belgium overlords.
• In 1908, the Belgium government took its final
  step towards total control and declared the area
  to be a possession of Belgium and renamed the
  area the Belgium Congo.

11
Europeans Embrace Imperialism

• The Europeans believed that empire building was a
  measure of national greatness.
• They believed that it was their duty as civilized
  nations to civilize barbarian lands.

12
Racism and Imperialism

• The Europeans had strong racist ideas believing
  that Europeans were superior to the native
  Africans.
• The Europeans twisted Charles Darwins theory of
  evolution to justify their domination of the
  African people. This was called Social
  Darwinism.
• This idea was coined as Survival of the fittest
  which was never written by Darwin.

13
Missionaries Support Imperialism

• The missionaries viewed European expansion into
  Africa as an opportunity to Christianize the
  heathen natives.
• They also believed that European rule would bring
  an end to the immoral slave trade.

14
Technology Wins the Day

• Europeans had several technological advantages
  over the natives.
• The Maxin gun (first machine gun)
• Steam engine
• The discovery of Quinine (a protective treatment
  against malaria)

15
African Internal Weaknesses

• The large number of languages and cultures made
  it nearly impossible for the Africans to unite
  against their colonial overlords.
• The Europeans used this weakness to their
  advantage often pitting one group against another.

16
Diamonds and Gold

• After the discovery of gold and diamonds in
  Africa, the Europeans interest in Africa
  increased. No European power was going to be
  left out.

17
The Berlin Conference

• European countries begin to scramble to make
  their claim on Africa.
• A conference of European nations was held in
  Berlin with the sole purpose of dividing Africa
  and avoiding conflict among the competing
  European nations.
• At this conference, they agreed that any European
  country could claim land in Africa by simply
  notifying the other nations of their claim. No
  natives attended this conference and the Africans
  were given no voice in the matter.

18
European Countries Respond

• After Belgium declared its claim on the Congo,
  other European nations quickly began to claim
  other regions of Africa.

19
Creation of New Markets?

• One of the colonial goals of Europe was that one
  the Europeans were firmly in control in Africa,
  the African people would want to begin buying
  European goods and opening up a whole new market.
• This did not happen. The Africans had no
  interest in European goods.

20
Three Groups Clash Over South Africa

• Africans, the Dutch and the British clash over
  control of South Africa.

21
Shaka- Zulu King

• In 1816, Shaka a Zulu king had taken control over
  most of South Africa. He built a strong army and
  pushed many of the Europeans out of the region.
• His successors however were not able to compete
  against the new European weapons brought into the
  region. The British eventually defeated the
  Zulus.

22
The Boers

• The Boers were Dutch settlers who took over the
  native lands and established large farms.
• When the British took over the Cape Colony area
  in the 1800s, the British and Boers clashed over
  the British policy regarding land and slaves.

23
The Great Trek

• The Dutch farmers began to flee from the area of
  Cape Town to escape the oppression of the
  British. They soon found themselves up against
  the Zulu and other native groups.

24
The Boer War

• When diamonds and gold were discovered in South
  Africa in the 1880s, people began coming to the
  area from all over the world.
• The Boers feared that they would lose their
  political rights as the British would have to
  control the activity in South Africa.
• The Boers started a rebellion against the British.

25
The First Modern War

• The Boer war is significant in that it was the
  first war to employ the use of commando raids and
  guerilla tactics.
• The British countered the Boers guerilla tactics
  by taking women and children as prisoners of war
  and placing them in filthy concentration camps.

26
The Brits Win

• The British won the war in 1902. At this time
  the Boer republics were joined into a
  self-governing Union of South Africa, controlled
  by the British.
• The establishment of these African colonies
  signaled a change in the way of life for the
  Africans. It would not be until the late 1950s
  that the Africans gained their independence.
• Many African nations are still struggling to
  create a national identity.