British Colonies in Africa

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British Colonies in Africa
2
Why would the British have the largest
empire? Industrial demands, need for navy
3
Suez Canal

• 1869, Suez Canal influenced Britains interest in
  Egypt
• Canal linked Mediterranean with Red Sea,
  shortened trip from Europe to Indian Ocean no
  need to sail around southern tip of Africa
• 1882, Egyptian government appeared unstable
  British occupied Egypt to protect British
  interests in Suez Canal later established
  partial control as protectorate to ensure British
  access to canal

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BRITISH IN NORTH AFRICA

• Egypt in name ruled by Ottoman Turks, but
  largely independent
• European capital investments
• Suez Canal opened in 1869
• Built by the Egyptians and French
• Taken over by the British (1875)
• British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli
• Bought shares in Suez Canal Company from Egypt
• Egypt was nearly bankrupt from the expense of
  building the Suez Canal
• British government became largest shareholder

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EUROPEANS IN EGYPT

• 1870s with the Egyptian government bankrupt,
  the British and French took over financial
  control of the country
• Egyptian monarchs (technically Ottoman viceroys)
  ruled as puppet leaders
• 1882 Egyptian nationalist rebellion
• France withdrew its troops
• Great Britain left in control of Egypt
• Lord Cromer introduced reforms
• De facto British protectorate
• Made official in 1914
• Independence came in 1922

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Suez Canal
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BRITISH COLONIES IN SOUTHERN AFRICA

• Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe)
• Named for Cecil Rhodes
• North of Union of South Africa
• Bechuanaland (now Botswana)
• 1885 became a British protectorate
• Kenya
• 1888 became a British protectorate

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BRITISH IN NORTHERN AFRICA

• Sudan
• Area south of Egypt
• Under Anglo-Egyptian control
• Cotton needed for British textile mills
• Entente Cordiale (1904)
• Great Britain controlled Sudan
• France controlled Morocco
• Cape-to-Cairo Railroad
• Idea of Cecil Rhodes
• Would secure Great Britains dominance in Africa
• Never completed sections missing through modern
  Sudan and Uganda

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Cape-to-Cairo Railway Crossing over Victoria
Falls
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South Africa

• Cecil RhodesKimberley
• Dr JamesonJameson Raid, unsuccessful attempt to
  take over Boer regions.
• Boer War (1899-1902) British eventually won a war
  of attrition

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Soon after that, the British got involved in the
Boer WarThe Germans supported the Boers, while
the British were ultimately victorious.
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South Africa

• By 1880 European nations only controlled 10 of
  Africa
• The British took the Dutch settlement of Cape
  Town after the Napoleonic Wars
• Boers - Dutch descendants moved northward to
  avoid the British.
• Vortrekkers - The Great Trek created two
  independent states Orange Free State and
  Transvaal
• After 1853 the Boers proclaimed political
  independence and fought the British
• By 1880 British and Boer settlers controlled much
  of South Africa

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Second Boer War

• The Second Boer War was In 1899, the Boers end up
  taking up arms against the British.
• This is the first total war. The Boers use
  commando raids and guerilla tactics against the
  British.
• The British burn Boer farms and imprison women
  and children in concentration camps.
• The British finally won this war.
• In 1910 the Boer Republic joins the Union of
  South Africa.

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Dead British soldiers lying in trenches after the
Battle of Spion Kop, near Ladysmith, Natal
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French and German Colonies in Africa
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French and Germans

• French West Africa
• West Africa, leader of Malinke peoples, Samory
  Touré, formed army to fight against French rule
  fought for 15 years proclaimed self king of
  Guinea
• 1898, French defeated Touré, ended resistance to
  French rule in West Africa

• German East Africa
• Africans called on gods, ancestors for spiritual
  guidance in resistance
• 1905, several African peoples united to rebel
  against Germans order to grow cotton for export
  to Germany

• Rebellion Put Down
• To combat Germans, spiritual leader encouraged
  followers to sprinkle magic water over bodies to
  protect selves from German bullets did not work
• Rebellion quickly put down Germans killed tens
  of thousands of Africans

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FRENCH IN AFRICA

• Algeria
• 1830 invasion
• 1831 annexation
• Tunis
• 1881 controlled by France
• Led Italy to join the Triple Alliance with
  Austria-Hungary and Germany
• Morocco
• 1881 large part under French control
• 1905 and 1911 nearly sparked a European war
  between France and Germany
• 1906 Algeciras Conference Germany recognized
  French rights in Morocco
• 1911 Agadir Crisis Germany recognized French
  protectorate over Morocco in exchange for part of
  Frances territory in the Congo

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French Colonies

• By 1879, there are 150,000 French in Algeria so
  France takes control
• 1881---made Tunisia a protectorate
• 1912---made Morocco a protectorate
• By 1900, France had added the French West Africa
  to empire

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FRENCH IN AFRICA

• Madagascar
• 1896 controlled by France
• Somaliland
• 1880s partly under French control
• West Africa
• Late 1800s largely under French control
• Sudan
• 1898 met Britains area of control and nearly
  went to war
• Entente Cordiale settled British-French disputes
  in Africa

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FRENCH IN AFRICA

• By World War I 1914
• France controlled 3,250,000 square miles in
  Africa
• 14 times the area of France
• France ruled 30,000,000 Africans
• 75 of the population of France

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GERMANS IN AFRICA

• Togoland (now Togo and Ghana)
• Cameroons (now Cameroon and Nigeria)
• Southwest Africa (now Namibia)
• East Africa (now Burundi, Rwanda, and Tanzania)

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Belgian Colonies in Africa
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Pre-Colonial Congo
Ne Vunda, Kongolese ambassador to the Vatican,
1608

• The Kingdom of Kongo
• According to Portuguese explorers the kingdom was
  a sophisticated and well run state, an imperial
  federation
• Known for advanced working in copper and iron
• Rich in ivory and rubber

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Pre-Colonial Congo

• Slavery
• Slavery was part of the culture of the Congo
• Originally slaves were captured during warfare,
  were criminals, or were debtors who could earn
  back their freedom
• Eventually, Muslim slave traders began to sell
  their slaves to European traders for export to
  the Americas

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Company Rule

• The Congo Free State was the personal domain of
  King Leopold II of Belgium
• His rule is known as the most brutal of all
  colonial rulers
• He gave Belgian businesses free access to the
  Congo, who administered the colony and exploited
  the mineral and human resources
• The treatment of the Africans was so hard that
  when the Belgian government took control of the
  territory in 1908, it became known as the Belgian
  Congo
• However, the Belgian businesses still ruled the
  colony

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Where the story begins

• In 1872, Henry Stanley, an American journalist,
  ventured into the central region of Africa, known
  as the Congo, and located a lost British
  explorer named David Livingstone.

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• The news of Stanleys successful venture became a
  sensation in Europe, and the King of Belgium,
  Leopold II, became instantly interested in the
  territory known as, The Congo.

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• In particular, Leopold was drawn to Stanleys
  reports of rubber trees, ivory-tusked elephants,
  and gold-wearing natives.

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The Congo Free State

• Leopold sent the famous explorer of Africa, Henry
  Morton Stanley, to negotiate treaties with the
  natives.
• Native chiefs were offered trinkets or cloth if
  they would place an X on a document in foreign
  tongue.

30
The Congo "I do not want to risk...losing a fine
chance to secure for ourselves a slice of this
magnificent African cake.--Leopold II
31
The Congo Free State

• Use of river to gain access to ivory- and
  rubber-rich interior made the Congo a coveted
  area for colonization.
• European nations negotiated and agreed to respect
  each others claims to African territory, Leopold
  made claim for Congo.

The Berlin Conference, 1884-1885
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Leopold waged a skillful public relations
campaign to promote his Congo Free State as an
effort to stop the Arabs from running a slave
trade in Africa. This, of course, was a ruse.
Slave raids such as this one carried out by the
kingdom of Dahomey in return for European muskets
and money provided Leopold II with his
humanitarian excuse for going into the Congo.
33
Role of Stanley in Congo

• Stanley began to sign treaties with over 450
  native chiefs from the Congo
• As a result, Leopold gained rule of these lands
  given up by the chiefs
• In 1885, after the Berlin Conference, Leopold was
  given personal rule over the newly declared Congo
  Free State
• Leopold had what he wanted because other European
  powers recognized his hold over Congo

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Chiefs of Ngombi Mafela, in return for "one
piece of cloth per month to each of the
undersigned chiefs, besides present of cloth in
hand," they promised to "freely of their own
accord, for themselves and their heirs and
successors for ever...give up to the said
Association the sovereignty and all sovereign and
governing rights to all their territories...and
to assist by labour or otherwise, any works,
improvements or expeditions which the said
Association shall cause at any time to be carried
out in any part of these territories....All roads
and waterways running through this country, the
right of collecting tolls on the same, and all
game, fishing, mining and forest rights, are to
be the absolute property of the said
Association. --Treaty handing over land to
Leopold II
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KING LEOPOLD II OF BELGIUM (1835-1909)

• Took over land in central Africa
• Berlin Conference (1885)
• Leopolds control over Congo Free State
  recognized by major powers
• Belgian Congo (1908)
• Leopold criticized for the cruelty of his rule in
  the Congo
• Leopold forced to sell Congo Free State to
  Belgian government
• Renamed Belgian Congo
• Created European race for African colonies
  Scramble for Africa
• Diamonds, foodstuffs, gold, ivory, rubber

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The Congo Free State Leopolds False Promises

• European countries recognized Leopolds claim to
  the territory in 1885 because of
• Stanleys treaties for Leopold
• Leopolds assurances that he would end slavery
• Leopolds promise that the Congo would remain a
  free trade area.

• The colony belonged to Leopold personally.

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Leopold II

• 1885 Congo Free State
• Leopold pledge to uphold Berlin Conference
• Suppress East African slave trade
• Promote humanitarian policies
• Guarantee free trade within the colony
• Impose no import duties for 20 yrs.
• Encourage philanthropic and scientific enterprises

• "I do not want to miss a good chance of getting
  us a slice of this magnificent African cake."
• King Leopold II

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Promises, Promises

• Leopold promised the European nations at the
  conference that he would build a nation of free
  Congo states, like the United States, and end the
  slave trade.

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In the early 1880s, King Leopold II of Belgium
paid for expeditions to the the Congo in the
center of the African continent. He claimed
that, millions of men still plunged in barbarism
will be at the dawn of a better era. But he
really wanted the Congos natural resources
copper, rubber and ivory. He forced the locals
to work for almost nothing and had them killed
and tortured if they complained or disobeyed.
40

• Instead, Leopold began a 70 year plunder of the
  Congo of its rubber, ivory, gold, diamonds,
  copper, and tin.
• And, his Belgian forces enslaved Congolese
  peoples with regularity.

41
Leopold II

• Exploitation of resources
• Ivory, Rubber, Minerals
• One of the greatest international scandals of the
  early 20th century
• Forced/slave labor
• Starvation
• Disease
• Torture/mutilation
• Directly and indirectly eliminated 20 of the
  population
• 10 to 13 million people

A 1906 Punch cartoon depicting Leopold II as a
rubber vine entangling a Congolese man
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The Congo Free State The Profit Imperative

• Leopold drove slave traders out and portrayed it
  as humanitarian act.
• Reality he did it to gain control of region.
• Leopold paid his agents in the Congo a
  percentage of profits, encouraging them to make
  the trade more and more profitable.
• Also authorized the use of as much force as was
  deemed necessary.

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Harvesting Rubber
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The Congo Free State The Profit Imperative

• Colony not profitable in first few years.
• Soon the idea of free trade was abandoned
• Natives could only trade with Leopolds
  representatives, with 50 of profits going to
  Leopold himself.
• Profit required cheap labor (gathering rubber is
  very labor intensive).

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• Belgian soldiers enforcing rubber sap quotas

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Leopolds Abuse of the Congo

• Agents encouraged young men to work by holding
  their wives and children captive until each mans
  quota was met.
• Many who resisted were killed on the spot.
• Others were beaten with whips made from dried
  hippo hide with sharp edges.
• 20 lashes resulted in unconsciousness
• 100 lashes resulted in death.

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Women kept hostage to force their husbands to go
and gather rubber. Rubber was harvested by
climbing the rubber tree, tapping into it and
letting the sap run all over the slaves body,
where it would congeal. Later he would peel the
rubber off his body, taking any body hair with
it. Rubber harvesters were given impossible
quotas to fill each month. In addition to
enduring the hardships of gathering rubber in the
jungle, many of them were killed by wild animals.
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"The station chief selects the victims....Tremblin
g, haggard, they lie face down on the
ground...two of their companions, sometimes four,
seize them by the feet and hands, and remove
their cotton drawers....Each time that the
torturer lifts up the chicotte, a reddish stripe
appears on the skin of the pitiful victims, who,
however firmly held, gasp in frightful
contortions....At the first blows the unhappy
victims let out horrible cries which soon become
faint groans....In a refinement of evil, some
officers, and I've witnessed this, demand that
when the sufferer gets up, panting, he must
graciously give the military salute. --
Stanislas Lefranc, Belgian prosecutor
The chicotte, a particularly vicious type of whip
made from rhinoceros hide.
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Punishing Lazy Workers
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Two victims (l.) who lost their hands, one
because his wrists were tied too tightly, the
other because company militia cut it off to claim
him as killed and get a reward. Below, a father
looks at the severed hand and foot of his daughter
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Primary Source Roger Casement, Report from the
Congo Basin in 1903

• Here Nkwabali took up the tale from Moyo, the
  Bangongo chief We said to the white men, We
  are not enough people now to do what you want us.
  Our country has not many people in it and we are
  dying fast. We are killed by the work you make
  us do, but the stoppage of our plantations, and
  the breaking up of our homes.

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Mutilated People in the Congo Free State
53

• "I have just returned from a journey inland to
  the village of Insongo Mboyo. The abject misery
  and utter abandon is positively indescribable. I
  was so moved, Your Excellency, by the people's
  stories that I took the liberty of promising them
  that in future you will only kill them for crimes
  they commit.
• John Harris (Missionary)

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The men in this photo are holding human hands.
sun.menloschool.org
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5-8 Million Victims! (50 of Popul.)
It is blood-curdling to see them (the soldiers)
returning with the hands of the slain, and to
find the hands of young children amongst the
bigger ones evidencing their bravery...The rubber
from this district has cost hundreds of lives,
and the scenes I have witnessed, while unable to
help the oppressed, have been almost enough to
make me wish I were dead... This rubber traffic
is steeped in blood, and if the natives were to
rise and sweep every white person on the Upper
Congo into eternity, there would still be left a
fearful balance to their credit. --
Belgian Official
56
Leopolds Abuse of the Congo

• Revolt broke out.
• Leopold sent troops into villages to exterminate
  the young men.
• To make sure bullets werent wasted, soldiers
  were expected to return with the severed right
  hands of those they killed.
• Soldiers who couldnt meet quotas or spent
  bullets hunting would cut hands off of living
  women and children.

Between 1895-1908 an estimated 8-10 million
people died due to murder, mistreatment and
starvation.
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The Hand Tax

• Hands cut off as proof of killing or punishment
  received payment for hands and proved that
  supervisors were not wasting bullets on game
  hunting

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Leopolds men then proceeded to rape the land of
its riches, especially ivory and rubber,
ruthlessly using forced labor to get the job
done. "It was most interesting, lying in the
bush, watching the natives quietly at their day's
work. Some women ...were making banana flour by
pounding up dried bananas. Men we could see
building huts and engaged in other work, boys
girls running about, singing.... I opened the
game by shooting one chap through the chest. He
fell like a stone....Immediately a volley was
poured into the village. "Six shots four
deaths were sufficient to quiet the
mocking.--Henry Stanley
59
The village of Baringa before and after it was
burned converted into a rubber plantation, it
being easier to clear a village than a deeply
rooted jungle
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Leopolds Conscience??
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Negative press about what the Belgians were doing
in the Congo

• The Belgian King Leopold II says to the USA "
  I'll give you enough rubber to make you an
  elastic conscience" 
• http//www.flickr.com/photos/41766098_at_N03/39659512
  38/

62
Joseph Conrad (1857-1914)
Marlows Conrads 1889-90 journey into Heart
of Darkness
63
The First Modern Genocide?

• From 1885-1908 the Congolese population declines
  by one-half to 10 million due to
• 1) murder
• 2) starvation/exhaustion
• 3) disease
• 4) low birth rate
• An estimated 10 million people died during this
  time

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Effects of Imperialism on Congolese Continued

• They were forced to collect sap from rubber
  plants by European Companies that King Leopold II
  issued.
• A near 10 million Congolese died from the
  brutality of Leopolds rule.
• Humanitarians all around the world wanted big
  changes because of the horrible acts of Leopold.
• The Belgium Government took control in 1908, away
  from the vicious Leopold.
• There was slavery throughout Africa and they were
  beaten and forced to work but that would soon be
  over because they were going to gain independence
  from Belgium soon.

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Effect on the Congo The Human Rights Movement

• Public pressure eventually forced Leopold to sell
  the Congo Free State to the Belgian government.
  It became The Belgian Congo in 1908

• The Belgian Government ended the worst of the
  atrocities, but still controlled the fate of the
  African natives For their own good.
• The African natives were never consulted about
  their future

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Imperial Power Removed In Congo

• In 1908 the Congo was surrendered by King Leopold
  II to Belgium.
• It was renamed the Belgium Congo.
• Working conditions were harsh but the Belgium
  rule improved them significantly.
• People began to demand self rule.
• The Belgium government agreed to give their
  political power to the people because they were
  so confident that they would later regain
  control.
• The Belgium Government was wrong, on June
  30,1960, Congo gained their independence.
• Joseph Kasavubu and Patrick Lumumba were the new
  president and prime minister of the Belgium
  Congo.

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Benefits and Modernization

• The Belgian modernized the colony
• The Belgians built railroads and automobiles
• They brought over electricity and telephones
• ("Encyclopedia Britannica,).

http//www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/59224/Be
lgian-Congo
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Cultural Imperialism

• The Belgians forced many different Congo tribes
  to live together
• The Belgians set up Belgian style schools
• The Congolese lost their native language and way
  of religion
• The Belgians brought a new system of law
• (Everything Culture," ).

http//sfbayview.com/2011/50-years-after-lumumba-t
he-burden-of-history/
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Resistance and Independence Movements

• Congo rebelled from beginning
• The first Congolese party started in 1958 whose
  name was Congo nation movement
• In 1959 riots broke out and Congo people demanded
  independence
• Congo became an independent republic on June 30,
  1960
• ("Encyclopedia Britannica," ).

http//www.rnw.nl/africa/article/belgian-reign-ter
ror-casts-shadow-over-congolese-anniversary-0
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Consequences on the Occupied Region

• When the Belgians left the country was unstable
• The Congo lost a lot of its resources
• Most people live in poverty
• Government corruption has caused civil wars
• picturemydailyclarity.com
• (Democratic Republic of the Congo, n.d.).

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BELGIANS IN AFRICA

• 1908
• Belgium gained control of Congo (Congo Free
  State) from King Leopold II
• Leopold was infamous for the cruelty of his rule
  in the Congo
• Congo Free State (todays Democratic Republic of
  Congo)
• 80 times the size of Belgium
• Source of uranium

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Modern Status
Congo
Belgium

• GDP-37,900 per year
• Literacy rate-99
• HDI-.867 (rank 18)

• GDP-300 per year
• Literacy rate-67.2
• HDI-.239 (rank 168)

(The World Factbook, n.d.).
seputarforex.com
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Italian Colonies in Africa
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ITALIANS IN AFRICA

• 1882-1896
• Eritrea (along the Red Sea)
• Somaliland (along the Indian Ocean, part of
  todays Somalia)
• 1896
• Defeated in attempt to conquer Abyssinia
  (Ethiopia)
• 1912
• Won Tripoli from Ottoman Turks

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Portuguese Colonies in Africa
78
PORTUGUESE IN AFRICA

• Under old imperialism Portugal gained African
  territory and led the early trans-Atlantic
  African slave trade
• Angola
• Mozambique

Portuguese territory in Africa, 1810
79
Spanish Colonies in Africa
80
SPANISH IN AFRICA

• Spain had very few possessions in Africa
• Tip of Morocco
• Rio de Oro
• Rio Muni

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Modern boundaries, drawn by Europeans