1. The Scramble For Africa 1880-1918

3. Before 1880 European settlement limited to the coasts
Malaria and sleeping sickness (Tsetse Fly)
Only major settlements in Egypt and South Africa
Interest grows following writings of Stanley and Livingstone’s travels

4. Belgian Africa
King Leopold II claims the Congo as a personal estate 1879
Forces natives to grow rubber and mine tin
Half of population works or starves to death
Belgian government takes control of in 1908

5. Egypt
Westernized by Muhammad Ali under the Ottomans (1st ½ of 19th c.)
Suez Canal built by French for Ismail Ali (1869)
Britain & France send “advisors” to keep Egypt out of bankruptcy
British rule Egypt as protectorate, make sure payments continue to British and French investors (1883)

6. Berlin Conference 1884
Meeting of European leaders to set ground rules for conquest of Africa
Aims to prevent war between European powers
African leaders not invited
Slavery and slave trade outlawed
Begins the “Scramble”
Quinine
Maxim Gun

11. British Imperialism in Africa
Egypt
Sudan
Battle of Omdurman
Fashoda Incident: French & British forces encounter each other, war looms, French back down
Southern Africa
Boer War : British defeat the Boers to claim lands rich in gold and diamonds
Largely promoted by Brit Cecil Rhodes
Dreamt of empire from “Cairo to the Cape”

12. French Imperialism in Africa
Algeria claimed in early 19th c.
Tunisia, Northern Congo, Madagascar, much of West Africa

13. German Imperialism In Africa
Late to the game
Bismarck thought colonies were an expensive distraction
Wilhelm II desires “A place in the sun”
Gain several small protectorates

14. Italian Imperialism Claim Eritrea, Libya
Defeated while trying to take Ethiopia
Ethiopians led by Menelik II, armed with modern weapons
Only European nation to be defeated

16. Outcome Almost all of Africa colonized by 1914
Only Liberia and Ethiopia are free
Liberia was colonized by freed American slaves
Ethiopia’s king Menelik II uses modern weapons and terrain to fight the Europeans (Italians)

17. Effect on Africa Few Africans buy European goods
Europeans force Africans to grow cash crops, mine minerals
Destroy agriculture and traditional industries