Modern Colonialism: The Jewel in the Crown and The Dark Continent ( India, Africa in the 19 th century)
Africa: larger than you think!
Basil Davidson The Bible and the Gun [Video: see Add l Rdgs ]
Africa: 19 th C. Religion Mohammedans : Muslims who followed the Islamic Faith. Heathens : Animists who followed range of polytheistic belief systems. By end of 19 th century, many had absorbed both Christian and Islamic beliefs into their own cultures.
Africa: Missionaries Attractions of Saving Civilizations for Christianity: Large populations of Heathens main targets for European Christian Missionaries Missionary activity West, Southern Africa since 1500s 1600s Abolitionists (1700s): Africa centered Evangelism 1800s: goal of ending Slave Trade from Africa escalated missionary activity
Africa: Missionaries Post Abolition Projects (West Africa): Sierra Leone: newly liberated slaves to join communities of Christian farmers Liberia: Capital: Freetown Christian Missionary Society established Fourah Bay College in 1827
Africa: Missionaries Freed slaves targeted for education Creation of African missionaries from: returning slaves (many Christianized while in captivity) newly educated freed slaves [compare with Fredrick Douglas] Rev. Bishop Samuel Crowther, Southern Nigeria
Africa: Missionaries What did Christianity Offer? Why Convert? access to literacy (education) access to protection/sanctuary (poor, women, marginalized, former slaves) access to freedom (mission stations gave sanctuary to fleeing slaves)
Africa: Missionaries On the ground: missionaries drawn into local problems/politics Vulnerable position: friend of the new Christian? Or agent of European power?
Africa: Missionaries Christianity (Missionaries) also tied to Commerce (Merchants): Missionaries/mission stations places of trade, market activity Provided access to European commerce and commodities also constituted social context in which commodities were to be used
Africa: Missionaries The Imperial Project : in addition to commerce, Imperialism was about civilization and European beliefs about race who was capable of being civilized? answer determined by race! being civilized associated with being Christian (European) Missionaries entered service of Imperial interests!
Africa: Imperial Project & Racism Fascination with the other : accelerated by Napoleon in Egypt (c.1800): learning or looting? exoticism attractive: general public, scientific community, world fairs, museum exhibits, art & culture of orient Africa, Ottomans, India, China: all Oriental
Plate from Francois le Vaillant s Voyage de Francois le Vaillant dans l interieur de l Afrique, Paris 1798.
French satirical cartoon of the English obsession with the tour of the Hottentot Venus, a South African woman who was displayed in many cities in Europe from 1810 to 1815.
Scientific Racism Virey s 1824 text on the natural history of humans 1864 Vogt s anatomy text 1868 Nott and Gliddon s scale of human evolution
Not So Scientific Racism Illustration: R. Shufeldt [an anthropologist s 1915 tract, America s Greatest Problem.] The original caption read: Negro Boy and Apes. On the left side of the figure there is a young Chimpanzee, and on the right a young Orang-utang. This is a wonderfully interesting comparison.
Africa: Exploration, Enlightenment The Dark Continent beckoned others: - state-sponsored explorers: some had largely scientific motives - others more overtly political or commercial and (when necessary to accomplish these goals), even military in their aims
Africa: Exploration Exploration from the Cape to the Nile http://www.sc.edu/library/spcoll/sccoll/africa/africa3.html West Africa, the Niger, and the Quest for Timbuktu http://www.sc.edu/library/spcoll/sccoll/africa/africa4.html Central and East Africa, and the Legacy of Exploration http://www.sc.edu/library/spcoll/sccoll/africa/africa5.html Queen Victoria and Empire http://www.pbs.org/empires/victoria/history/scramble.html Dr. Livingstone. I presume? Stanley finds Livingstone, 1871
Africa: The White Man s Burden Take up the White Man's burden Send forth the best ye breed Go, bind your sons to exile To serve your captives' need; To wait, in heavy harness, On fluttered folk and wild Your new-caught sullen peoples, Half devil and half child. By Rudyard Kipling, McClure's Magazine 12 (Feb.1899).
Europe s Real Foot in Africa
From Footholds to Colonial Rule: THE SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA
Basil Davidson: This Magnificent African Cake [Video: See Add l Rdgs.]
Africa: establishing footholds Portuguese : from 16 th century wanted to tie Africa into Seaborne Empire of the East Indian Ocean, India, Indonesia Encountered Muslims in East Africa: engaged in military battles to win footholds on Indian Ocean coast success limited: major settlement Mozambique By 19 th century settlers fully Africanized
Pre cursors to Conquest British, French, Dutch : from 16 th 17 th centuries followed trading footsteps; interest in Christian conversion 18 th 19 th centuries all in West Africa from 16 th c: British, French predominant by 17 th century Dutch active Cape of Good Hope from mid 17 th century: established Capetown to service ships engaged in Indian Ocean, South East Asia trade
Africa: establishing footholds British, French in North Africa: challenged weak Ottoman Empire Napoleon in Egypt (1798): led to French support Mohamed Ali Pasha, modernization in19 th century 1857 joint capital venture in with British to construct Suez Canal
Africa: establishing footholds French in Algiers (1830): colony coastal but saw it as gateway to Sahara and bridge to West Africa provoked extended Islamic jihad Abd al Kadir [see Text Introduction to CH. 20] by 1870s, attracted large number French settlers: here to stay in African Mediterranean overseas province
Africa: establishing footholds End Napoleonic wars (Europe, 1805): Britain won Dutch territory South Africa established colony: British law ended slavery original Dutch settlers: Africanized, intermarried joined by French, German refugees fleeing European religious persecution
Africa: establishing footholds South Africa (cont.): complex society developed: own language Afrikaans ; own culture Afrikaner Outsiders referred to both as Boer conflict, clashes with British (especially over slavery): Boers moved to interior and north
Africa: establishing footholds British missionaries, merchants followed into region: 1867 diamonds discovered, 1886 gold both attracted British, German commercial interest both needed more labour than available locally: drew on poor Europeans, Africans from neighbouring regions both needed capital investment to develop BUT: both lay in Boer controlled territories
South Africa and Rhodes Cecil Rhodes: fortune in Diamonds, established monopoly De Beers Co. invested in goldmines but could not monopolize because of Boer control drew Britain and Commonwealth into Boer War 1898 1902
The Scramble for Africa Growth of European Industrial Economies: intense European competition for BOTH resources, markets Africa viewed as: Resource Rich [e.g. South/Southern Africa] Labour Rich [former slaves, underemployed peasants] Consumer Rich [above workers make salaries]
The Scramble : New Player in Game: newly Unified Germany under Bismark wanted Place in the Sun : Africa chosen region [also moving into Ottoman Empire, Levant] claimed coastal footholds: South West Africa, Togo (West Africa), Cameroons (Central), East Africa (competing with British)
Africa: establishing footholds Berlin Conference 1884 85: established rules of the game to claim Africa : must expand from foothold on the ground Special attention given to: river basins (e.g. Niger, Nile, Congo, Zambesi) explored by various European powers gave definition to whole colonial regions
The Scramble : 1880 Berlin Conference: to resolve emerging competition
The Scramble : Agreements based on existing claims : settlements of any kind: coastal, commercial, permanent treaties established by 19 th century explorers (like Stanley, Livingstone) Decision accelerated competition between Europeans/Europeans, Europeans/Ottomans and especially Africans and Europeans
The Scramble for Africa For Example: West Africa trading companies like Royal Niger Company acted as Government agents signing agreements for exclusive trading rights with local rulers Royal Niger Co. Headquarters (Southern Nigeria)
The Scramble for Africa Where local chiefs, African merchants did not cooperate: turned to military force gunboats deployed in Niger Delta (Nigeria), Zanzibar (Island, East Africa) ground troops used elsewhere (e.g. against Asante in West African Gold Coast, against Matabele in Southern Africa) importance European military technology should not be exaggerated but...
The Scramble for Africa Whatever happens we have got The Maxim Gun and they have not! [Hillaire Belloc, British Writer & Poet, 1898]
The Scramble for Africa American invention (1885): used by British 1889 Southern Africa 1893 4 Matabeleland: four Maxim guns defeated 5000 African warriors
The Scramble for Africa For Example: North Africa 1881: France declared Tunisia protectorate [see below Fashoda ] 1882: British drawn into Egypt to put down Islamic revolt against government established full Protectorate over region Both Direct and Successful Challenges to Ottomans
The Scramble for Africa Tunisia and Egypt: saw commercial, political alliances with French, British as way to achieve independence from Ottoman control (and perceived Sultan s exploitation: taxes, conscription etc.) Tewfik Pasha, Khedive of Egypt 1879-92. British supported him in struggle with army for control of Egypt; helped strengthen British influence in, ultimately control of the region.
The Scramble for Africa Fashoda: France sought to block British claims to Sudan, Upper Nile: sent military expedition Armies met, War Threatened: French backed down at Fashoda : concerned about vulnerability in Europe vis à vis Germany, needed to retain British alliance traded off for rights in Morocco: British dominant power in East Africa, challenged only by Germany
The Scramble for Africa Fashoda S U D A N
The Scramble for Africa Fashoda : Egypt, Sudan, East Africa 1898
From Scramble to Conquest Boer