The Changing Balance of Power in 19 th -Cen. Africa

1. The Changing Balance of Power in 19th-Cen. Africa

2. Historiographical Questions • Why did the relationship between Europeans and Africans shift towards colonialism in the middle of the 19th century? • How significant were local African factors?

3. Africa in the 19th Century • Trade patterns (with Europeans) well established—400 years • Coastal communities well acquainted with individual Europeans and European culture (unlike other areas) • Post-1807 crackdown on the Atlantic Slave Trade dramatically changed the nature of trade, but could not immediately end three centuries of practice • 19th cen. had particular Islamic significance

4. Trade and Political Authority • Trade could provide a base for strong centralized authority, but it also had potential to create new elites • Where political authority was built on control of trade, legitimacy required continued trade (and prosperity) • In some cases, entrepreneurs could parlay wealth into political status, undercutting existing systems of lineage and aristocracy • New wealth (and new ideas) could threaten previously held values

5. Foreshadowing Colonial Incursion: Kingdom of Kongo/Angola • Initial Portuguese contact included Catholic priests • Sense of similarity between Portuguese and Konglese • By c. 1500, key government leaders had converted to Catholicism • King of Kongo viewed King of Portugal as ally—seized French ships who tried to trade “illegally”

6. Religious conversion produced social/political dissent, weakened monarchy, promoted factionalism • Portuguese began to try to influence court politics and succession • King of Kongo lost even more legitimacy, civil war began to disrupt trade • Portuguese agent took on more and more political power, Portugal eventually claimed the region as a colony

7. Another Example of Local Factors: The Gold Coast • By the mid-18th century, British had gained control of the coast from the Portuguese and the Dutch • Asante Kingdom (inland) grew wealthy and powerful through trade with the coast • Fante groups along the coast sought protection from Asante from the British

8. In 1817, the British representative declared the Fante to be “under British protection” • This met with violent opposition from the Asante, and was renounced in 1828 • British influence grew, and missions and missionaries arrived • Although the British government sought to disentangle itself from alliances with the Fante, the Fante themselves formed the Fante Confederation to demand British intervention to protect them from Asante encroachment • By 1874, the British had formalized its claim to the Gold Coast, which they defined to include both the Fante and Asante

9. Religious Revival • Millenarian significance to 19th cen. in Islam • Rise of jihad states in West African interior—aimed at overthrowing nominally Muslim governments (1st half of the century)—Sokoto Caliphate most prominent example • Mahdist movements (2nd half of the century)

11. Explaining the “Scramble for Africa”

12. Explanatory Factors to Consider • Missions • Abolitionism • “Legitimate Commerce” • Settler Colonies • Communications and Transportation Technology • Medical Technology • Military Technology • Intra-European Politics

13. Missions to Africa • London Missionary Society founded 1795 • Non-Conformist Protestant missions enjoyed broad public support • Churches/missions a major force in the abolitionist movement

14. “Man-on-the-Spot” • Initially, traders—but missionaries were some of the most influential “men” • Supplied governments and the public with information about African geography and cultures

15. Impact of Abolitionism • British ban on the slave trade (1807) increases British power (in particular, naval power) • Turns much of the supply of slaves inward, driving social activists in Europe to demand intervention to end slavery in Africa • Creates class of “recaptives” • Drives the rise of “legitimate commerce”

16. Recaptives • Removed by British from “illegal” slave ships • Settled in Sierra Leone, some sent to Nigeria as missionaries • Samuel Ajayi Crowther

17. “Legitimate Commerce” • Redirection of slaves into plantation agriculture • Products included cocoa and palm oil • Tied African farmers and merchants into world markets • Enticed European chartered companies

18. Settler Colonies • Possible primarily in “Mediterranean” climates, although Portuguese settled on coasts of Angola and Mozambique in the 16th and 17th centuries • Algeria claimed by France from 1830, settlement extensive but restricted primarily to coast. • Cape Colony settled by Dutch in 1652, taken over by Britain in 1806—Britain undertook a campaign of settlement • Early settler colonies experienced many of the same exploitative dynamics as later empires, but also witnessed distinctive types of cooperation between Europeans and Africans

19. Communications and Travel • 1850s-1860s: steamships became an efficient mode of shipping and travel • 1869: opening of Suez Canal • 1870s-80s: telegraph cables laid connecting Africa with Europe

20. Advances in Medicine • Quinine prophylaxis came into use in the 1840s • Bleedings and purges fell out of favor as remedies for fever • Theories of sanitation began to develop

21. Military Technology • Industrial techniques transformed the production of guns • Repeating guns introduced in the 1870s • 1884: Maxim gun revolutionizes firepower

22. Intra-European Politics • Increasing industrial rivalries, especially between Britain and Germany • Shift away from “free trade” • Hardening racial attitudes

23. 1884 Berlin Conference • Recognized Leopold’s “International Association” • Partition of African territory largely theoretical • Imperial claims required “effective occupation”