British Colonies in Africa

1. British Colonies in Africa

2. Why would the British have the largest empire? Industrial demands, need for navy

3. Division in Africa No Regard for Tradition • European nations competed aggressively for other territories • 1884–1885, European leaders met in Berlin to divide African territory • Tried to prevent conflict between European nations • Berlin Conference—for European nation to claim new African territory, it had to prove it could control territory • No attention paid to ethnic boundaries in dividing Africa Suez Canal • 1869, Suez Canal influenced Britain’s 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. Suez Canal

7. 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

8. 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 Britain’s dominance in Africa • Never completed – sections missing through modern Sudan and Uganda

9. Cape-to-Cairo Railway: Crossing over Victoria Falls

10. 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

11. Soon after that, the British got involved in the Boer War—The Germans supported the Boers, while the British were ultimately victorious.

12. 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

13. 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.

14. Dead British soldiers lying in trenches after the Battle of Spion Kop, near Ladysmith, Natal

15. French and German Colonies in Africa

16. 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

17. 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 France’s territory in the Congo

18. 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

19. 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 Britain’s area of control and nearly went to war • Entente Cordiale settled British-French disputes in Africa

20. 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

21. GERMANS IN AFRICA • Togoland (now Togo and Ghana) • Cameroons (now Cameroon and Nigeria) • Southwest Africa (now Namibia) • East Africa (now Burundi, Rwanda, and Tanzania)

22. Belgian Colonies in Africa

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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.

27. The news of Stanley’s successful venture became a sensation in Europe, and the King of Belgium, Leopold II, became instantly interested in the territory known as, “The Congo”.

28. In particular, Leopold was drawn to Stanley’s reports of rubber trees, ivory-tusked elephants, and gold-wearing natives.

29. 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 Belgian Congo

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

32. 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

34. 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

35. KING LEOPOLD II OF BELGIUM (1835-1909) • Took over land in central Africa • Berlin Conference (1885) • Leopold’s 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

36. The Congo Free State: Leopold’s False Promises • European countries recognized Leopold’s claim to the territory in 1885 because of: • Stanley’s treaties for Leopold • Leopold’s assurances that he would end slavery • Leopold’s promise that the Congo would remain a free trade area. • The colony “belonged” to Leopold personally.

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

38. 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.

39. 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 Congo’s 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 Kevin P. Dincher

42. 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.

43. Harvesting Rubber

44. 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 Leopold’s representatives, with 50% of profits going to Leopold himself. • Profit required cheap labor (gathering rubber is very labor intensive).

45. Belgian soldiers enforcing rubber sap quotas

46. Leopold’s Abuse of the Congo • Agents ‘encouraged’ young men to work by holding their wives and children captive until each man’s 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.

47. 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 slave’s 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.

48. "The station chief selects the victims....Trembling, 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.

49. Punishing “Lazy” Workers

50. Belgian Congo 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