British Colonies in Africa

Why would the British have the largest empire?

Industrial demands, need for navy

• 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

• 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

Division in Africa

• 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

No Regard for Tradition

Suez Canal

BRITISH IN NORTH AFRICA

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

Suez Canal

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

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

Cape-to-Cairo Railway: Crossing over Victoria Falls

South AfricaSouth Africa• Cecil Rhodes

Kimberley• Dr Jameson

Jameson Raid, unsuccessful attempt to take over Boer regions.

• Boer War (1899-1902) British eventually won a war of attrition

Soon after that, the British got involved in the Boer War—The

Germans supported the Boers, while the British were ultimately victorious.

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

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.

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

French and German Colonies in Africa

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

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

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

French and Germans

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

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

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

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

GERMANS IN AFRICA• Togoland (now Togo and Ghana)• Cameroons (now Cameroon and

Nigeria)• Southwest Africa (now Namibia)• East Africa (now Burundi, Rwanda, and

Tanzania)

Belgian Colonies in Africa

Pre-Colonial CongoThe 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

Ne Vunda, Kongolese ambassador to the Vatican, 1608

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

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

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.

• 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”.

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

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.

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

The Congo Free StateThe Congo Free State Use of river to gain access to ivory- and rubber-Use of river to gain access to ivory- and rubber-

rich interior made the Congo a coveted area for rich interior made the Congo a coveted area for colonization.colonization.

European nations negotiated and agreed to European nations negotiated and agreed to respect each others’ claims to African territory, respect each others’ claims to African territory, Leopold made claim for Congo.Leopold made claim for Congo.

The Berlin Conference, 1884-1885

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.

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

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

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

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 The colony “belonged” to “belonged” to Leopold personally.Leopold personally.

Leopold II

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

King Leopold IIKevin P. Dincher 37

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

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.

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.

• 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.

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

Kevin P. Dincher 41A 1906 Punch cartoon depicting Leopold II as a rubber vine entangling a Congolese man

• 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.

The Congo Free StateThe Congo Free State : :“The Profit Imperative”“The Profit Imperative”

Harvesting Rubber

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).

• Belgian soldiers enforcing rubber sap quotas

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.

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.

The chicotte, a particularly vicious type of whip made from rhinoceros hide.

"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

Punishing “Lazy” Workers

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

Belgian Congo

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.’”

Mutilated People in the Congo Free State

"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)

Kevin P. Dincher 53

The men in this photo are holding human hands.sun.menloschool.org

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

Leopold’s Abuse of the Congo• Revolt broke out.• Leopold sent troops into villages to exterminate the young

men.• To make sure bullets weren’t wasted, soldiers were expected

to return with the severed right hands of those they killed.• Soldiers who couldn’t meet quotas or spent bullets hunting

would cut hands off of living women and children.

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

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

Leopold’s 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

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

Belgian Congo

Leopold’s Conscience??

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@N03/3965951238/

Marlow’s & Conrad’s1889-90 journey into

“Heart of Darkness”

Joseph Conrad(1857-1914)

The First Modern Genocide?

From 1885-1908 the Congolese population declines by one-half to 10 million due to

1) murder2) starvation/exhaustion 3) disease4) low birth rate

An estimated 10 million people died during this time

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 Leopold’s 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.

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

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.

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/Belgian-Congo

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-the-burden-of-history/

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-terror-casts-shadow-over-congolese-anniversary-0

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

picture:mydailyclarity.com(Democratic Republic of the Congo, n.d.).

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 (today’s Democratic Republic of Congo)– 80 times the size of Belgium– Source of uranium

Modern StatusCongo

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

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

(The World Factbook, n.d.).seputarforex.com

Italian Colonies in Africa

ITALIANS IN AFRICA

• 1882-1896– Eritrea (along the Red Sea)– Somaliland (along the Indian Ocean, part

of today’s Somalia)

• 1896– Defeated in attempt to conquer Abyssinia

(Ethiopia)

• 1912– Won Tripoli from Ottoman Turks

Portuguese Colonies in Africa

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

Spanish Colonies in Africa

SPANISH IN AFRICA• Spain had

very few possessions in Africa

• Tip of Morocco

• Rio de Oro

• Rio Muni

Modern boundaries, drawn by Europeans