1. The Scramble for Africa
Before
After
Ms. Valdner/Mr. Patten
Global History II

2. Document #1 Rudyard Kipling, The White Man's Burden, 1899
Stanza 1
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.
Stanza 3 Take up the White Man's burden-- The savage wars of peace-- Fill full the mouth of Famine And bid the sickness cease; And when your goal is nearest The end for others sought, Watch sloth and heathen Folly Bring all your hopes to nought.

3. The White Man’s Burden Document #1- The White Man’s Burden
According to Rudyard Kipling, what was the burden (responsibility) of the white man?

4. Document #2
“That magnificent African cake”.
-King Leopold of Belgium

5. “That Magnificent African Cake”
Document #2-“That Magnificent African Cake”
Who do the people represent surrounding Africa? What are they trying to do?
Explain the meaning of the cartoon?
What did King Leopold mean when he called Africa “the magnificent African cake”?

6. Document #3
The arrival of the missionaries had caused a considerable stir in the village of Mbanta. There were six of them and one was a white man. Every man and woman came out to see the white man…The white man was also their brother because they were all sons of God. And he told them about this new God, the Creator of all the words and all the men and women. He told them that they worshipped false gods, gods of wood and stone. A deep murmur went through the crowd when he said this… Evil men (he said) and all the heathen who in their blindness bowed to wood and stone were thrown into a fire that burned like palm-oil. But good men who worshipped the true God lived forever in His happy kingdom.
-Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart

7. Things Fall Apart Document #3- Things Fall Apart
According to Achebe, why had the white man come to Africa?
What message was he spreading?

8. Document #4
I contend that we (Britians) are the finest race in the world, and the more of the world we inhabit, the better it is for the human race…It is our duty to seize every opportunity of acquiring more territory and we should keep this one idea steadily before our eyes that more territory simply means more of the Anglo-Saxon race, more of the best, the most human, most honorable race the world possesses.
-Cecil Rodes, a successful British imperialist in Africa, expresses his position in Confession of the Faith written in 1877

9. Cecil Rhodes Document #4- Cecil Rhodes
According to Rhodes, why were Europeans, specifically the British justified in taking colonies around the world?

10. Document #5 Africans harvesting rubber in King Leopold of Belgium's colony, the Congo
One of the precious resources of the Congo was its rubber trees. The industrial revolution in Europe had brought a growing demand for the resilient material. Harvesting the precious substance from the trees was very labor intensive, so the Belgians wanted a cheap source of labor. Leopold put in place a forced labor system to keep money flowing.
Natives of the Congo Free State were expected to pay taxes. Since they had not operated with a money economy, this requirement forced native to work for the white man for very low wages, under very difficult conditions. The rubber tax was particularly onerous.
The Congo was depopulated as many fled their villages to avoid the taxes.

11. African retrieving rubber
Document #5-African retrieving rubber
In looking at the document, give one reason why King Leopold took Congo as a colony.
Why did King Leopold want natives to stay in Congo once he took it as a colony?

12. Document # 6
…none of the colonial undertakings was motivated by the quest for capitalist profits; they all originated in political ambitions…the nations’ will to power…glory or national greatness.
-Raymond Aron, The Century of Total War

13. Rhodes Document #6- Rhodes
One what is Cecil Rhodes standing? What is the meaning of the cartoon?
Rhodes wanted to build a railroad from Cape Town, South Africa to Cairo, Egypt. How might this have strengthened the British Empire:
Economically?
Militarily?
Politically?

14. Conclusion: Conclusion:
Your group must decide if the European “Scramble for Africa” as justified or not. Use at least two documents to back up your thesis.