1. Imperialism
Ask students to describe what they see in this cartoon. What might the “snake” represent? Why would it have a human head? Who is it coiling around? What do you think it means?
In the rubber coils of the Congo `Free' State, a 1906 British cartoon criticizing the abuses of Leopold II's rule of the Congo Free State. By selling off large tracts of the Congo to the highest bidder, Leopold opened the door to the rapacious exploitation of people and resources by short-term business profiteers. Reports of atrocities reaching Europe sparked reactions, as shown here, contributing to the decision by the Belgian government to take over formal administration of the Congo in 1908

3. Imperialism is very similar to colonialism, with one major difference: colonial powers settle the countries of which they gain control, while imperial powers do not. The term “imperialism” does not seem to exist prior to the 1800s. Nineteenth-century imperialism was spurred in large part by the Industrial Revolution. The development of new industrial economies in the 1700s and 1800s necessitated the acquisition of raw materials and the desire to gain control of marketplaces; thus, by the mid-1800s, imperialistic actions of strong nations (most notably European nations) started to become policy.
1 Definition is from America: Pathways to the Present (New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005, p. 981).
Imperialism: The policy by a stronger nation to attempt to create an empire by dominating weaker nations economically, politically, culturally, or militarily.

4. What Enabled New Imperialism?
Europeans’ technological superiority (including the machine gun)
Improvements in transportation to and within Asian and African colonies
Medical advances, such as Quinine, which protected Europeans from foreign diseases (malaria)
Disunity among ethnic groups in Africa

5. The Maxim Gun British troops fighting forces in Benin in 1897
Changes in weaponry gave European countries an advantage over native populations. In 1885, the Maxim gun was invented; it could fire 500 rounds per minute. The British army began using the guns in 1889.
British troops fighting forces in Benin in 1897

6. The Battle of Omdurman 1898

7. a coaling station for ships in South Africa
1. Economic Motives
Industrialized nations sought:
Raw materials
Natural resources
A cheap labor supply
New marketplaces for manufactured goods
Economic motives provided perhaps the strongest impetus for imperialism. Nations strove to control weaker nations because they hoped to expand their own economies, acquire raw materials, possibly obtain new sources of labor, and/or gain new marketplaces for their products. Africa became one of the main sources of raw materials for industrializing nations.
a coaling station for ships in South Africa

8. 2. Exploration David Livingstone Mapping the “Dark Continent”
British missionary and explorer David Livingstone (1813–1873) was one of the first Europeans to travel across the continent of Africa. His explorations paved the way for Europeans to chart the interior of the “Dark Continent.” By the second half of the 1800s, Europeans had a good idea of the vast natural resources that Africa harbored.
David Livingstone

9. “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”
In 1869, Henry Morton Stanley, acting as a journalist, was sent to find David Livingstone, a missionary and explorer who was said to be traveling in Africa but no one knew if he was dead or alive. Stanley met up with Livingstone in November of 1871, greeting him by saying, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”
Henry Morton Stanley in 1869

10. Darwin’s handwritten cover page for The Origin of Species
3. Social Darwinism
All European nations who participated in imperialistic activities during this time period supported missionary activity in one way or another. In addition, a belief in the superiority of the white race produced the idea that whites had a responsibility to civilize non-whites. Although the term “survival of the fittest” was first used by Herbert Spencer in 1851, it gained greater fame when Charles Darwin used it in his discussion of natural selection in The Origin of Species. The late 19th century saw the rise of a philosophy known as “Social Darwinism,” which (among other things) used the principle of natural selection to explain the need for stronger countries to dominate weaker ones. Ideological motives both rationalized and provided a measure of justification for European imperialism.
Herbert Spencer
Darwin’s handwritten cover page for The Origin of Species

11. Churchill Quote
I do not admit for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly wise race to put it that way, has come in and taken their place.

12. “Remember that you are an Englishman, and have consequently won first prize in the lottery of life”
Cecil Rhodes

13. 4. Missionaries

14. 5. “The White Man’s Burden”
By Rudyard Kipling
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.
Take up the White Man's burden—
In patience to abide,
To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple,
An hundred times made plain,
To seek another's profit
And work another's gain.
In this poem, British author Rudyard Kipling urged “civilized” nations to extend their control over those who were “half-devil and half-child.” (Note: The slide shows the first two stanzas of the poem.)
“The White Man’s Burden” was first published in McClure’s magazine, and it generated a tremendous response. Many authors wrote poems of their own mimicking “The White Man’s Burden” and attacking Kipling’s ideas (Henry Labouchère’s “The Brown Man’s Burden” offers a particularly biting response).

16. 6. Jingoism
The political landscape of the European continent had undergone some significant changes by the last half of the 19th century. In some countries, monarchies had either fallen or ceded much of their power to the military and/or legislative bodies. Allegiance to a king or queen ceased to be the most important factor in binding the people of a country together; instead, the main unifying force became the idea that the people of each nation possessed a unique character that should not only be celebrated within that nation, but recognized and respected by other nations as well.
In addition, the French Revolution had opened a Pandora’s box and given “common people” throughout Europe notions of someday gaining political say in the running of their countries. The 1830s and 1840s witnessed a growing discontent that culminated in revolutions in several European countries in Later, two major unification movements occurred, creating the nations of Germany and Italy out of what had been loose agglomerations of semi-independent states. New wellsprings of national pride sprang up as a result, and lower classes became aware of their political might. In addition, technological innovations of the Industrial Revolution had led to major improvements in weaponry, and many were itching to flex this new military muscle. Imperialism provided an outlet for both nationalism and militarism. If a nation could increase its imperial possessions, it would elevate the standing of all its citizens among the peoples of Europe. New military might could be used not only to subdue indigenous peoples and gain control of their lands, but also to keep other European nations from gaining control of those lands.

17. "I contend that we are the first race in the world, and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race...If there be a God, I think that what he would like me to do is paint as much of the map of Africa British Red as possible...“
Cecil Rhodes

19. 7. Military Bases

20. The Berlin Conference
Established a set of agreed-upon rules regarding the competition among the great powers for colonies in Africa
In 1884, German Prime Minister Otto Von Bismarck opened a conference in Berlin dedicated to “the Africa problem.” At the conference, European powers agreed on a set of rules governing imperial ambitions in Africa:
The area along the Congo River was to remain under the control of Leopold II.
No nation could stake a claim on the continent without notifying other nations.
Territory could not be claimed unless it was occupied.

21. Berlin Conference of
Another point of view? 

22. Scramble for Africa

23. Africa 1914

24. British Imperialism in South Africa
The Dutch first arrived on the Cape of Good Hope in the late 17th century.
Europeans soon began to settle on the Cape, taking land and forcing the natives out.
In 1652, Jan van Riebeeck established a provisioning station for the Dutch East India Company on the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. Shortly afterward, Europeans began to settle on the Cape, marking the beginning of permanent European settlement in Africa. The natives either moved further inland to avoid the Europeans or were forced into slavery.
Jan van Riebeeck landing on the Cape of Good Hope in 1652

25. The Great Trek, 1835–1843
The British annexed the Cape in 1815; later, they raised the legal status of native Africans and abolished slavery over the period from 1833 to Conflict with the Dutch ensued: white farmers known as “Boers” (Dutch for “farmers”) or “Afrikaners” felt the British had violated their natural right to dominate the native Africans, so they left the Cape Colony.
Between 1835 and 1843, the Boers undertook what became known as “The Great Trek.” 12,000 Boers in ox-drawn wagons moved north, eventually crossing the Orange River, which lies approximately 500 miles from Cape Town. They drove out the native population and formed small, isolated communities which ultimately became the regions known as the Transvaal (1852) and the Orange Free State (1854).

26. Diamond mining in South Africa
Diamonds and Gold
In 1867, diamonds were discovered in South Africa; in 1886, gold was discovered.
When diamonds and gold were discovered, trouble developed because some of these mineral deposits were located in Dutch-controlled areas, while others lay in British territory. Disagreements eventually led to war.
Diamond mining in South Africa

27. The Struggle for South Africa

28. Cecil Rhodes
British imperialist who made huge profits from Africa’s natural resources
Founder of the state of Rhodesia in Africa
Rhodes was the Prime Minister of the British Cape Colony in South Africa. While in South Africa, he formed his own mining company, De Beers Consolidated Mines. Today, De Beers is perhaps best known for its diamonds.

29. “The Rhodes Colossus”
This cartoon depicts British imperial ambitions to control the entire African continent.
The cartoon in this slide, titled “The Rhodes Colossus: striding from Cape Town to Cairo,” appeared in Punch magazine in December of Rhodes intended to build a railway from Cairo to Cape Town.

30. The Suez Canal
•Between 1859 and 1869, a French company headed by Ferdinand de Lesseps built the Suez Canal. .”

31. Fashoda Incident (1898)

32. King Leopold II of Belgium
Leopold in the Congo
King Leopold II of Belgium
King Leopold II of Belgium believed that the acquisition of overseas colonies was essential in his quest to define his country’s future, yet he was never quite able to get the support of his government or his citizens to participate in colony building. Thus, in 1876 he established his own holding company and hired Henry Morton Stanley to establish a colony in the Congo.

33. Henry Stanley

34. The Congo Free State or The Belgian Congo

35. 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

36. Leopold II,
Political Cartoon

37. EUROPEAN IMPERIALISM CHALLENGED

38. Impact of Imperialism in Africa
POSITIVE
Local warfare reduced
Improved sanitation
Hospitals led to increased lifespan
Schools led to increased literacy
Economic growth
NEGATIVE
Loss of land and independence
Men forced to work in European owned mines and on European owned farms
Contempt for traditional culture and admiration of European culture = identity problems
Dividing up of Africa = artificial boundaries divided kinship groups and united rivals

39. Helped African Infrastructure
European quest to control natural resources
Doing so led to drastic changes in the infrastructure of the continent
Europeans sought colonies in large part to gain control of natural resources such as copper, rubber, and tin. This led to drastic changes in the infrastructure of the continent. Traditionally, African peoples had been subsistence farmers. The arrival of the Europeans marked a significant shift in this traditional way of life. Farmers were now forced to grow cash crops such as peanuts.
The port of Zanzibar around 1900

40. Transportation and Communication
Improvements in
Transportation and Communication
Europeans constructed roads and bridges and laid thousands of miles of railroad track in order to facilitate the movement of goods and people across the continent; they also built telegraph lines. These improvements in infrastructure not only helped Europeans better exploit Africa’s natural resources, but also allowed for greater political control over African peoples and countries.