1. European
Colonialism in
Africa Part A.

2. Imperialism & Colonialism
What Period in African and European history are we referring to?
The1880s through to 1914 (start of WW1)
What is imperialism?
It is the practice by which powerful nations or peoples seek to extend and maintain control and influence over weaker nations and peoples.
Imperialism is similar in meaning to Colonialism and sometimes the two are used interchangeably, there is a difference or distinction. Colonialism suggests FORMAL political control and involving annexation (taking a region as your own) whereas Imperialism refers more broadly to control and influence.
Imperialism dates from ancient times – think of the ancient Greek and Roman empires where a particular religion or civilization attempted to dominate all others by creating a unified system of control.

3. Imperialism & Colonialism
What is colonialism?
Formal Political and economic control of people in other lands.
What was (is) the idea of colonialism?
Divide the world and create a world political system according to European principles.
Spread the European vision of capitalist society and development that maintained political and economic inequality where the European “powers” gain most.
There are a number of reasons behind this “Scramble for Colonies” . The use of the word SCRAMBLE which has one definition - an eager struggle to do or obtain something gives us an idea of how this period unfolded.

4. Imperialism & Colonialism
Initially European control and influence was limited to coastal areas

5. European Colonialism in Africa: Events and Motives
Europe’s response to abolition of slave trade
From s it was a stable (inward looking for some, consolidation of empires for others) period in Europe.
Although abolished there was still the need to suppress and police the slave trade in this period
What next?
Refiguring positions in global arena
Meanwhile there was an increasing interest and knowledge of Africa’s people, the continent’s great resources and potential, its opportunities and its exotic nature drew adventurers to it.
The “Scramble for Africa” begins amongst the European countries………

6. 19c  Europeans Map the Interior of Africa
European Explorers in Africa
19c  Europeans Map the Interior of Africa

7. SOME AFRICAN EXPLORERS: Richard Burton & John Speke 1857 - 1858
Looked for source of Nile with John Hanning Speke
Their exploits were the subject of the film “Mountains of the Moon”
Richard Burton
John Speke

8. Mungo Park Explored Niger River in Western Africa
Mungo Park, a Scottish surgeon and explorer, was sent out by the 'Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior of Africa' in 1805 to discover the course of the River Niger. Having achieved a degree of fame from his first trip in 1795, carried out alone and on foot, he returned to Africa with a party of 40 Europeans, all of whom lost their lives in the adventure.
View of Kamalia in Mandingo country, Africa, from: Mungo Park, Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa

9. David Livingstone
Traveled for 30 years in Africa as missionary and explorer From 1841 until his death in 1873 Livingstone explored the interior of central and southern Africa. His initial aim was to spread Christianity and bring commerce and "civilization" to these regions but his later missions were more concerned with exploration, firstly of the Zambezi and its tributaries, and later to find the source of the Nile. During this time he returned to Britain twice, in 1856 and in 1864.
Livingstone was one of the first medical missionaries to enter southern Africa, the first in central Africa, and he was often the first European to meet local tribes. He won their trust as a healer and medicine man and gained such a reputation amongst the villages he visited that he eventually had to limit his treatment only to those with serious illness. He was particularly sought for his skills in obstetrics, the surgical removal of tumours and ophthalmology.
Livingstone was a keen and accurate observer; he was also a prolific writer and his journals.
Lithograph of Livingstone and his party going down the Zambezi rapids
Credit: Welcome Library, London

10. Sir Henry Morton Stanley
Where is David Livingstone?
Livingstone completely lost contact with the outside world for six years and was ill for most of the last four years of his life.
Henry Morton Stanley, who had been sent to find him by the New York Herald newspaper in 1869, found Livingstone in the town of Ujiji on the shores of Lake Tanganyika on 10 November 1871, greeting him with the now famous words "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" to which he responded "Yes", and then "I feel thankful that I am here to welcome you." These famous words may have been a fabrication, as Stanley later tore out the pages of this encounter in his diary. Even Livingstone's account of this encounter does not mention these words. However, the phrase appears in a New York Herald editorial dated 10 August 1872,
The words are famous because of their perceived tongue-in-cheek humorous nature: Dr. Livingstone was the only white person for hundreds of miles.
Stanley's book, written later, suggests that it was really because of embarrassment, because he did not dare to embrace him.
Sir Henry Morton Stanley

11. Stanley’s Exploration in the 1870s and the Scramble for Africa

12. Reasons for this period of Imperialism
The reasons or motivations fall under 4 major headings:
Economic
Political and Military
Humanitarian and Religious
Social Darwinism

13. European Motives For Colonization
European Nationalism
Source for
Raw
Materials
Missionary Activity
Industrial
Revolution
European
Motives
For Colonization
Markets for Finished Goods
Military & Naval Bases
Social Darwinism
European Racism
Places to Dump Unwanted/ Excess Popn.
Humanitarian Reasons
Soc. & Eco. Opportunities
“White Man’s Burden”

14. Economic The time of THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION.
Need for more natural resources for the factories.
Expanding of markets to sell goods to
Outlet for Europe’s expanding populations

15. Political and Military
Steam powered Merchant ships & Navies needed refueling stations - coal
Nationalism – to keep up with other great powers, ensure that you have access to areas
The Prestige of owning and controlling an “empire”

16. Humanitarian and Religious
Concern for welfare of the less fortunate
Some saw it as a duty to help and “enlighten” others
Missionaries’ zeal to spread Christianity to all.
“Spread the blessings of Western Civilization” bringing “the best” to all

17. Social Darwinism
The West had a sense of racial superiority – ethnocentrism – meaning that one group is feeling superior to others due primarily to cultural differences.
Darwin’s theory of “natural selection” & “survival of the fittest” applied to the human societies.
Destruction & conquest of weaker races was nature’s way of improving the species