World History - The partition of africa

1. The Partition of Africa
The Spread of European Imperialism

2. Before and After

4. Africa in the Early 1800’s
Africa is a huge continent, 3
times the size of Europe with
many languages and
governments
North Africa
–Includes the Sahara and land
along the Mediterranean
–Before 1800 it remained part
of the Muslim world and much
of it remained under the rule
of the declining Ottoman
Empire

5. Africa in the Early 1800’s
Islamic Crusades in West Africa
–Usman dan Fodio called for
social and religious reforms
based on the religion Islam and
to rise up against their European
rulers
–Literacy increased, wars stopped
and trade improved

6. Africa in the Early 1800’s
Impact of Slave Trade
–Europeans began to end
the slave trade but it
continued in Asia
–Some people helped
freed slaves resettle in
Africa
–Sierra Leone became a
colony for freed slaves

7. European Contact Increases
1500-1700 Europeans traded
along the African coast
Africans wanted to trade
with them but did not want
them to live there
Resistance by Africans,
difficult geography and
diseases kept Europeans
from moving too far into
Africa

9. European Contact Increases
Explorers Advance into Africa
–European explorers went further
into Africa, they were fascinated by
the geography but they endured
great hardships along the way

10. European Contact Increases
Missionaries follow
Explorers
–Sought to win people to
Christianity
–Built schools and clinics and
churches
–Paternalistic approach where
they saw Africans as a group
who needed guidance
How did European
contact with Africa
increase in the late
1800’s?

11. History Mystery
What Did
Imperialism Look
Like
in the Congo

12. European Contact Increases
Livingstone Blazes a Trail
–Best known explorer and missionary
–He traveled Africa for 30 years and wrote about
the cruelty of the slave trade
–Thought Africa should be opened up to
Christianity and trade with other nations

13. David Livingstone
Late 1860’s he was a missionary from
Scotland who traveled deep into central
Africa to promote Christianity
Several years passed with no word from
him
An American newspaper sent a reporter to
find him

14. David Livingstone
The reporter H.M. Stanley would write
articles about his journey trying to find him.
His famous greeting,
–“Dr. Livingston I presume” made headlines
around the world

15. Scramble for Colonies
King Leopold of Belgium
hires Stanley (a journalist) to
explore the Congo and arrange
trade treaties with African
leaders
Publicly he Desires…
–A civilizing mission to
improve the lives of
Africans
Privately he Desires…
–Conquest and profit
His activities lead other nations to follow in his
footsteps and the claim for colonies begins

16. European Conquest of Africa
Better Weapons
–Guns vs. spears and clubs
Drug Quinine in 1829 protected Europeans
from Malaria
–Allowed Europeans to travel freely in Africa
Europeans learned to play rival groups
against each other

17. A Scramble for Colonies
Berlin Conference
–To avoid bloodshed and war over Africa
European colonies met in 1884 to
•Recognize Leopold’s private claim to the
Congo but call for free trade on the Congo
and Niger Rivers
•European power cannot claim any part of
Africa unless it had a government office there
•20 years later Europe had divided up Africa
amongst themselves with little regard for the
Africans there

18. Berlin Conference

19. A Scramble for Colonies
Horrors in the Congo
–Leopold exploited all the riches in the area
(copper, rubber and ivory)
–Reports came of Belgians abusing workers,
forcing them to work for nothing, beating and
mutilating them and brutalizing villagers
–Leopold had to give his personal colony to the
Belgian government in 1908 and while the
worst abuses ended it was still exploited and
the wealth of Africa went to Europe

20. A Scramble for Colonies
Britain Takes its Share
–While their claims were scattered, they
had areas with rich resources
–They took chunks of West and East
Africa

21. A Scramble for Colonies
The Boer War
–Despite the Berlin Conference there was a
major conflict in South Africa
–It was between the British and the Dutch
settlers (Boers)
–Discovery of gold and diamonds in Sothern
Africa made the area very tempting to the
British
–Boers took up arms to protect their land but
Britain won and instituted racial segregation
that would last until 1993

22. A Scramble for Colonies
France Extends its Influence
–France took a giant share
–French empire in Africa was as large as the
continental United States!
Others Join the Scramble
–Portuguese, Italians, Germans all join in and
start carving out their colonies in Africa

23. Africans Resist Imperialism
Ethiopia Survives
–Ethiopia resisted European colonization and
maintained its independence
–Menelik II modernized his country and hired
Europeans to build roads and set up a western
school system, he imported the latest weapons
and officers to train his army
–When Italy invaded Ethiopia they were well
prepared and smashed the Italian invaders

24. Africans Resist Imperialism
A New African Elite Emerges
–A western educated African elite (upper class)
emerge
–Some middle class Africans admired western
ways and rejected their own culture
–Other valued African traditions and condemned
western societies that upheld liberty and
equality for whites only
–By the 1900’s African leaders were forging
nationalist movements to pursue self
determination and independence

25. Which African
country resisted
imperialism and
how?

26. Legacy of Colonial Rule on Africa
Negative
–Loss control of their land
–Diseases
–Breakdown of their culture
–Artificial boundaries that divided
or combined groups unnaturally
and still create problems today
–Identity problems because of the
two cultures

27. Legacy of Colonial Rule on Africa
Positive
–Reduced local warfare
–Improved sanitation and
created hospitals and schools
(people lived longer and
there was higher literacy)
–Economic expansion
(African products became
valuable)