4-Attitudes to empire - the role and influence of individuals Flashcards
Livingston
Began as a missionary doctor in 1841 in South Africa. Returned to Britain with huge acclaim at his Cambridge Lectures from 1856-1857. Later received government funding for a return in 1858 with the official title as the Consul for the East Coast of Africa and wrote 2000 letters back to Britain. His next journey was his mission to find the source of the Nile. He also went to ‘open up a path for commerce’ that was not part of the slave trade. Found by Henry Stanley.
Nyasaland - opened up by Livingston
John Kirk
A Scottish physician who was appointed chief medical officer and economic botanist on Livingston’s Zambezi expedition. He collected many aquatic species, notably mussels which he wrote about and sent back to Britain. He returned to Africa in 1868 as medical officer and Vice-Consul in Zanzibar and lived out the rest of his career until 1886 as a diplomat.
Exercised British influence in Zanzibar and by 1891 a government was established where the Sultan’s first minister was a British representative.
Mary Slessor
Victorian mill girl who left Dundee to live among the tribes of Calabar, Nigeria. She fought hard to end the local practice of killing twins and their mother for believing it was the work of the devil.
Amy Carmichael
From a devout Presbyterian family in Northern Ireland, she worked for 55 years in India producing 35 books. She tried to rescue ‘temple children’ and set up a sanatorium in Tamil Nadu.
Cecil Rhodes
Cape Colony politician and Prime Minister (1890-96) who amassed a fortune from buying all of Cape Colony’s diamond mines (90% of worlds diamond production) in a partnership with the Diamond Syndicate. He also setup the British South Africa Company (covered 1,143,00 km of land) which was granted a royal charter in 1889. He played a large part in the spread of the British in South Africa.
Sir William MacKinnon
Scottish ship-owner and businessman, began in the Bay of Bengal and in 1856 founded the Calcutta and Burma Steam Navigation Company. This became a huge business organisation. He then founded the Imperial British East Africa Company and was given a charter in 1888 as the British Government saw this as a way of getting influence in the region. He also founded the Free Church of Scotland East African Scottish mission in 1891 in Kibwezi, modern day Kenya.
George Goldie
Formed the Central African Trading Company in 1876. Merged his company with the other firms along the River Niger to form the United African Company. He was refused a charter in 1881 due to competing French interests. His agents secured 450 treaties with local chiefs. Led to the British forming a protectorate over Northern and Southern Niger at the Berlin Conference 1884-1885. Chartered in 1886. He developed Northern Nigeria into a prosperous British protectorate.
Evelyn Baring
Second posting in Egypt 1877, to help Pasha out of his financial difficulties. He left and returned in 1882 this time as Consul-General. He approved the Dufferin Report of 1883 which established an Egyptian puppet parliament. He then established the ‘veiled protectorate’ which meant that he would control the rulers of Egypt. He remained the real ruler of Egypt until his resignation in 1907.
Bartle Frere
Crushed the Indian Mutiny in 1857 whilst part of the Indian Civil Service. Became High Commissioner and Governor of Cape Colony in 1877. Carnarvon wanted him to carry out a planned confederation. He deliberately provoked a war with the Zulus in 1878. The British won but the shocking loss at Isandhlwana in 1879 had him removed.
How did missionaries help the growth of the Empire?
They opened up territories to British rule by penetrating beyond frontiers, for example the Congo in the 1880s, where they established links with the indigenous population and then requested imperial protection. They would also share their geographical knowledge with the secular authorities. Otherwise, missionaries would follow British conquest. Overall they increased Britain’s economic reach.
What were Methodist missionaries doing?
Setting up conferences to oversee mission. In 1874, Australian Methodist Missionaries setup the British rule of Fiji. 1882, a ‘South African Conference’ was established. It was John Mackenzie that put pressure on the government to make Bechuanaland a protectorate. A West Indies conference was setup in 1885.
How did Missionaries work?
They setup church, compounds, farm work and housing in return for native conversions.
What is an example of when the Missionaries clashed with the indigenous people?
In the 1880s, the Anglican Church Missionary Society clashed with the African bishop in the Niger region, he was later forced to resign in 1891.
