Africa Flashcards
British Exploration
David Livingstone (1813-1873)
Scottish Explorer & Missionary
Extensively explored Africa & discovered Lake Tanganyika & Victoria Falls
Cecil Rhodes (1853-1902)
British businessman & imperialist
Imagined a British dominion from “Cape to Cairo”
Worked to build a trans-African railroad from Cairo to Cape Town
Named two countries Northern and Southern Rhodesia (today Zambia & Zimbabwe)
Portuguese Exploration
1441 Slaves and Gold first brought back from the west coast of Africa (Gold, Ivory, & Slaves)
1471 Reached modern-day Ghana and controlled 1/10th of world’s gold production
1488 Bartholomeu Dias reached southern tip of Africa (King John named it Cape of Good Hope)
1497 Vasco Da Gama voyaged around the southern tip of Africa to India
Until 18th century, exploration and contact with Sub-Saharan Africa limited to the coast
David Livingstone
David Livingstone (1813-1873)
Scottish Explorer & Missionary
Extensively explored Africa & discovered Lake Tanganyika & Victoria Falls
Cecil Rhodes
Cecil Rhodes (1853-1902)
British businessman & imperialist
Imagined a British dominion from “Cape to Cairo”
Worked to build a trans-African railroad from Cairo to Cape Town
Named two countries Northern and Southern Rhodesia (today Zambia & Zimbabwe)
Henry Stanley
Henry Stanley
Welsh Explorer
Explored Central Africa in 1870s
1869 was charged with the duty of finding David Livingstone
Found him in 1871
Information from his explorations used extensively in Europe for colonization purposes
Slave Trade & Influence
1502 First African slaves recorded in the new world
Between 1502-1870, some 11 million Africans were sold into slavery in the New World, Europe, & the Arab World
First slave trading posts and forts established by the Portuguese in the 15th century
Establishment of colonies in New World demanded cheap labor for production of cotton & sugar cane
Slavery in Africa:
Africans owned Africans (prisoners of war, debtors, or criminals)
Not used for large scale agricultural labor
Only Kings would have owned multiple slaves
African tribal leaders began to exchange slaves for European & Western Goods (guns, rum, and cloth)
Triangle Trade
- Slaves captured by Africans
- Traded for guns (used to capture more slaves), rum, & cloth
- Slaves sent to new world (grow cotton & sugar)
- Sugar & Cotton sent to Europe (turned into rum and cloth)
Middle Passage
Voyage from Africa to the New World (N. and S. America & Caribbean) up to 4 months
Slaves packed on ships in unsanitary conditions
Multiple ethnic groups represented (many Africans didn’t understand each other)
Many died due to disease or malnutrition
End of Slave Trade
Spurred on by Christian Missionaries
Enlightenment thinkers across Europe began speaking of Equality and Natural Rights
Abolitionists in Europe and North America began fighting for the end of the slave trade
Trade Ends
1792 – Denmark first to outlaw slave trade
1808 – United States bans importation of slaves
Colonialism: Causes
Industrial Revolution Need for raw materials Markets for goods “Civilize the Heathens” Ignorance of African culture Superiority complex from slave trade Competition – Fear of being shut out “White Man’s Burden” Nationalism
African Colonialism
Sometimes known as the “Scramble for Africa”
19th Century European seizure of African Territory
To avoid the costs of setting up new governments, European powers often delegated authority through tribal chiefs, who they allowed to retain some power. This was called INDIRECT RULE. British were fans of this style.
The French often chose DIRECT RULE which included the use of French officials who directly dealt with Africans.
The traditional political system of Africa was undercut.
African tribal chiefs often claimed rightful rule through their tribal god.
Many Africans converted to Christianity and no longer believed in their tribal gods.
By end of 19th Century, all but Ethiopia and Liberia were colonies of Europe
Ethiopia - Emperor Menelik II defeated the Italians with Arab Guns and established modern Ethiopia
Liberia – Established in 1822 by American Colonization Society for freed slaves (capital Monrovia named after President James Monroe)
Colonialism: Effects
Political boundaries Exploitation of raw materials Destruction of African culture Distrust of Europeans Introduction of European crops Cash money Civil War – Cross-Cultural Missionary Effects Literacy Medicine Reduction of Death Rate Infrastructure
Berlin Conference
Organized by Otto von Bismarck, the Chancellor of Germany
European leaders distributed African land
Created most modern borders
Little or no regard for native populations
Africa divided between main European powers
Any new land taken had to be reported to other signatory powers as a PROTECTORATE
W.E.B. DuBois
Born in Massachusetts in 1868
Prominent member of the NAACP in the early 20th Century
Supporter of Pan-Africanism
Pan-Africanism: A movement that called for the unification of all Africa
It also called for a unity among all people of African descent
Leopold Sedar Senghor
Senegalese poet born in 1906
During the 1930s he took the lead in the NEGRITUDE movement
This movement encouraged African to value their culture
It rejected negative views held by Europeans
It strengthened Pan-Africanism
Educated in Europe, Senghor served for 20 years as President of Senegal after its independence in 1960.
Anti-Colonialism
In 1950, only four African nations were independent (Egypt, Liberia, Ethiopia, South Africa)
Many nations became independent in the 1950s and 1960s
Reasons for Independence
Boycotts – Refusal to buy goods or services
WWII weakened colonial powers
Soviet Union & United States favored independent nations
