Origins of and expansion in Africa, 1857-1914 Flashcards
North-East Africa: trade and commerce (trade)
Cotton was widely produced in Egypt and so when British mills were starved of raw cotton during the American Civil War of 1861-1865, British companies began investing heavily in Egyptian cotton, so leading to British involvement there.
In 1870s, 40 per cent of Egyptian imports were British, displaying to the British that they could use Egypt as a market and therefore enticing them to declare a ‘veiled protectorate’ over Egypt in 1882.
North-East Africa: trade and commerce (Suez)
The Suez Canal was completed in 1869, and 1875 Britain bought a 44% share in the Suez Canal, securing a trade route to India that was 6,000 miles shorter than via the cape. In the early 1880s, 80 per cent of Suez traffic was British, revealing Britain’s economic dependency on Egypt, something which motivated them to expand into the region in 1882 (especially in the midst of a nationalist uprising which threatened British control of the canal)
How did the economic and political instability of the native government drive British expansion into North-East Africa?
- Ismail Pasha’s government reaches a severe financial crisis in 1875, and is forced to sell 44% of shares in the Suez canal to Britain (worth £4m) in order to save its economy – Britain wouldn’t have been so economically involved and dependent on Egypt (driving them towards territorial expansion) if Egypt’s government and economy had not been so weak
- Arabi Pasha leads a rebellion against the Twefiq and British influence in Alexandria, claiming 50 European and 125 Egyptian lives. This highlights the instability of the government under the Twefiq, driving Britain to take on political control in addition to their existing economic influence.
North East Africa: great power rivalry
Britain’s establishment of a ‘veiled protectorate’ in Egypt in 1882 was motivated partly by a fear that France would strike a separate bargain with Arabi Pasha and subvert British influence.
Britain’s expansion into Sudan was specifically motivated by French imperial rivalry. Following French advancement into Sudan under Marchand’s leadership in 1898, Kitchener advanced down the Nile and fought against the Sudanese in the Battle of Omdurman, where 11,000 of Khalifah’s army were killed.
Given that the British only launched this campaign 11 years after their previous defeat, it is clear that British expansion was driven not by a desire to avenge the death of General Gordon (1885), but by the increasing French interest in the region by 1896.
North East Africa: moral factors
Britain claimed that one of the reasons for conquering Sudan in 1898 (under General Kitchener) was to save the indigenous people from the oppressive rule of the Mahdi. The conquest was reported in the Daily Mail as having ‘secured the downfall of the worst tyranny in the world’, as the Mahdist regime had seen a population decline of 50% due to poor hygiene, disease, famine and war.
Non-Muslims were massacred and those who survived were forced to convert to Islam. The slave trade was reintroduced when the Mahdi came to power. The Mahdi was also considered a threat to stability in the region, as he engaged in campaigns against Christian Ethiopia.
North East Africa: relative power vis-a-vis indigenous peoples (also give two counter arguments)
- British expansion into Sudan in 1898 was arguably motivated, not by an active strategic/economic interest in the area, but simply because they could (and could do so relatively easily). At the Battle of Omdurman (September 1898), Kitchener’s troops clash with Khalifah’s Sudanese forces, resulting in 11,000 Sudanese deaths vs 50 on the British side. It’s essentially a massacre, because the British military power is much more advanced (they use long-range rifle, machine gun, and artillery), even though the Madhists outnumber the British 2:1.
- But this argument is flawed because A) they were badly defeated last time they tried, with General Gordon dying in 1885, and B) why would they wait so long if they knew they could take the territory easily (so must have been triggered by increasing French interest in the region)
North East Africa: individuals (Kitchener)
Kitchener’s specific role as a ‘man on the spot’ in marching down the Nile and winning the Battle of Omdurman (September 1898) then avoiding conflict at Fashoda (November 1898) by placing the Egyptian, rather than British flag – so… his military excellence, as well as skilled diplomacy (making France not feel like a complete failure, encouraging them to give up interest in Sudan and back down) enabled formal control to be established over Sudan in 1898
North East Africa: individuals (Disraeli)
Disraeli was personally important in engineering British expansion into Egypt, as he was one of the first politicians to fully recognise the economic potential of the Suez Canal. He was responsible for Britain buying 44% of shares in the Suez Canal in 1875.
By encouraging Britain to exploit Egypt economically and strategically, he indirectly drove the establishment of a ‘veiled protectorate’ over the country in 1882, which was an attempt to stabilise the region and thus secure British control over the Suez.
Disraeli was driven to expand in Egypt not just because he recognised specific strategic/economic values, but also because of a general ideological drive: in 1872, in his ‘Crystal Palace’ speech, he asserted that the Conservatives were the ‘Party of Empire’.
West Africa: trade and commerce
Goldie bought a palm oil business in Niger Basin in 1875, and then formed the central African trading company in 1876.
He persuaded all the British trading firms on the Niger River to join him in 1879, enabling him to control 30 trading posts. The treaty arrangements Goldie secured bound the local tribes to trade only with the company’s agents, and in return the company promised to buy all their exportable products.
In 1873-82, British trade with western Africa was totalled to 34 million, including goods like cocoa in the gold coast and palm oil in Nigeria, demonstrated to the British the economic trade they could gain from expanding into Western Africa, as seen in the Gold Coast in 1874, the Gambia in 1888.
West Africa: Mary Slessor
- Mary Slessor was a missionary who lived among the tribes of Calabar in Nigeria in the late 1870s, where she fought hard to end the practice of killing twins, as the birth of twins was attributed by local tribes to the work of the devil. She also was part of missionary groups which established compounds, set up churches, and typically provided food, resources and education in return for conversions to Christianity.
West Africa: Sir Richard Burton
- Sir Richard Burton explored many places in Africa, igniting public scientific and cultural interest in such regions. He was best known for his exploration with John Hanning Speke trying to locate the source of the Nile, but also explored West Africa; out of the 43 volumes he published on his explorations, 5 books were on West Africa, describing tribal rituals as well as murder and cannibalism. This sparked interest in the largely unknown and unexplored region, encouraging further explorers and traders (such as Goldie and Lugard) to occupy the region for Britain.
West Africa: George Goldie
George Goldie formed the Central African Trading Company in 1876 and then persuaded all the British trading firms on the Niger river to join forces with his family firm to create a single company, the United African Company, in 1879.
He secured over 450 local treaty arrangements that transferred territory and jurisdiction to the United African Company, enabling protectorates to be established over parts of Nigeria under the principle of ‘effective occupation’ at the Berlin Conference (1884-5).
West Africa: Frederick Lugard
- Frederick Lugard becomes the next key person, replacing Goldie. In 1894, he signs a series of treaties with local rulers in Nigeria (taking over from Goldie), he becomes responsible for the Royal West African Frontier Force in 1897 and uses this force in 1903 to take Kano and Sokoto, further consolidating the now established protectorate over Northern Nigeria (since 1900).
West Africa: moral factors
- Britain took over Lagos in Southern Nigeria in 1862 in order to end the slave trade in West Africa. Their original presence there was to have an outpost from which to launch anti-slaving operations. Without this initial presence, Britain wouldn’t have had any foothold in West Africa from which to expand in land from (so moral factors can also be linked to the expansion into the Gold Coast in 1874, the Niger Coast protectorates in 1885, and the Gambia in 1888.
- The military operation was launched by Lugard against the Sokoto (Fulani) Caliphate in Northern Nigeria (as they refused to come to accept a British protectorate over North Nigeria) was arguably motivated by moral/civilising factors. Upon capturing Kano in 1903, Lugard bans the Fulani practice of slave trading, and gradually phases out domestic slavery.
West Africa: great power rivalry
- France had aims to expand and establish a continuous empire from Senegal to Chad, stretching across the Western Sahara. The nation was humiliated following the Franco-Prussian war, and so was more than determined. Two highly placed imperialists, Admiral Jaureguiberry (Minister of the Navy) and Charles de Freylinet (Minister of Public Works), drove French interest in the region and approved probes inland from Senegal.
- Britain didn’t want Sierra Leone, the Gambia, and the Gold Coast to be stranded as coastal colonies by this ambitious French plan, so competed fiercely to win over the local tribal leaders. This is arguably what motivated Goldie’s 450 treaties with local leaders.
East Africa: Mackinnon
- In 1856, Mackinnon founded the Calcutta and Burma Steam Navigation Company which grew into a huge business organisation, establishing shipping routes from India to many other places, including Zanzibar and East Africa. By establishing trade with Zanzibar and the East African coast, Mackinnon arguably proved that East Africa could be economically profitable if only it was actively exploited/invested in – the government are willing to give him a charter in 1888 and then establish protectorates when his company goes bankrupt because of this
- Mackinnon founded the Imperial British East Africa company in 1888 and got a royal charter only 5 months after its founding. His interest in East Africa and Zanzibar lays the inroads for formal expansion, with protectorates being established in Uganda in 1894, and British East Africa in 1895.
East Africa: Livingstone
David Livingstone explored previously unchartered territories in central and east Africa from the 1840s to early 1870s. Launched an expedition of east africa in 1858 for the British Government. Found in 1871 by Henry Stanley but then died in African in 1873 searchil for the source of the Nile.
Whilst exploring, he sent over 2,000 letters back to Britain which thrilled the public imagination and his subsequent journey to find the source of the Nile were published with illustrations to exemplify Livingstone’s supposed saintliness.
His explorations laid the inroads for expansion simply by being one of the first British people to explore certain regions, and they also inspired other individuals (like Burton and Speke) to search for the source of the Nile, drawing attention to East Africa as an intriguing and potentially valuable region (fertile lands etc.)
East Africa: Burton and Speke
Sir Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke were the first Europeans to reach Lake Tanganyika (second largest lake in east Africa) – exploration ignited interest
Burton gets malaria and so can’t continue on the expedition, but Speke continues and discovers Lake Victoria as the source of the Nile river in 1858, and then returns with different people in 1860 to map parts of the Lake – goes on to become a region of great interest to the British, and one which they are willing to hand out royal charters in order to protect
(they formally occupy Uganda in 1894 and British East Africa in 1895)
East Africa: Lugard
Lugard is sent by Mackinnon in 1889 on an expedition to Uganda to win the country for Britain.
There were complication religious divisions between the rival nations of Buganda (supporting collaboration with the British) and Bunyoro (resisting British influence), and then between the European Protestants and Catholics.
Lugard ‘resolved’ this conflict in order to establish order and establish a British presence there; he helped Buganda finish off Bunyoro, and then helped the Protestant party in Buganda destroy the Catholics. He ended up signing treaties with both parties in 1892 where they accepted British rule through the IBEAC.
His involvement both secured a British influence in Uganda and ended up revealing the financial instability of the IBEAC (which was going bankrupt partly due to the expense of the Campaign), directly causing the British government to formally establish a protectorate over Uganda in 1894 for both these reasons.
East Africa: great power rivalry
- William Mackinnon founded the East Africa Association (which later became the Imperial British East Africa Company) in 1888, and this was in direct competition with the German east Africa Company, which had been founded by the explorer Karl Peters in 1884.
- Mackinnon got a charter for his company in September 1888, 5 months after its founding, because the British PM, Salisbury, had become convinced that Zanzibar was under threat from German occupation (as, in accordance with the 1886 treaty, the Sultan/Britain only occupied the coast of the mainland of Zanzibar to a depth of 10 miles, meaning that Zanzibar wasn’t super out of reach)
- Also, Salisbury believed that Karl Peters was threatening to take Uganda in the Lakes region. Mackinnon was given his charter on the basis that he would attempt to occupy the lakes region for Britain. The giving of this charter also meant that when Mackinnon’s company became bankrupt, Uganda and British East Africa were made formal protectorates by default, in 1894 and 1895 respectively.
East Africa: trade and commerce (IBEAC)
The IBEAC oversaw an area of roughly 250,000 square miles along the Eastern cost of Africa, with Mombasa and its harbour being central to its operations – Mackinnon’s company came to East Africa partly because of the potential for economic exploitation, therefore, and the IBEAC caused expansion by getting a charter in 1888 (direct encouragement of territorial expansion from the government), and then Britain having to take direct control when the company went bankrupt
East Africa: trade and commerce (Zanzibar and Somaliland)
- Zanzibar was of commercial interest to Britain because of its clove and ivory exports. John Kirk (the Vice-consul in the Sultanate of Zanzibar) ensured that the island operated as a British client state and helped grew its commerce. So, Britain gained a ‘toe-hold’ on Africa’s east coast because of economic interest, which was then grown into British East Africa in 1895
- Britain established the Somaliland Protectorate in 1888. The Somaliland’s northern coastline along the Gulf of Aden provided Britain with a crucial maritime presence in a region essential for trade with India (the Suez canal was opened in 1869, and in the 1880s, 80% of Suez traffic was British)
South Africa: trade and commerce (diamonds)
- Diamonds were discovered near Kimberley in Griqualand West in 1867. Griqualand West was subsequently placed under direct British rule in 1871 and annexed to Cape Colony in 1880.
- By 1891, exports from the Cape to Britain totalled to £9.5million, one third of which came from diamonds
- Rhodes made Kimberley Diamonds mines company in 1888 and gets a charter in 1889. His company ended up having a monopoly over 90% of global diamond production by the end of 19th century, revealing not only the economic importance of South Africa, but also the fact that Rhodes’ interest in South Africa stemmed from trade and commerce. The money he made from the company was also used to fund the territorial expansion of his company, which had come to control a huge area of land initially known as ‘South Zambesia’ but in 1895 named ‘Rhodesia’ after him.
South Africa: trade and commerce (gold)
- Gold is discovered at Witwatersrand in 1886 in the Transvaal. There is an influx of migrants who come to South Africa to invest in the gold trade, 30,000 of whom are British. This British presence encourages British presence in the area.
- The Transvaal became the richest African government with annual revenue of over 8 million pounds in 1896, incentivising the British to attempt to occupy the region for Britain and make economic profit from the gold reserves. Therefore, the Second Boer War of 1899-1902, leading to the formal occupation of the Transvaal under the Treaty of Vereeniging, was driven by trade and commerce.
