Scramble for Africa: Consolidation and expansion of the British Empire in Africa:

Question 1

A new African empire:

1) How did British policy in Africa change, from the 1890s?
2) Until the 1880s, what had the British largely established bases for?
3) How did the British match settlements by the French or Germans?

Answer 1

1) It became more assertive.
2) For their strategic value, or for the purposes of trade.
3) They claimed the areas where British traders had established themselves.

Question 2

1) What were private chartered companies used for?

2) Where was there direct intervention?

Answer 2

1) To occupy and administer territory.

2) In Egypt and South Africa

Question 3

1) How did this change in 1895, with the new Conservative government?
2) Why were British protectorates expanded?
3) Why were new territories taken?

Answer 3

1) They were determined to uphold Britain’s position in every part of the world, causing wars and threats of wars, over Africa and other ambitious programmes.
2) To provide better security to pre-existing ports, markets or resources.
3) To limit the advance of fellow European imperialists.

Question 4

1) How would imperial powers show evidence of their ‘effective occupation’?
2) How much of Africa remained under local control at the time of the conference, in comparison to 20 years later?

Answer 4

1) By controlling both the administration and defence of a potential colony.
2) At the time of the conference, 80% of the continent was under local control, in comparison to only 10%, 20 years later.

Question 5

1) How did chartered companies, give way to formal control from the 1890s?
2) Why did chartered companies eventually give control to the government?
3) What was British expansionism driven by?
4) If borders and investments were threatened by local crises or resistance, what did the British feel they had the right to do?

Answer 5

1) They produced evidence of ‘effective occupation’, on behalf of Britain.
2) This was because the costs for companies were financially unsustainable.
3) Treaties, intimidation and aggression. Regional disorder also played a part.
4) Take action using force and coercion.

Question 6

British West Africa:

1) Which areas were added to the old British colonies?

Answer 6

1) Ashantiland (an extension to the coastal strip that made up the Gold Coast), and Nigeria (an area penetrated by Goldie’s Royal Niger Company).

Question 7

Ashantiland:

1) In the early 1890s, what did the British demand from King Prempeh?
2) What was King Prempeh’s answer?
3) What was the fourth Anglo-Asante War?
4) What did the Asante uprising of 1900, lead to?
5) What happened in 1902?
6) For how much time, did they manage to resist direct colonisation

Answer 7

1) That he should turnover his empire as a protectorate.
2) He refused.
3) Britain conquered the Asante territories and forced Prempeh from his throne, in 1896.
4) Britain’s formal annexation of the kingdom.
5) Ashantiland was incorporated into the Gold Coast Colony in 1902.
6) 80 years

Question 8

Nigeria:

1) How was Britain able to establish their claim to Nigeria?
2) Who did the British government take over responsibility from?
3) When did the British establish direct control in the North?
4) When did they establish direct control in the South?
5) When was Nigeria unified?

Answer 8

1) Through its occupation, and through the 1890 agreement with the French, who agreed to recognise Britain’s domination in the area, if Britain recognised the French claim to Madagascar.
2) The Royal Niger Company
3) 1900
4) 1906
5) 1914

Question 9

British East Africa:

1) The British East African Empire was greatly expanded after 1890, which countries were added?

Answer 9

1) Rhodesia, Zanzibar, Uganda, Kenya, the Sudan and Somaliland.

Question 10

Zanzibar:

1) In 1890, what treaty did Germany and Britain sign?
2) When did it become a protectorate?
3) Who became the ‘puppet’ Sultan?
4) When did Hamad die?
5) Who came to power, and why did this lead to confrontation?
6) What did the British ask Khalid to do, and what happened when he refused?
7) How much did the war last?
8) How many Zanzibari defenders were killed?
9) Who was Khalid replaced by?

Answer 10

1) They established spheres of influence in East Africa, Zanzibar was ceded to the British, and Germany has control over Tanzania.
2) 1890
3) Hamad bin Thuwaini
4) 1896
5) His cousin Khalid, who didn’t receive Britain’s blessing.
6) They ordered to him to stand down, which didn’t happen, so the Sultan’s palace faced bombardments.
7) 38 minutes
8) Around 500
9) The pro-British Sultan Hamud, he ruled for 6 years under British protection.

Question 11

Uganda:

1) During the 19th century what were Anglican, French Catholic and Zanzibari Muslims doing in Buganda?
2) In 1886, how did Mwanga try to assert his authority?
3) What agreement did he have, with the Imperial British East Africa Company?
4) In 1890, what treatment did he sign with Lord Lugard?
5) When did Bugunda become a protectorate?
6) What led to Mwanga being captured and exiled to the Seychelles?

Answer 11

1) They were successfully converting the Bugandan peoples.
2) By executing 30 Catholics and Protestants, and provoking a civil war, during which Mwanga fled.
3) He promised to hand over some sovereignty, in return for British backing. He was returned to power in 1889.
4) He ceded power over revenue, trade and the administration of justice, to the Imperial British East Africa Company.
5) These powers were transferred to the Crown in 1894, and Bugunda became a protectorate, as part of Uganda.
6) He tried to regain his territories, in 1897 and 1898.

Question 12

The Ugandan Railway:

1) Why did the British construct the Ugandan railway?
2) What did this railway consolidate?

Answer 12

1) In 1896, they built a railway to Mombasa, to connect the coast with the fertile lands bordering Lake Victoria.
2) The formal takeover of both the East Africa Protectorate and Uganda.

Question 13

1) How long is the railway, how much did it cost and how long did it take?
2) How many labourers died?
3) How could British railway officials punish workers?
4) Back home, who believed the project was putting tax payer’s money to good use?

Answer 13

1) 660 miles of rail track took 5 years and £5 million to build.
2) 2500 - mostly Chinese and Indians.
3) They could receive corporal punishments or fines, for deserting.
4) Colonial Secretary Chamberlain and the Conservative government.

Question 14

1) How did they justify the railway?

Answer 14

1) > Enabled access to new markets.
> Encouraged colonial settlement.
> Facilitated export of tea and coffee.
> Protected source of the Nile against Britain’s potential enemies.
> Promoted British tourism
> Help to end Arab-run slave trade - porters.

Question 15

1) What was the railway known as?
2) What was the Kedong massacre?
3) What was the Tsavo Incident?

Answer 15

1) ‘Lunatic Line’
2) 500 labourers were killed by Masai warriors.
3) Between 35 and 100 rail workers were attacked and killed by two lions.

Question 16

Kenya:

1) Why was it seen as a useful territory?
2) Which dispute did the British use to try and force their control.
3) How did the bankruptcy of the British East Africa Company spark British intervention?
4) Was Sheikh Mbaruk bin Rashid’s attack on the British successful?
5) When did Kenya become a part of Britain’s East Africa Protectorate?
6) When was it declared a British colony?

Answer 16

1) Offered a route from the coast to Uganda.
2) The succession debate between the indigenous Mazrui, and the Muslim majority.
3) They wanted to safeguard lucrative trade in Uganda and Zanzibar.
4) He managed to obtain weapons from the Germans, but the British managed to crush them in 9 months. Sheikh Mbaruk fled.
5) 1895
6) 1920

Question 17

Sudan:

1) Who was Khalifa Abdullah?
2) Why didn’t this work?
3) How were Salisbury’s views different from Gladstone’s?
4) Why was Britain fearful of the French and Germans?
5) How did a treaty with the Germans in 1890, resolve this?
6) What were the French persuaded to do?
7) How did the British view Italian expansion on the Red Sea coast?
8) Why did the public support a campaign in Sudan?

Answer 17

1) He succeeded the Mahdi in 1885, and tried to bring the people together under his leadership.
2) Sudan was plagued by war, disease and famine.
3) Gladstone wanted British troops to eventually leave Egypt, but Salisbury (Conservative) who became MP in 1885, believed Egypt was vital to the security of the route to India. This is why he wanted to take some parts of Sudan.
4) They feared they would gain control of the Nile’s headwaters, which were vital for the welfare of Egypt.
5) The Germans would take Tanganyika, whilst the British would take Kenya and Uganda.
6) Focus on West Africa.
7) They viewed it as beneficial, as it diverted the Khalifa’s attention from Egypt. This diversionary help was lost when Italy failed at taking Abyssinia, in 1896.
8) It would avenge General Gordon’s death.

Question 18

1) Who was General Sir Herbert Kitchener?
2) What orders was he given?
3) What led to his decisive victory at the battle of Omdurman, in 1898?
4) What were the sealed orders, intended to be opened after defeating the Sudanese?
5) What was the Fashoda Incident?
6) What agreement was made between France and Britain, in 1899?
7) In 1899, it was agreed that Sudan would be run as a condominium. What did this mean in practice?
8) Who was the first Governor-General, and who succeeded him?
9) What was ‘Gordon College’?

Answer 18

1) He was Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian Army in 1896.
2) Penetrate Sudan as far as Dongola, but he was determined to go to Khartoum.
3) They used modern weapons such as Maxim guns, against an army that was using much older technology.
4) They instructed Kitchener to go to Fashoda, where a French expedition under Major Marchand had arrived.
5) Both Marchand and Kitchener pressed their nation’s claims, but the incident didn’t escalate, thanks to the French government facing internal problems, and also due to the British presence in Sudan.
6) France promised to stay out the Nile Valley, in exchange for territory to the west.
7) Sudan would be run by the British, with Egyptian support.
8) Lord Kitchener, who was succeeded by General Reginal Wingate from 1902.
9) Set up to train young Sudanese for government.

Question 19

Somaliland:

1) How and why did Britain reinforce its Somaliland Protectorate in 1898?
2) Why was the area important?

Answer 19

1) Provided both administrative and military personnel to limit French and Italian ambitions.
2) It had few resources, but it was important because it commanded Britain’s access to its colonies in the East.

Question 20

Expansion in British South Africa:

1) Where did Britain expand?

Answer 20

1) They expanded into Rhodesia and Nyasaland, which was then followed by a drive to extend their control of the Cape Colony.

Question 21

Rhodesia:

1) Who lived in this area?
2) Who ruled it?
3) What did the British discover in the area?
4) What did Cecil Rhodes and the British South Africa Company establish in the area, and who were they followed by?
5) What did they have permission to do?
6) What was the outcome of the first Ndebele War of 1893-94?
7) What happened to Lobengula?
8) How did Rhoades try to stamp his control?
9) What was the second Ndebele War, 1895-1896?

Answer 21

1) The Ndebele
2) King Lobengula
3) Gold
4) Mining concessions - and they were also followed by other white settlers.
5) Create a protectorate.
6) They resisted, but eventually lost. 80,000 warriors had no chance against maxim guns.
7) He escaped, and resistance continued.
8) By naming the country southern Rhodesia.
9) An unsuccessful rising led by Milmo, an Ndebele spiritual leader.

Question 22

Nyasaland:

1) Where is it?
2) Who opened it up, and who settled it?
3) Who continuously attacked it?
4) How long did guerrilla warfare and indigenous resistance last for?
5) When did it become a protectorate?

Answer 22

1) A small territory on the shores of lake Nyasa.
2) Opened up by Livingstone, settled by Scottish missionaries.
3) Portuguese-backed Arab attacks.
4) Until 1897
5) In 1907, after being under the control of the British South Africa Company.

Question 23

Cape Colony:

1) Who advocated for a British confederation of South Africa?
2) What was this supposed to counter?

Answer 23

1) Cape Prime Minister: Cecil Rhoades and Colonial Secretary: Chamberlain.
2) German territorial gains and Boer confidence derived from the discovery of gold.

Question 24

1) What provided an excuse for British intervention into the Transvaal?

Answer 24

1) In 1895, gold-seeking Utilanders were being denied citizenship and voting rights by Kruger’s Boer government. They wanted Rhoades to intervene.

Question 25

1) Where was the raid on the Transvaal, launched from?
2) How did this intrusion change attitudes amongst the Boers?
3) What was the Afrikaner Bond?

Answer 25

1) From British Rhodesia, by Dr Jameson.
2) It stiffened their determination, and Kruger became a hero.
3) Boers still living in Cape Colony formed it, to show their solidarity.

Question 26

1) What was the Jameson Raid?

2) Who was punished for this failure?

Answer 26

1) Rhoades instructed Dr Jameson to invade the Transvaal, with 500 mounted police. They were defeated after 4 days.
2) James and 12 companions were imprisoned, and Rhoades had to reign the Cape premiership.

Question 27

1) What did negotiations breaking down with the Boers in 1899, lead to?
2) What happened during the Second Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902)?
3) How were scorched earth policies designed to remove civilian support for the Boers?
4) What were concentration camps used for?

Answer 27

1) Before the British Army of South Africa could be reinforced, they invaded British territory and besieged Ladysmith in Natal.
2) The British brought 400,000 troops, costing £250 million, and under Kitchener and Roberts started winning from 1900.
3) Burning farms, decimating supplies of food and shelters for soldiers and civilians.
4) Afrikaner women, children and blacks were put into camps, where many died.

Question 28

1) What was the May 1902, Peace of Vereeniging?
2) When was this granted?
3) In 1908, who wrote the constitution of the ‘Union of South Africa’?
4) Were Black Africans who had supported the British, given any protection?

Answer 28

1) It ended the war, made the Boers acknowledge themselves as British subjects, and Boer republics became colonies that were offered the promise of responsible self-government.
2) 1905
3) The Prime Ministers of the Transvaal, Orange Free State, Cape Colony and Natal.
4) There was nothing protecting them from settler-colonial racism.