5. history of European colonization chapter 5: Africa

1. north africa: algeria, tunesia and egypt 2. the congo 3. southern africa 4. east africa 5. Sudan and the horn 6. west africa 7. north africa

Europeans in africa before the early 19th c

• portuguese colonies (first to explore)

  • Congo, zanzibar, mombasa,… (series of settlements along the coasts)

  • some lost to Omani arabs in the 17th century

• cape colony

  • 1652: Dutch

  • 1795-1802 and 1806-: British

• west Africa

  • related to slave trade

  • French in Senegal, British in Gambia: forts from 17th c

  • sierra leone

  • liberia

  • gold coast, slave coast, ivory coast: European forst

why such late colonization of Africa

• no navigable rivers

  • rapids and waterfals

  • vs fedx Caribbean islands or mississippi

• malaria

  • initially thought it was because of bad air, later discovered it was mosquitos

  • invention of quinine

    • from the cinchona tree in south america

    • isolated in 1820; large scale use from the 1850s

the conquest of algeria

• precolonial

  • since 1517: part of the ottoman empire

  • largely autonomous

• the french occupation of algeria

  • 1827: the fan affair (‘affaire de l’éventail)

    • algiers dey insults the french consul by hitting him with a fan

    • use it as excuse to conquest

  • june-july 1830: conquest

    • to boost charles X’s presige

  • permanent occupation under Louis-Philippe

    • fear that British filled in vacuum

rule of in algeria

• regular resistance against the French

  • ex freedom fighter Abd Al-Qadir (1833-37 and 1839-47)

    • 1839: own state and administration of 2/3 of territory

    • 1840: 1/3 of French army in Algeria (a lot of military effort necessary to crush opposition led by abd al-qadir

  • also after 1852 and 1870

    • military rule (régime de sabre)

• part of france

  • 3 departments/districts of France: Algiers, Oran and Constantine

    • 1865: French citizenship only for non-muslims (apartheid)

  • colons or pieds-noirs: peasants, criminals, soldiers,…

    • agriculture on expropriated land

    • 1960: 1 million pieds-noirs vs 9 million indigenous

tunisia

• 1574 Ottoman, since 1705 great autonomy

• 1878 awarded to France

  • after the Russo-Turkish war (russian victory)

    • treaty of berlin replaces treaty of san stefano

      => great bulgaria (included macedonia)

    • austria-hungary: Bosnia, Russia: Bessarabia and caucasus, britain: cyprus, france: tunisia, italy: nothing

  • french hesitancy

    • internal division after mexican adventure (1860s)

    • pro-italian environment of Gambetta

  • 1881: french protectorate

    • after german & british pressure

Egypt

• growing political independence from Ottomans

  • Muhammad Ali (albania) fills vacuum after failed French campaign

    • instead of official ottoman governor

  • successors: Pasha Said and Khedive Ismail (gave their names to two major port cities suez canal)

• growing economic dependence from Europeans

  • economic integration and modernization

    • 1820: introduction of cotton (muhammad ali)—> cash-crop monoculture

      => dependent on import cotton

  • suez canal (shortens travel from Europe to India substantially)

    • france pro, britain (afraid that it would bring british india closer to Europe) con

    • 1854 concession to ferdinand de lesseps, 1869 completed

  • public works financed with loans (wanted to turn cairo into new paris)

    • hausmann’s urban planning in cairo

the ‘veiled protectorate’

• growing debts

  • 1875: Egypt sold (forced to) its share in the Suez canal to britain

  • 1876: bankruptcy

• 1876: caisse de la dette publique (commission of public debt)

  • french-british condominium (co-rule)

    • european commissions and ministers

    • ismail dismissed and succeeded by son taufik (puppet of british and french)

• 1881: islamitic insurrection of ahmed arabi

  • britain intervenes and defeats Ahmed Arabi (1882)

  • france absent due to internal political problems

• 1882: de facto (‘veiled’) protectorate = unofficial (kept fake announcing that they would give back independence)

sudan

• conquered by Egypt

  • muhammad Ali: Northern and central sudan

  • khedive ismail: darfur and south sudan

  • british: border 100 km from lake victoria

    • Charles gordon: 1874-77 governor Equatoria; 1877-79 governor-general of sudan

      => “chinese gordon”

• the mahdi empire

  • 1881: Muhammad Ahmad proclaimed himself mahdi

    • mahdi: messianic redeemer of the islamic faith

  • 1883: conquest of territory in Sudan

  • 1884: gordon heads for the defence of Khartoum

David Livinngstone

• 1841 as a missionary to south Africa

  • marriage in 1845, family returned to ENgland in 1852

• 1853-54 & 1858-64: zambezi (east-west)

  • first european to see (discover) Victoria Falls

• 1865: search for the sources of the nile

  • 1868: illness forced him back to Ujiji

• 10/11/1871: found by Stanley

  • travelled together for a while

  • 1873: death (in Africa)

Henry Morton Stanley

• in search of Livingstone (1871-72)

  • as a journalist for NY Herald

• trans-africa exploration (1874-77: 1002 days)

  • tracing the course of the congo to the sea

• returned to Europe

• 1879: return to the congo for the Belgian king

Leopold II

• Belgium: disinterest in colonies

  • more industry than trade

  • no navy

  • neutrality

  • hangover after failed settlement in Guatemala (1845)

• leopold II: obsession with colonies

  • attempts in Philippines, Borneo,…

  • as a private person and with his own capital

    • but: belgian networks, loans and benefits

  • initially (stanley, 1879-): science and philantropy

Savorgnan de Brazza

• 1875-78 exploration of Ogoué and Alima

• Italian but worked for French

• 1879: upper congo

  • sept-oct 1880 treaties with local rulers

    • territories ceded to french sovereignty as protectorates

  • —> colony instead of scientific stations => leopold alarmed

• nov 1882 paris ratifies treaties (with local rulers)

  • Gabon & congo-brazzaville

• Leopold II: similar tactics on larger scale in congo

  • association internationale du Congo (AIC) = not international and not an association but a state

  • stanley: tribal chiefs transfer power tto the AIC

Leopold and the other European powers

• Britain (>< french nationalism)

  • recognizes portuguese sovereignty of congo estuary (had first settled there and been active for centuries)

• leopold II (stations cut off from sea)

  • launches concept of free state to please the British (no taxes) => thought it would collapse in the end anyway

  • gives paris droit de préférence

    • to please the french: receive the congo when AIC fails

    • to frighten the portuguese, who prefer AIC to France

• germany (>< British ambitions, new rival of britain after russia)

  • bismark was against colonization but did recognize some colonial activities

  • does not recognize the Anglo-Portuguese treaty

  • created german colonies

  • invites diplomats to berlin => conference of Berlin

conference of Berlin

• nov 1884- feb 1885

• official agreements

  • free trade on the congo river (leopold doesnt actually put it into practise)

  • general principles of territorial appropriation

    • possession or protection after informing other countries

    • only coastlines, not about the inland

• in the corridor

  • recognition of the congo free state

• myth of berlin: ‘division of africa’ = not borders that were drawn but principles of colonization were agreed on

white settlement southern africa

• 1652 agents of the VOC

  • way-station on cape (almost mot southern port africa), thus also agriculture (had to supply the stations) => “boers”

  • also, african and indian slaves (still today a lot of people with indian background in southern africa), french huguenots,…

  • still lots of leftover references to this period

• the rise of the cape colony

  • cities: cape town and stellenbosch (between cape town and franshoek, still today a lot of houses left over)

  • farmers gradually move to the north and east (growth of cape colony)

  • kafir wars/frontier wars (pejorative muslim word for non-believers)

• —> only white settler colony in africa (exc algeria)

  • national identity: afrikaners or boers

    • kept own language: very close language to dutch

• 1795-1802 and 1806-: cape colony british (conquered during napoleonic wars)

disintegration british southern african colonies

• 1835-37: ‘Groot Trek’ (great trek)

  • unhappy boers migrated away because they were unhappy with British rule

  • ‘voortrekkers’ want land and independence

  • 1838: defeat Zulu (battle of Blood River)

• creation of boer republics (1900)

  • orange free state: recognized by Brits with Bloemfontein 1854

  • transvaal (andries pretorius —> pretoria): 1852 recognized by britain

    • paul kruger?

  • natal: 1843 annexed by british because very strategic position on coast

• cape colony

  • 1872 responsible government (natal: 1893)

  • new kafir wars/frontier wars (in total 9)

Shaka

• zulu leader

• respected in Europe

  ==> european imagination —> movies celebrating european victory over strong african enemies

the first boer war

• 1877: annexation of Transvaal by cape colony (britain)

  • Disraeli (conservative prime minister britain): federal project (like in canada 1867)

  • tension growing: boers very keen on independence, had only 40 years ago escaped cape colony (great trek)

• 1880-81: first boer war

  • boers’ victory under paul kruger

  • london recognizes the independence of transvaal

Germans in Southern Africa

• germany united in 1870-71 (only then we can start talking about german colonization)

• Southwest Africa

  • Adolf Franz Lüderitz (business)

    • may 1883: purchases a bay (Lüderitz) from Khoi

    • aug 1883: new treaty - Lüderitzland (400×150 km) = private person-local governance

  • Berlin (politics)

    • promises support and asks about british claims

      • britain and cape colony: only walvisbaai and some islands

    • 1884: reichsschutz and luderitzland german protectorate

      • first reichskommisar: Ernst Göring

• southeast africa

  • german exploration in 1884

  • Britain immediately annexes Santa Lucia Bay

discovery of gems

• 1867: diamond near Vaal river (Kimberley city) —> border cape colony and transvaal

  • disputed area, but 1871 annexed by cape colony

• 1884: gold near witwatersrand (now suburb johannesburg) —> in transvaal

  • transvaal’s transformation

    • from agriculture to industry

      • 20% of global gold production

    • from white to multi-ethnic

      • immigration

      • threat to traditional community

      • ‘uitlanders’ (foreign-workers): no political rights = racist society because very conservative boers

cape colony challenges 19th century

• transvaal (end 19th century)

  • power in first boer war

  • transformation after discovery gold

• German (and portuguese) ambitions

  • danger of german-boer alliance (cape-colony cut of from rest of africa)

  • portuguese had settlements in angola and mozambique (wanted coast-to-coast colony)

• response: expansion in the north (1884-85)

  • South Bechuanaland (initially separate colony): crown colony

    • 1895 absorbed by cape colony

  • north bechuanaland: protectorate

    • british bechuanaland

    • after independence in 1966: botswana

  ==> cecil rhodes

Cecil Rhodes

• businessman

  • 1871 to south africa, master in merging (de beers: diamonds)

• politician

  • 1884 deputy-commissioner bechuanaland

  • 1890-1895 prime minister of cape colony (rival Paul Kruger)

• conquistador: british south african company (founded)

  • 1888: treaty with lobengula of matabele tribe (Zimbabwe + zambia and malawi)

  • 1890: with pioneers through zambezia

    • then: (north/south) rhodesia

    • now: zimbabwe & zambia

the annexation of rhodesia

• arrangements Britain and BSAC (british south africa company

  • South of zambezi: british protectorate

    • south rhodesia (later: rhodesia, 1979: Zimbabwe)

  • north of zambezi: BSAC

    • Rhodesia/north rhodesia (1964: zambia)

  • nyasaland (1964: Malawi): British protectorate

=> know present-day zimbabwe, zambia and malawi became british colonies

• consequences

  • transvaal: cut from sea and German SW Africa

  • Portugal: end of ‘costa to costa’ dream (1891 treaty)

  • cape colony & britain: project ‘from cape to cairo’ => dominates british agenda after 1890s

  • 1893: defeat of matabele and suicide lobengula

the second boer war

• 1899-1902

• colonial war? => 2 white groups

• unequal battle?

  • empire: initially 35.000 troops, eventually half a million

  • boers: 100.000 men

    • but horses, expertise, knowledge, local support

• first successes for boers

  • battle of Spion Kop (many british soldiers died)

  • european sympathy with boers (ex language connection,…)

    • no intervention: far and no interest

• but: firmness instead of opposition in Britain (determined to win war)

  • ex Baden Powell and siege of Mafeking (siege relieved by local troups led by robert baden-powell)

• british victory

  • 1900: british advance to boer republics

    • orange free state turned into orange river colony

    • transvaal turned into transvaal colony

    • kruger to the netherlands, died 1904

  • 1901-02: boers’ gorilla war and british atrocities

    • new warfare techniques: railway gun, living hostages, barbed wire, executions,…

    • concentration camps (civilians are kept, before only soldiers were imprisoned) => british were first to do this on large scale

    • civil protest in britain

  • 1902: peace of pretoria (british win)

south africa in 20th century

• responsible government

  • 1906: transvaal, 1907: Orange river colony

• dominion

  • 1910: union of south africa, dominated by boers

• independence

  • 1931 (statute of westminster) = independence of white settler colonies

• apartheid (1948-1990)

  • racial legislation from 1910s onwards = former cape colony dominated by boers

  • voortrekker movement in 1930s = further expanding ideas of apartheid

  • henddrik verwoerd (in government 1950-1966) => official aparheid regime

  • nelson mandela (jailed 1962-1990) = first non-white president south-africa

geography and history east africa

3 parts

1. inland: plateau around great lakes

   • states of changing size

2. coast: part of the indian ocean world (arab trade)

   • 17th c: retaken by arbas on portuguese

     • ex muscat (oman, 1650), Mombasa (Kenia,1698)

     • formally: imam of oman, in reality autonomous shaikhs

3. zanzibar: emporium of Afro-Asiatic trade (trade hub indian ocean trade)

   • influence on east african coast and interior

   • 1840: seat of Oman imam Said bin Sultan

     • succeeded by two sons (Oman/Zanzibar)

     • Sultan Barghash in Zanzibar (1870-1888)

interests Europeans in east africa

• historical: Portugal (been there since 16th century)

• economic: Britain and Germany (were developing trade with east africa)

• Strategical: Britain (from cape to cairo)

expeditions europeans in east africa

• Carl Peters (nov-dec 1884) = German individual explorer,

  • did the same as Stanley for Belgian king = twelve treaties of ‘eternal frienship’ with inland tribes

  • 27 feb 1885, day after berlin conference: schutzbrief

• the search of Emim Pasha

  • governor of equatoria (successor to Gordon)

  • stanley finds Emin near lake Albert (april 1888)

treaties east africa

<=> south africa: wars, north africa: different contexts

• following berlin conference

  • dec 1885: Sultan Zanzibar forced to recognize (if he didnt sign, his island would be attacked)

  • oct-nov 1886: division of east african inland

    • british east africa (future Kenya)

    • Deutsch-Ostafrika (future Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi)

    ==> straight border with distortion around Kilimanjaro which became german

  • dec 1886: southern border with portugal

• following tension about Equatoria & Uganda (germany and britain)

  • 1890: Zanzibar Helgoland treaty

    • Uganda to Britain; border with Congo to Germany

    • Zanzibar to Britain; Helgoland to Germany (island is north sea near germany, had been taken by britain)

    • (Madagascar to France)

Pacification

• eufemism = not peaceful at all

• Germans

  • 1888-1902: 84 huge military operations in german east africa

  • 1905-1906: Maji Maji war => lots of casualties among africans, named after drink Africans believed would turn the bullets into water

• British

  • 1894-1914: fifty armed incidents in West Kenya, half of them followed by a penal expedition

• French (Madagascar)

  • Gallieni & Lyautey vs Merina Kingdom

  • first Franco-Hova War (1883-86)

  • second Franco-Hova War (1894-95)

    • French force decimated by fever

    ==> french end up taking power

the importance of the Upper-Nile

• Britain: protection of Egypt

  • control irrigation, flood, reclamation,…

  • from cape to cairo

• France: emotional ties

  • hangovers after Napoleon and 1882

  • Sudan as the second Sédan

  • from Dakar to Djibouti

• germany and Italy: regional ambitions (both newly erected states)

• Leopold II: connection of Congo and Nile (last and least)

  • 1890 & 1894 treaties with Britain not recognized => leopold II out

the horn of africa

• the division of Somaliland

  • Britain: British Somaliland (following Aden in 1839)

  • France: Djibouti

  • Italy: Eritrea & Italian Somalia

  • local resistance (‘Mad Mullah’ until 1905/20 fought presence of Brits in Somalia = Mohammed Abdullah Hassan)

• Ethiopia: much stronger

  • more or less united by ethiopian orthodox church

  • memory of rich history (still today many sights ex lalibela,…)

  • ethiopian empire: ca 1137-1917, led by ras (dukes)

    • claimed descent of king solomon and queen sheba

    • 1887-1889: Menelik II to power thanks to Italian help

Menelik II

• stops italian ambitions

  • refuses italian protectorate (feared total takeover of power)

  • 1896 defeats Italy dear Ad(o)wa => one of the single times african army defeated Europeans => single large african state that was never colonized

  • 40 years later Mussolini took revenge and took control of abessinia (only 10 years)

• strikes up a friendship with France

• jolts Britain awake

  • London fears a French-ethiopian alliance

  • 1896: Britain invades Sudan from the north

    • Mahdiyya hit by famina and war

    • Egyption financial situation improved

    • revenge of Gordon (fell in khartoum in 1885 = motivation)

french reaction to british invasion sudan

• Jean-Baptiste Marchand’s raid to Fashoda (south sudan)

• the plan

  • congo-nile midssion to enhance french presence

  • stronger position in expected negotiations

• the expedition

  • biggest French expedition in Central AFrica

    • 70.000m textile; 16.000 kg beads; 1.300 l bordeaux wine => presents to local communities

  • two years: departure 24/7/1996 in Loango, arrival 10/07/1898 Fashoda

    => succesful expedition = first to reach Fashoda

  • defeats mahdists and establishes French protectorate

the british victory

• the reconquest of the sudan

  • dongola (sept 1896), Omdurman (sep 1898)

  • 18/9/1898 hoists the Egyptian flag in Fashoda = Egypt was controlled by britain so actually just British but good for diplomatic reasons

• consequences

  • Marchand returns home via Djibouti

  • Sudan becomes an English-Egyptian condominium = no more unclarity around sudan

  • Menelik unifies Ethiopia (Abessinia Ethiopia)

  • end to french-british rivalry

  • 1904: entente cordiale

bakcground West Africa

• early European prescence: since 15th/16th century = slave fortresses (dutch, danish, british,…)

  • british and danish leave after abolishment slavery

• new ambitions

  • palm oil after abolitionism

  • territorial expansion

• strong resistance

  • historical tradition (not as prominent as Ethiopia)

  • Islam (like ethiopian orthodox church)

  • strong states ex Samori’s state, tokolor state, asanti, dahomey/Benin (amazones), sokoto caliphate,…

Multi-european presence in west africa

• portugal (first for historical reasons)

  • portuguese guinea (1974: guinea-buissau)

• spain

  • spanish guinea (1968: equatorial guinea)

• Britain

  • Gambia: since 1588 (purchased from Portugal)

  • Sierra Leone: since 1807 (freetown 1787)

  • Gold coast colony (1957: Ghana): from 1850s

  • Lagos (consul since 1849)

  • the NIger delta (‘Oil Rivers’): from 1877

• france

  • Senegal: since 1659

  • Ivory Coast: since 1842

  • Dahomey: after war of 1889-94

  • guinea: after defeat samori in 1898

• United states

  • 1822-47: Liberia

• Germany

  • 1884: Gustav Nachtigal in Togoland and Cameroon

unifying the French colonies

• afrique occidentale française

  • 1890 & 1898: treaties with britain

    • rivalry was over

    • no british concern: regarded sahara as a giant sandbox

  • new ambition: AOF with rest of french colonies

    • Algeria

      • 1890 on paper, gradual conquest

    • djibouti

      • failed after fashoda

    • afrique-equatoriale française

      • Gabon & congo: pre 1885

      • Ubangi-shari (1894) => present day central african republic, chad (1900)

      • link with AOF?

European interest in Morocco

• Spain

  • closest position

  • longest presence: Ceuta (since 1580)

• Britain

  • Gibraltar (since 1704/13)

• France

  • Algeria (regular border incidents)

• germany

  • prestige: does not want to be neglected

• Italy

  • frustrated after Adwa (interested in creating new roman empire)

european penetration in Morocco

• similar developments as Tunisia and Egypt

  • growing economic dependence

    • 1856&1863: Britain and France conclude trade treaties

  • growing political interference

    • 1859: Spain conquers Tetuan and Melilla (still spanish today) after war

• different outcome: conference of Madrid (1880)

  • Equal trade opportunities maintained for all

  • territorial integrity of Morocco preserved (similar as china in 20th c)

    • (Berlin conference 1884: western sahara to spain until 1975)

the first moroccan crisis (1905-1906)

• german concerns

  • entente cordiale between France and Britain (1904) = used to be eternal rivals

  • French attempts to establish protectorate over Morocco = frustrated after fashoda

• war?

  • 1905: Wilhelm II visits Tangier

  • military threat to challenge entente cordiale

• 1906: Algeciras conference

  • britain supports france

  • french and spanish officers in morocco

  • (1907: triple entente with russia

the second moroccan crisis (1911-12)

• 1911: rebellion against sultan Abdelhafid

  • france intervenes

  • spain conquers larache

  • germany intimidates with gunboat panther in agadir

• 1912: treaty of Fez

  • Abdelhafid abdicates (successor: Yusef, his brother)

  • france establishes protectorate over morocco (becomes french colony)

    • pacification lasts until 1934

  • germany receives Neukamerun (part French Congo) => french west africa and east africa were never united

  • spain receives territory in south and north

  • italy receives Libya (war with ottomans 1911-1912)