Scramble for Africa exam 1

Afro-centric Views

• Are biased views that tend to over glorify Africa

• Insinuates and says that everything in Africa is good

David Livingstone

• Was the most loved missionary

• worked in Central Africa and East Africa

• contributed to the stopping of the Oriental Slave Trade

King Leopold II

• King of Belgium during the scramble of Africa

• Took Congo free state as his personal possession

• was a brute because when Africans could not meet their rubber quotas he would chop off their hands or arms

Samori Toure

• Ruler of the Mandinka Empire

• He had his own gun factory

• Resisted and fought the French for ten good years

• was a good military strategist, and divided military into front, middle, and rear

Cecil Rhodes

• Was a British mineral dealer and businessman, and owner of the Be Beers company

• He exploited South African minerals and tricked African Kings to sign off their land

Berlin West African Conference

• A conference that took place in the city of Berlin, Germany in November 1884 to February 1885

• Set out rules for the partition of Africa and recognized treaties and agreements signed local chiefs

Boers

• White settlers in South Africa, mainly Dutch, French, and German

• Fought British in two Anglo-Boer wars

• Ones who discovered diamonds

Battle of Adowa

• Took place in 1896 between Italy and Ethiopia under Menelik II

• In battle, Italians were defeated and they sued for peace, battle ended with signing of the treaty of Addis Ababa

• Ethiopia was never colonized

Treaty of Wuchali

• A treaty signed between Menelik II and the Italians

• Had two versions: Italian and Amharic version

• Italian version claimed that Ethiopia was an Italian Protectorate

• Amharic version identified border between Italians in Eritrea and Ethiopia

Euroentric Views

• Biased European views and history about Africa using European lense

• States that everything in Africa is bad

6 regions of Africa

1. East Africa

2. West Africa

3. North Africa

4. South Africa

5. Horn of Africa

6. Central Africa

5 factors that helped Menelik II to defeat the Italians

1. Topography of Ethiopia-hilly country

2. Military-numeric strength against Italians (100,000 vs 17,000) “Tyranny of Numbers”

3. Had guns and combatable weapons

4. Had cannons (40 cannons vs. Italians’ 46)

5. Unified his people by conquering small kingdoms to unite them under Ethiopia-told the young to join and fight and the old to pray

4 Actual reasons for scramble

1. Economic Reasons-wanted raw materials and markets

2. Nationalism-Germany being unified wanted to show off itself as a power

3. Strategic concerns- Britain and France struggled over control of the Suez canal

4. Political Balance-there was a struggle for power in Europe