pre-1880, europeans directly controlled very little of the continent directly (preferred to let leaders/merchants represent their interests instead)
west africa natural resources: peanuts, timber, hides, palm oil
1874- britain annexed the west coastal states to make the first colony of the gold coast. also established protectorate in nigeria.
by 1900 france took over a huge area of west africa
germany had togo, cameroon, german southwest africa, and german east africa
egypt
had been part of ottoman empire, but in 1805 an ottoman officer named muhammad ali seized power and made it an independent state
modernized the army, set up public schools, created more industries
canal was built in 1869, which made england interested in the country
became british protectorate in 1914
britain seized sudan in 1898
france had algeria, tunisia, and most of morocco
italy tried to take over ethiopia in 1896, failed, and ended up taking over libya in 1911 instead
lots of explorers in central africa
belgium took over most of central africa
by 1885 britain and germany were the chief competitors for east africa (but also portugal and belgium)
1884 and 1885- berlin conference
gave mozambique to portugal
split the rest between germany and britain
no african delegates were present at the conference
british took south africa over from boers (descendants of dutch colonizers from the 1700s), and boers formed two independent republics
orange free state and transvaal (later called the south african republic)
believed that white supremacy was ordained by god and put indigenous people in reservations (wow parallels)
1899-1902- boer war (gb vs transvaal)
british won (because of course they did)
created the union of south africa in 1910 which combined the cape colony and the boer republics. self-governing within the british empire, only white people could vote
by 1914 only liberia (which was created as a haven for former slaves from the us) and ethiopia were free states in africa
british used indirect rule
very cheap
furthered class divides between africans
didn’t disrupt local customs/institutions
most other empires used direct rule
french tried to assimilate africans into french customs
africans could hold positions of power in france and in their countries
rise of african nationalism
western-educated africans noticed disparities in how europeans preached freedom and democracy but failed to use it in africa