The Scramble for Africa

203 Pages·2010·10.686 MB·English

by  M. E. Chamberlain

The Scramble for Africa
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The Scramble for Africa
Third Edition
M.E. Chamberlain
First published in Great Britain by Longman Group 1974
Second edition published 1999 by Addison Wesley Longman
Third edition published 2010 by Pearson Education Limited

Published 2013 by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

Copyright © 1999, 2009 Taylor & Francis.

The right of M.E. Chamberlain to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by
him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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Notices
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Chamberlain, Muriel Evelyn.
The scramble for Africa / M.E. Chamberlain. – 3rd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4082-2014-6 (pbk.)
1. Africa–Colonization. 2. Africa–History–1884-1918. 3. Europe–Colonies–Africa.
I. Title.
DT29.C45 2010
960′.23–dc22
2009048609
ISBN 13: 978-1-4082-2014-6 (pbk)
Set in 10/13.5pt Berkeley Book by 35
Introduction to the Series
History is narrative constructed by historians from traces left by the past.
Historical enquiry is often driven by contemporary issues and, in con-
sequence, historical narratives are constantly reconsidered, reconstructed
and reshaped. The fact that different historians have different perspectives on
issues means that there is also often controversy and no universally agreed
version of past events. Seminar Studies in History was designed to bridge the
gap between current research and debate, and the broad, popular general
surveys that often date rapidly.
The volumes in the series are written by historians who are not only familiar
with the latest research and current debates concerning their topic, but who
have themselves contributed to our understanding of the subject. The books
are intended to provide the reader with a clear introduction to a major topic
in history. They provide both a narrative of events and a critical analysis
of contemporary interpretations. They include the kinds of tools generally
omitted from specialist monographs: a chronology of events, a glossary of
terms and brief biographies of ‘who’s who’. They also include bibliographical
essays in order to guide students to the literature on various aspects of the
subject. Students and teachers alike will find that the selection of documents
will stimulate discussion and offer insight into the raw materials used by
historians in their attempt to understand the past.
Clive Emsley and Gordon Martel
Series Editors
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Contents
Acknowledgements x
Publisher’s acknowledgements xi
Chronology xii
Who’s who xix
Glossary xxxiv
Maps xxxviii
PART ONE THE PROBLEM 1
1 INTRODUCTION 3
2 THE AFRICAN BACKGROUND 5
Environmental factors 6
Egypt 9
Islam 10
The slave trade 14
Southern Africa 14
3 THE VICTORIAN IMAGE OF AFRICA 17
The influence of the slave trade 18
Eighteenth century scientific interest 19
Slave trade versus legitimate trade 21
‘Backward’ Africa 22
The missionaries 24
Exploration and its consequences 25
viii THE SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA
PART TWO ANALYSIS 31
4 THE BRITISH OCCUPATION OF EGYPT, 1882 33
The Suez Canal 35
Financial problems 36
Military action begins 40
The debate begins 42
5 WEST AFRICA 44
Quarrels with the Ashanti 45
The challenge from the French 47
The Niger 48
King Leopold of the Belgians intervenes 50
Portugal’s claims 51
The Berlin West Africa conference 53
The Royal Niger Company 54
The German challenge 56
The Great Depression 59
6 EAST AFRICA 61
A new Australia 62
The German challenge 63
Strategy versus commerce 64
7 SOUTH AFRICA 69
The role of the Boers 70
Bechuanaland 72
Gold and diamonds 73
‘Rhodesia’ 73
8 FASHODA AND THE ANGLO-FRENCH AGREEMENTS OF 1904 79
Fashoda 81
The 1904 agreements 83
PART THREE ASSESSMENT 85
9 CONCLUSION 87
Britain: Conservative and Liberal opinion 87
Continental opinion too was divided 88
The debate begins in earnest 89
Lenin takes a hand 90
The role of Africans 94
Contents ix
PART FOUR DOCUMENTS 97
1 David Livingstone: humanitarian 98
2 Commerce 98
3 Africa as El Dorado 99
4 Darkest Africa: fully developed racism 100
5 Stanley’s antipathy 101
6 Suez Canal 102
7 The Egyptian finances: Stephen Cave’s report 103
8 Divided opinions 105
9 Egypt in international diplomacy 107
10 Death of Gordon at Khartoum 109
11 The desire to abandon responsibilities 110
12 The fears of British traders 111
13 The British government’s reaction 113
14 The Berlin West Africa conference lays down the ‘rules’ for
the scramble 114
15 The Royal Niger Company 115
16 The Great Depression 118
17 The mixture of economic and strategic arguments 119
18 The ‘little Englanders’ stand on Uganda 121
19 Cecil Rhodes 122
20 The Rudd Concession 123
21 The Colonial Office’s doubts about the legality
of the British South Africa Company’s position 124
22 The Fashoda incident 125
23 The Anglo-French agreements of April 1904 127
24 J.A. Hobson 128
25 V.I. Lenin 129
26 Lord Cromer 129
27 A modern rejection of traditional explanations
of the partition 130
28 Was the whole phenomenon economic after all? 131
APPENDIX: EUROPEAN COLONIAL BACKGROUND 132
GUIDE TO FURTHER READING 136
REFERENCES 146
INDEX 148