Scramble for Africa
In 1870, European powers controlled only ten percent of the African continent. Most territories lay along the coastlines where mortality rates from tropical diseases like malaria kept inland regions uninhabitable for outsiders. The development of quinine as an effective treatment for malaria changed this reality by making vast expanses of the tropics accessible to Europeans. Industrialization brought rapid advancements in transportation and communication that facilitated overseas expansion. Steamships allowed travel up rivers into the interior while railways connected coastal ports to resource-rich hinterlands. Telegraphs enabled real-time coordination between distant colonies and imperial capitals. These technological advances transformed Africa from a region of limited contact into a target for systematic conquest.
During the Long Depression spanning 1873 to 1896, Britain's balance of trade showed a growing deficit with shrinking continental markets. Africa offered an open market that would garner a trade surplus for nations like Britain, Germany, France, and others. Surplus capital was often more profitably invested overseas where cheap materials and abundant raw materials made greater premiums possible. Demand for ivory, rubber, palm oil, cocoa, diamonds, tea, and tin drove economic imperialism. Britain sought control of areas on the southern and eastern coasts of Africa for stopover ports on the route to Asia and its empire in India. The Suez Canal completed in 1869 became a key waterway requiring protection through military bases and coaling stations. Naval supremacy required these strategic assets to maintain global dominance during the age of steam-powered fleets.
Otto von Bismarck convened the 1884, 1885 Berlin Conference to discuss the African problem among European powers. Diplomatic discussions focused on ending the remaining slave trade as well as the reach of missionary activities. The primary concern of those in attendance was preventing war between the European powers as they divided the continent among themselves. Diplomats laid down rules of competition by which great powers were guided in seeking colonies. They agreed that the area along the Congo River was to be administered by Leopold II as a neutral zone where trade and navigation remained free. No nation could stake claims without notifying other powers of intentions while no territory could be formally claimed before being effectively occupied. This transformed colonization from informal economic penetration into systematic political control through the effective occupation principle.
Germany became the third-largest colonial power in Africa with 2.6 million square kilometers of territory and 14 million subjects by 1914. Its possessions included Southwest Africa, Togoland, the Cameroons, and Tanganyika. Italy expanded its territory taking parts of Eritrea in 1870 and 1882 before forming Italian Somaliland in 1889, 90. Portugal had the oldest official presence dating back to 1415 when King John I captured Ceuta. By 1913, the Kingdom of Kongo was partitioned between Portugal and Belgium while Guinea-Bissau borders were settled at the Franco-Portuguese Convention of 1886. France established French West Africa in 1895 and French Equatorial Africa in 1910. Britain secured Egypt in 1882 and later took control of Sudan after defeating Mahdist forces in 1898. These campaigns resulted in over two million square kilometers of Portuguese territory alone by 1896.
Between 1904 and 1908 Germany committed genocide against the Herero people resulting in up to 65,000 deaths representing eighty percent of their total population. Ten thousand Nama people died during this period representing half their total population through starvation thirst or forced labor camps like Shark Island. The Dervish Movement existed for twenty-one years from 1899 until 1920 under leader Mohammed Abdullah Hassan known as Sayyid Mohamed. This armed resistance movement attracted approximately 25,000 youth who acquired firearms and attacked Ethiopian garrisons. British forces launched punitive attacks starting in 1904 but suffered heavy losses before retreating to coastal regions. The Dervishes continued operating independently in interior regions until finally defeated in 1920 following a massive combined arms offensive using aircraft. Battles between various sides over two decades killed nearly one-third of Somaliland's population while ravaging the local economy.
Carl Hagenbeck decided in 1874 to exhibit Samoa and Sami people as purely natural populations at his Hamburg zoo. In 1876 he sent collaborators to bring back wild beasts and Nubians presented in Paris London and Berlin where they became very successful. Approximately thirty ethnological exhibitions were presented between 1877 and 1912 with ticket sales doubling at the Jardin d'Acclimatation reaching one million paying entrances that year. Madison Grant exposed Pygmy Ota Benga in the Bronx Zoo alongside apes in 1906 labeling him The Missing Link to illustrate Darwinism. Colonial exhibitions displayed human beings in cages often nudes or quasi-nudes during events like the 1906 Colonial Exhibition in Marseille and the 1931 Paris Exposition coloniale. These spectacles convinced public opinion of the needs for colonial empires even though most metropolitans would never see a piece of it.
The continuing anti-slavery movement in Western Europe became a reason and an excuse for conquest and colonization of Africa. It was the central theme of the Brussels Anti-Slavery Conference held from 1889 to 1890. From start of the Scramble virtually all colonial regimes claimed motivation by desire to suppress slavery and slave trade. In French West Africa over one million slaves fled from their masters to earlier homes between 1906 and 1911 following abolition. Madagascar saw approximately 500,000 slaves freed after France abolished slavery there in 1896. The Sokoto Caliphate abolished slavery in 1900 while Ethiopia officially did so in 1932. Elimination or control of disease became a driving force starting from early twentieth century with sleeping sickness epidemics arrested through mobile teams screening millions at risk. Cattle brought from British Asia to feed Italian soldiers invading Eritrea turned out infected with rinderpest decimating native herds and forcing people to labor for colonizers.
By end of nineteenth century Europe added almost one-fifth of land area of globe to overseas colonial possessions. Britain took nearly thirty percent of Africa's population under its control while France controlled fifteen percent and Portugal eleven percent. Germany held nine percent Belgium seven percent and Italy one percent before World War I. During interwar period German possessions were partitioned among Britain which took sliver of western Cameroon Tanzania western Togo and Namibia France taking most of Cameroon and eastern Togo and Belgium acquiring Rwanda and Burundi. Most African colonies gained independence during Cold War deciding to keep colonial borders due to fears of civil wars and regional instability. This decision was formalized at Organisation of African Unity conference of 1964 placing emphasis on pan-Africanism. Only Liberia and Ethiopia retained sovereignty initially though Ethiopia eventually occupied by Italy in 1936 before full restoration of sovereignty in 1944 after military administration.
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Common questions
What percentage of Africa did European powers control in 1870?
European powers controlled only ten percent of the African continent in 1870. Most territories lay along the coastlines where mortality rates from tropical diseases like malaria kept inland regions uninhabitable for outsiders.
When was the Berlin Conference held to divide Africa among European powers?
Otto von Bismarck convened the 1884, 1885 Berlin Conference to discuss the African problem among European powers. Diplomats laid down rules of competition by which great powers were guided in seeking colonies and agreed that no territory could be formally claimed before being effectively occupied.
How many square kilometers of territory did Germany hold in Africa by 1914?
Germany became the third-largest colonial power in Africa with 2.6 million square kilometers of territory and 14 million subjects by 1914. Its possessions included Southwest Africa, Togoland, the Cameroons, and Tanganyika.
Why did Britain seek control of areas on the southern and eastern coasts of Africa during the Scramble for Africa?
Britain sought control of areas on the southern and eastern coasts of Africa for stopover ports on the route to Asia and its empire in India. The Suez Canal completed in 1869 became a key waterway requiring protection through military bases and coaling stations.
What happened to the Herero people between 1904 and 1908 under German rule?
Between 1904 and 1908 Germany committed genocide against the Herero people resulting in up to 65,000 deaths representing eighty percent of their total population. Ten thousand Nama people died during this period representing half their total population through starvation thirst or forced labor camps like Shark Island.