The year 1939 marked a critical juncture in world history, with the looming threat of World War II casting a long shadow across the globe. Africa, largely under European colonial rule, was no exception. This article explores the political landscape of Africa in 1939, highlighting the various colonial powers, their territories, and the key historical events that shaped the continent during this period.
Political map of Africa in 1914 showing colonial possessions.
The Scramble for Africa: A Legacy of Colonialism
The late 19th and early 20th centuries witnessed the "Scramble for Africa," a period of intense colonization by Western European powers. Driven by the Second Industrial Revolution and the era of "New Imperialism," seven European nations invaded, conquered, and colonized most of Africa. By 1870, only 10% of the continent was formally under European control, but by 1914, almost all of Africa was claimed as colonies by European powers, who raced to secure as much land as possible while avoiding conflict amongst themselves. Almost all the precolonial states of Africa lost their sovereignty.
As late as the 1870s, Europeans controlled approximately 10% of the African continent, with all their territories located near the coasts. The most important holdings were Angola and Mozambique, held by Portugal; the Cape Colony, held by the United Kingdom; and Algeria, held by France.
Technological advances facilitated European expansion overseas. Industrialization brought about rapid advancements in transportation and communication, especially in the forms of steamships, railways and telegraphs. Medical advances also played an important role, especially medicines for tropical diseases, which helped control their adverse effects.
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Key Players and Their Territories
Great Britain
Britain's administration of Egypt and the Cape Colony contributed to a preoccupation over securing the source of the Nile River. Egypt was taken over by the British in 1882, leaving the Ottoman Empire in a nominal role until 1914, when London made it a protectorate. Egypt was never an actual British colony. Sudan, Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda were subjugated in the 1890s and early 20th century; and in the south, the Cape Colony (first acquired in 1795) provided a base for the subjugation of neighbouring African states and the Dutch Afrikaner settlers who had left the Cape to avoid the British and then founded their republics.
In 1939, British territories included:
- Egypt (British occupation)
- Sudan (Anglo-Egyptian Sudan)
- Nigeria
- Kenya
- Uganda
- British Somaliland
- Gold Coast (Ghana)
- Sierra Leone
- Gambia
- Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe)
- Northern Rhodesia (Zambia)
- Nyasaland (Malawi)
- Tanganyika (Tanzania, British mandate)
- Zanzibar (British protectorate)
- Aden Protectorate
- Seychelles
- St. Helena
- Ascension
- Tristan da Cunha
- Simon's Town
France
The French thrust into the African interior was mainly from the coasts of West Africa (present-day Senegal) eastward, through the Sahel along the southern border of the Sahara. Their ultimate aim was to have an uninterrupted colony.
In 1939, French territories included:
- French West Africa (FWA)
- Mauritania
- French Sudan (Mali)
- French Guinea
- Ivory Coast
- Upper Volta (Burkina Faso)
- Dahomey (Benin)
- French Somaliland (Djibouti)
- Madagascar
- Cameroun (French mandate)
- Territories (French)
Italy
Following unification, Italy sought to expand its territory and become a great power, taking possession of parts of Eritrea in 1870 and 1882. In 1889-90, it occupied territory on the south side of the Horn of Africa, forming what would become Italian Somaliland. In 1911, Italy engaged in a war with the Ottoman Empire, in which it acquired Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, that together formed what became known as Italian Libya.
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The Second Italo-Abyssinian War (1935-1936), ordered by the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, was the last colonial war (that is, intended to colonise a country, as opposed to wars of national liberation), occupying Ethiopia-which had remained the last independent African territory, apart from Liberia.
In 1939, Italian territories included:
- Libya
- Eritrea
- Italian Somaliland
- Ethiopia (occupied)
Portugal
Portugal built a five-century global empire, starting overseas expansion in the 15th century. Explorers reached islands like Madeira and the Azores, pushed down the African coasts, and arrived in Asia, including Japan, by the 16th century. Portugal established forts and colonies across Africa, including Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, and territory around the coasts.
In 1939, Portuguese territories included:
- Angola
- Mozambique
- Portuguese Guinea (Guinea-Bissau)
- Cape Verde
- São Tomé and Príncipe
Belgium
Belgium controlled several territories and concessions during the colonial era, principally the Belgian Congo (modern DRC) from 1908 to 1960 and Ruanda-Urundi (modern Rwanda and Burundi) from 1922 to 1962. Roughly 98% of Belgium's overseas territory was just one colony, about 76 times larger than Belgium itself, known as the Belgian Congo.
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In 1939, Belgian territories included:
- Belgian Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
- Ruanda-Urundi (Rwanda and Burundi, League of Nations mandate)
Spain
In 1939, Spanish territories included:
- Spanish Sahara (Western Sahara, under Spanish Nationalist control)
- Spanish Guinea (Equatorial Guinea)
Germany
Germany, divided into small states, was not initially a colonial power. In 1862, Otto von Bismarck became Minister-President of the Kingdom of Prussia, and through a series of wars with both Austria in 1866 and France in 1870 was able to unify all of Germany under Prussian rule. The German Empire was formally proclaimed on 18 January 1871. At first, Bismarck disliked colonies but gave in to popular and elite pressure in the 1880s. Pan-Germanism became linked to the young nation's new imperialist drives.
Germany became the third-largest colonial power in Africa, the location of most of its 2.6 million square kilometres of colonial territory and 14 million colonial subjects in 1914. The African possessions were Southwest Africa, Togoland, the Cameroons, and Tanganyika.
However, following Germany's defeat in World War I, its colonial possessions were redistributed among the Allied powers under League of Nations mandates. By 1939, Germany had lost all of its African colonies.
Independent Nations:
- Liberia
- South Africa (British dominion)
Other territories:
- Verde (Port.)
- Tanganyika(Br. mand.)
- Cameroun(Fr. mand.)
- Sahara(Sp. Nat. ctrl)
- Br. Som.(Br.
- land(Br.
- Coast(Br.)
- Pt. Guinea(Port.)
- Gambia(Br.)
- Sp. G.(Sp. Nat.
- Rhodesia(Br.
- Sudan(FWA)
- Mauritania(FWA)
- Fr. KhaliB.S.G.T.T.
- Seychelles(Br.)
What was the Scramble for Africa? - History Crunch Investigates
The Road to World War II
In 1939 Germany invaded Poland, prompting Britain and France to declare war. Although this Second World War immediately drew in the British and French colonial empires, no fighting took place on the African continent until Germany defeated France in June 1940. In that month everything changed: an emboldened Italy entered the war and the French agreed to an armistice.
Using several German-staged incidents as casus belli, Nazi Germany struck Wieluń, Poland, with the Luftwaffe at 04:40 on 1 September 1939-the first blow of World War II. Responding to the German invasion of Poland, France and the United Kingdom declared war on Germany. The official Declaration of war by France and the United Kingdom was read out by the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, in Westminster, London, on behalf of both countries.
Upon the outbreak of World War II, South African Prime Minister J.B.M. Hertzog, leader of the anti-British National Party, argued to keep the Union of South Africa neutral. After several days debate, the governing United Party-consisting of the National Party and the pro-British South African Party-dismissed Hertzog in favor of South African Party leader and former-Prime Minister Jan Smuts.
When Belgium fell to Germany in May 1940, the Belgian Congo remained loyal to the Belgian government in exile in London and continued as part of the Allied war effort. Congolese troops of the Force Publique would fight alongside British forces in the East African Campaign in 1941, with a Congolese medical unit eventually serving in Madagascar and even the Burma Campaign.
Holding that Germany would soon defeat the Allies, Benito Mussolini declared Italy’s entrance into World War II, effective as of midnight 10/11 June 1940. In mid-June 1940 Italy began mounting attacks on French Somaliland from Italian East Africa, attacking the forts of Ali-Sabieh in the north and Dadda’to in the south. Despite the Armistice of Villa Incisa officially bringing the Franco-Italian war to an end on 25 June, the remoteness of the colony and its indecision over whether or not to break with the Allies meant that fighting continued until 28 July.
Adolf Hitler and top military officials of Nazi Germany signed an armistice with representatives of the French Third Republic at 18:36 near Compiègne, France-the exact location of the 1918 armistice ending World War I.
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