Since the earliest days of human existence, Africa has been home to numerous societies and states. Yet, throughout history various foreign powers, such as the ancient Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans, have laid claim to African territory. The most extreme example was the colonization of Africa by European powers.
Map illustrating European colonization of Africa after the Scramble for Africa. Notice that the countries who colonized the continent are, primarily, the major combatant nations of World War I. Rival colonies and territorial claims between European nations proved to be an underlying cause of World War I when it erupted in 1914.
Africa on the Eve of Modernization: 1860s - 1870s
One of the greatest tragedies of the “Scramble for Africa” that occurred in the 1880s to early 1900s, is that just prior to the European mad-grab, African nations across the continent were on the eve of modernization. Large-scale wars had mostly ceased. The Atlantic Slave Trade had ended, and by extension, slavery itself was virtually extinguished. Life expectancy was extended, a result of improved diet and reduction in disease. Simultaneously, many countries experienced significant population growth. In the 1860s and 1870s, many African nations seemed to be on the verge of transforming their societies into industrialized, developed countries.
Economically, Africa nations prospered from the development of strong trade routes across the continent. With relative peace at hand, traders from Angola, Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique began exploring and trading across East Africa. Still, other voyagers braved traveling and trading across the Saharan Trade Route. And many African traders made extensive use of one of the continents greatest resources: its rivers. The Nile, White Nile, and Congo Rivers all became superhighways for trade and exploration.
The Congo River runs from central Africa to the Atlantic Ocean and has numerous tributaries. These waterways transformed into “superhighways” for African trade and exploration during the mid-1800s.
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Relatively friendly relations between most African nations emerged from the advancements in trade and exploration. Goods such as ivory, grains, wines, and precious stones were exchanged. And from this exchange arose new social structures-ones that included an African middle class comprising of traders and merchants. Like all exchanges, the development of trade and exchange across Africa also helped the dissemination of languages, cultural customs, and beliefs. During this period, African kingdoms started to dissolve, too. In their place emerged nations that were increasingly centralized. Among these were Ethiopia, Egypt, and Madagascar.
In these new, centralized states, there was also a dramatic increase in the emphasis on democratic ideas, as well as the push for improved and equal education. Ghana, Nigeria, and Liberia all enacted legislature that called for the election of government officials. In Ghana, a constitution was written that included the right of education for all children, as well as the development of resources to promote unity among its people. Increasingly, schools were built so that even poorer children could receive some education. In much of the rest of Africa, an intellectual revolution occurred. It introduced the “educated African elite.”
Tragically, what most Africans lacked was the benefit of an industrial revolution. Technologically, Africa lagged far behind their European counterparts, which means that commercially they did not have the machines that could produce in a competitive manner. Largely, they remained unaware of the actual scope of technological development in Europe, including advancements in weaponry and medicines that could fight diseases. When the Europeans set their minds to colonization, in most cases the Africans could not long resist them because of this lag in technology, industrialization, and medicine.
The Advent of Colonialism and the Scramble for Africa
The Industrial Revolution resulted in Western Europe’s shift from agrarian societies into urban, industrialized countries. Increasingly, England, France, Germany, and a host of other Western European nations needed natural resources to continue fueling their industrialization. Coal, mineral, and wood resources within their own boundaries were becoming scarcer. Across the Mediterranean Sea, though, rested a continent that had seemingly inexhaustible natural resources: Africa.
As the imperial powers of Europe set their sights on new geographic regions to expand their spheres of influence in the 19th century, Africa emerged as a prime location for colonization due to its wealth of natural resources and purportedly undeveloped economies ripe for exploitation. European powers became interested in Africa as early as the 15th century during an age of exploration and over time, claims on African territory followed. European colonization efforts in Africa intensified in the late 19th-century, coinciding with the era of new imperialism, which saw global powers embarking on a quest for colonies throughout the world. By 1914 European countries had collectively claimed about 90 percent of the African continent.
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In the late 1800s, Western European nations launched “civilizing missions” to Africa to explore its resources. Rivalry exploded between European nations, as each hurried to colonize large swaths of Africa. Exploration of the continent soon turned to exploitation and violence. Tragically, these events occurred at the moment when African nations were starting to industrialize. European colonization employed such tremendous violence that African infrastructure was crushed and hopes of modernization dashed.
European interaction with African people generally began with trade and the establishment of trading posts and, later, settlements along Africa’s coastal areas. As colonization increased, more Europeans pushed into the interior of the continent, increasingly coming into conflict with the Indigenous populations as they claimed territory. Colonial administration involved subjugation and oppression. Some colonial powers embraced direct rule, while others ruled indirectly through traditional leaders or others.
Colonies were maintained for the purpose of economic exploitation and extraction of natural resources. Colonies were exploited for natural resources and had economic systems imposed that were designed to benefit the colonizing power rather than the colonized people, which disrupted the precolonial economic systems and patterns of trade and made the colonies’ inhabitants dependent upon imported goods. African people were compelled to participate in the new economic models by various means, with the brutal forced labor practices in Belgian King Leopold II’s Congo Free State among the most horrifying examples.
On a practical level, Europeans needed to colonize Africa for its wealth of natural resources-essential in keeping industries thriving. Psychologically, middle-class Western Europeans also believed in Social Darwinism-the belief that Darwin’s theory of natural selection could be applied to people, which equated to an acceptance that “only the strong survive.” It was a trendy, horribly inaccurate and unscientific way of explaining why some humans prospered and others did not (that some fallaciously adhere to even today). Western Europeans increasingly used this theory, started by Herbert Spencer, to argue that they were wealthier than people in Africa and Asia because they were inherently smarter and more industrious, as well as because they were white.
One of the justifying principles behind colonialism was the need to civilize the purportedly backward peoples of Africa. The idea of the White Man’s Burden was to better (“seek another’s profit”) an ostensibly backward people (anyone who was not white). In essence, Kipling believed that these non-white racial groups were so backward that they would be unable to comprehend the benefits of Europeanization.
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Africans were considered culturally inferior, an idea that was supported by scientific racism. Ultimately, these mentalities led to a violent, forceful takeover. However, prior to this the idea existed that Europeans had a responsibility to colonize and therefore civilize Africans.
Christianity was one justification that European powers used to colonize and exploit Africa. Through the dissemination of Christian doctrine, European nations such as Great Britain, France, and the Netherlands sought to educate and reform African culture. To many European nations, Christianity represented western civilization and the basis for Anglo-Saxon morality. Christianity served as a major force in the partition and eventual colonization of Africa.
While European powers justified colonialism in Africa as a moral obligation to bestow modern civilization and Christianity on African societies, the potential for commerce and natural resources provided the true impetus for the colonization of Africa. Following the abolition of the British slave trade in 1807 and the decline of trade with the United States in the mid-1800s for the same reason, Africa represented to Europe a recently legitimized and untapped region for economic expansion.
The abundance of raw materials available Africa (such as rubber, minerals, and oil) thus emerged as a viable solution to fuel the burgeoning industry of European factories. While European and African merchants had established trade partnerships prior to colonialism, European trade companies, often funded by colonial governments, served as the initial primary agents for economic expansion. The untapped wealth of natural resources provided the incentive for these trade companies to aggressively establish economic control over African territories. The lobbying efforts and publications of memoirs successfully garnered national support for the establishment of colonies.
Another equally important economic incentive drove the effort of colonial expansion. While the administrative policies varied between the different colonies, the system of traditional African economies were completely uprooted and exploited by colonialism. In its most extreme form, such as the case of the Congo under the Belgium rule of King Leopold, the European powers erected “extractive states.” In this notorious example, the population was stripped of all private property and forced into labor with the sole purpose of extracting and supplying as much of the colony’s resources as possible to the colonizer.
In addition to disrupting traditional African industries and forms of agriculture, the Europeans did little to foster the development of trade between African states.
Berlin Conference
This rapid increase in the exploration and colonization of Africa eventually led to the 1884 Berlin Conference. Established empires-notably Britain, Portugal, and France-had already claimed vast areas of Africa and Asia, and emerging imperial powers like Italy and Germany had done likewise on a smaller scale. With the dismissal of the aging Chancellor Bismarck by Kaiser Wilhelm II, the relatively orderly colonization became a frantic scramble, known as the Scramble for Africa. The Berlin Conference, initiated to establish international guidelines for the acquisition of African territory, formalized this “New Imperialism.” The Berlin Conference sought to end competition and conflict between European powers during the “Scramble for Africa” by establishing international protocols for colonization. Tragically, the Africans had no voice in the proceedings. Europeans neither sought their opinions nor invited them to the Conference.
The conference was convened on Saturday, November 15, 1884. The main dominating powers of the conference were France, Germany, Great Britain, and Portugal. They remapped Africa without considering the cultural and linguistic borders that were already established. At the end of the conference, Africa was divided into 50 colonies. And the attendants established who was in control of each of these new divisions. Between the Franco-Prussian War (1871) and the World War I (1914), Western Europe added almost 9 million square miles-one-fifth of the land area of the globe-to its overseas colonial possessions by claiming land in Africa.
Consequences of the Conference
The Scramble for Africa sped up after the Conference since even within areas designated as their spheres of influence, the European powers had to take possession. In central Africa in particular, expeditions were dispatched to coerce traditional rulers into signing treaties, using force if necessary. Bedouin- and Berber-ruled states in the Sahara and Sub-Sahara were overrun by the French in several wars by the beginning of World War I. The British conquered territories from Egypt to South Africa. After defeating the Zulu Kingdom in South Africa in 1879, they moved on to subdue and dismantle the independent Boer republics of Transvaal and Orange Free State. By 1902, 90% of all African land was under European control. The large part of the Sahara was French, while Sudan remained firmly under joint British-Egyptian rulership. Egypt, itself, was under British occupation before becoming a British protectorate in 1914.
Heart of Darkness: The Congo Free State
King Leopold II’s reign in the Congo became an international scandal due to large-scale mistreatment of the indigenous peoples, including frequent mutilation and murder of men, women, and children to enforce rubber production quotas.
Belgian exploration and administration took place from the 1870s until the 1920s. It was first led by Sir Henry Morton Stanley, who explored under the sponsorship of King Leopold II of Belgium. As Europe industrialized, its need for rubber dramatically increased. A seemingly endless grove of rubber trees existed throughout Congo, and Leopold wanted it. Leopold saw the Congo as a source of unlimited wealth, particularly in the form of rubber. He procured the region by convincing the European community that he was involved in humanitarian and philanthropic work. Leopold formally acquired rights to the Congo territory at the Conference of Berlin in 1885 and made the land his private property. On May 29, 1885, the king named his new colony the Congo Free State; it could not have been more of a misnomer for the Congolese. Under Leopold, they would be anything but free.
King Leopold II of Belgium. The monarch’s reign is forever tarnished by his inhumane policies in the Congo Free State.
Leopold extracted ivory, rubber, and minerals in the upper Congo basin for sale on the world market, without much actual concern for the human inhabitants of the land, even though his alleged purpose in the region was to uplift the local people and develop the area.
Beginning in the mid-1880s, Leopold first decreed that the state asserted rights of proprietorship over all vacant lands throughout the Congo territory. Leopold used the title “Sovereign King” as ruler of the Congo Free State. He appointed the heads of the three departments of state: interior, foreign affairs, and finances. These positions were, naturally, filled by Belgians who understood little about the Congolese people. As the self-installed ruler, Leopold pledged to suppress the east African slave trade; promote humanitarian policies; guarantee free trade within the colony; impose no import duties for twenty years; and encourage philanthropic and ...
Noteworthy Conflicts During the Colonial Period
The Decolonization Process: Key Events, Dates, and People
Decolonization in Africa happened over several decades in the 20th century, with more than half of European colonies gaining independence in the 1960s alone. It was fueled by rising nationalistic sentiments among African people and the post-World War II landscape that saw European powers faced with financial constraints, domestic opposition to maintaining colonies, and increasing anti-colonial pressure on the international stage, particularly from the United States and the Soviet Union. In response, many European countries began preparing plans-or accelerated existing plans-to withdraw from their colonial holdings.
The process varied by the European power and colony: some colonies had a gradual, relatively peaceful path to independence, whereas others gained independence abruptly or endured lengthy liberation wars.
There was no one process of decolonization. Nations endured long civil wars. Nations contested decolonization militarily. Nations had a definite impact on the evolution of that competition. European powers colonized much of Africa and Southeast Asia.
The main period of decolonisation in Africa began after World War II. Growing independence movements, indigenous political parties and trade unions coupled with pressure from within the imperialist powers and from the United States and the Soviet Union ensured the decolonisation of the majority of the continent by 1980.
Africa After Decolonization
Decolonization had a significant impact on international relations, which in turn affected political and economic development in postcolonial Africa. New international and regional organizations emerged, and global alliances shifted. Frameworks were created by which one could attempt to assess the relative prosperity and power of the world’s countries. Some African countries navigated new trade partnerships and political alliances with the United States, the former Soviet Union, and other countries. Others remained economically dependent on former colonial powers, which allowed the latter to retain influence there. Over the years new relationships developed, with China and Russia notably expanding their influence on the continent. Still, the legacy of colonialism remains a factor that has hindered Africa’s development.
Evaluating the impact of colonialism involves not just looking at the raw numbers but considering the counterfactual. For example, would the type of immiserisation of Africans in South Africa have happened if the Zulu state had taken over the Rand and developed the gold mining industry? If the Europeans brought technology or institutions, absent colonialism Africans could have adopted or innovated these themselves. In addition, any of this data has to be seen in the context of existing trends and international comparisons. To judge the impact of colonialism on development in Africa simply by looking at outcomes during the colonial period is a conceptual mistake.
Post-independence Africa looked nothing like it would have done in the absence of colonialism. It seems reasonable to assume that all groups, absent colonialism, would have had the same contacts with the rest of the world. This implies missionaries would have gone to convert people and built schools, the League of Nations would have tried to abolish coerced labour, and the WHO would have tried to disseminate medical technology.
Colonialism not only blocked further political development, but indirect rule made local elites less accountable to their citizens. After independence, even if these states had a coherence others lacked, they had far more predatory rulers.
It could be, to consider Uganda, that the British brought stability by stopping long-running conflicts between the pre-colonial states of Buganda, Bunyoro, Ankole and Tooro.
All in all, it is difficult to bring the available evidence together with plausible counterfactuals to argue that there is any country today in Sub-Saharan Africa that is more developed because it was colonised by Europeans.
Some areas (in particular South Africa and Namibia) retain a large population of European descent. Only the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla are still governed by a European country.
Guyanese historian and activist Walter Rodney proposes in his book How Europe Underdeveloped Africa that Africa was pillaged and plundered by the West through economic exploitation. He concludes that the structure of present-day Africa and Europe can, through a comparative analysis be traced to the Atlantic slave trade and colonialism.
Critical theory on the colonisation of Africa is largely unified in a condemnation of imperial activities. Postcolonial geographers are consistent with the notion that colonialism, although maybe not in such clear-cut forms, is still concurrent today. Theories have a consistent theme of the indigenous Africans having been treated as uncivilised, second class citizens and that in many former colonial cities this has continued into the present day with a switch from race to wealth divide.
| Key Term/Concept | Description |
|---|---|
| Belgian Congo | Name of the colony after Congo’s administration was taken over by the Belgian parliament |
| Berlin Conference | 1884 conference between major European powers that divided Africa into colonies |
| Boer | Farmers with Dutch ancestry who lived in South Africa |
| Congo Free State | Colony created in the late 1800s by King Leopold II of Belgium to harvest rubber and gum trees |
| First Boer War | Conflict between the British and Boers that ended in a Boer victory |
| Force Publique | A military and police force organized and operated in the Congo, at the behest of King Leopold II, and later the Belgian government |
| French Algeria | France’s most important African colony |
| German Southwest Africa | The German colony where the genocide of the Herero and Nama peoples occurred |
| Gold Coast | British colony in present-day Ghana |
| Herero and Nama | Two indigenous groups in German Southwest Africa who were nearly exterminated by German polices in the early 1900s |
| Kaiser Wilhelm II | Emperor of Germany who wanted to expand Germany’s influence on the global stage |
| King Leopold II | Belgian king known for his atrocious exploitation of the Congolese people under the Congo Free State |
| Mahgreb | Northwest Africa |
| Maxim-gun | First reliable machine gun |
| Nigeria | The Federal Republic of Nigeria is a West African country that was once a British colony famous for its palm oil production; independence from Britain was declared in 1960 |
| Palm oil | An essential commodity in Europe to produce soaps and machinery lubricants |
| Scramble for Africa | European countries rush to colonize Africa in the late 1800s |
| Second Boer War | Conflict between the British and Boers that end in a British victory |
| Social Darwinism | The pseudo-science theory that individuals, groups, and peoples are subject to the same Darwinian laws of natural selection as plants and animals, which equates to “only the strong survive” |
| Sphere of influence | An area in which one country has power to affect the development of other areas |
| Suez Canal | Waterway in Egypt that connects the Mediterranean and Red Seas |
| Transvaal | Province of South Africa inhabited by the Boers between 1910 - 1994 |
| Weltpolitik | Policy developed by Kaiser Wilhelm II that argued Germany should be involved in world politics |
What was the Scramble for Africa? - History Crunch Investigates
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