Colonialism of Africa
Although there had been a British and greater European presence in Africa prior to the last two decades of the 19th century it was primarily coastal and revolved around the slave trade. With the abolition of the slave trade within the British Empire in 1803 and a complete abolition of slavery across the empire in 1834 there was little interest in Africa by Britain until the end of the century. This lack of interest in Africa did not include The Cape Colony though, which the British gained at the end of the Napoleonic Wars and which served a key role in outfitting ships on the British trade route to India. The role and importance of Africa to the British soon changed though do to imperial competition with France and Germany. Germany under the aggressive policies of Bismarck set out to take a leading role in Africa and catch up to other European powers such as Britain and France in terms of empire by gaining new control over territory and expanding their spheres of influence. Other important factors made Africa the hot spot for British and European expansion including the discovery of gold in the Transvaal and diamonds in the Orange Free State, the palm oil industry in Nigeria, scientific discoveries such as the way to treat mala
He was most effective in creating interest by awakening Victorian morality concerning the still active slave trade occurring in east Africa. Livingston was an icon to remind the British of Africa but his role alone did not fully set the foundation for later British growth in Africa. This mass emigration made the Afrikaners insecure and they didn't want to grant citizenship to the newly arrived people they called Uitlanders because it would mean that they would lose political control. These discoveries resulted in a massive influx of people not only from the Cape Colony and Britain but also from around the world. This is made particularly clear under Gladstone's government but through reactionary response to other European powers imperial conquests, both failed and successful economic reasons were also influential in expansion, and by British imperialists at home and in Africa who were kept on shoestrings and forced expansion such as with the cape colony and to some degree the British East Africa company in the Boganda Kingdom. Valuable diamond mines were discovered in the Orange Free State and the richest gold strike in the known world was found in the Transvaal. British imperial growth in Africa during the last two decades of the 19th century was on the grand scale. The relationship between Britain and the Transvaal and the Orange Free State is revised once more at the London Convention of 1884 giving the Afrikaners control over native affairs. The issue of Britain absorbing Uganda and Kenya came from the foreign minister Lord Salisbury who had a sincere yet somewhat implausible belief that the Germans would swallow up Uganda which is the wellspring of the Nile from there new colony of German East Africa and would create a massive water works and cut off the river decimating Egypt and making the Suez Canal worthless (Lloyd, p. This is when a big impact from Social Darwinism played a huge role in Europe's imperial ways. Using their information on British expansion throughout Africa as a foundation it becomes possible to break down the period of greatest growth between 1880 and 1900 by analyzing British role in Africa prior to 1880, the external roles that competitors such as Germany and France had in forcing England's imperial hand coupled with the internal economic drives for procuring areas of Africa, and the special case and significance of the Cape Colony and British Afrikaner relations. Lugard's expenses in the hinterland and the lack of financial growth by the government prompted Salisbury to try to get a rail line built between Mombassa and Lake Victoria. He became a millionaire because of the diamond mines and rose to control both the British South Africa Company and act as Governor of the Cape Colony. Egyptian mismanagement of the economy and military and a continually more strained relationship with France who had held considerable sway since the Napoleonic era in Egypt created an opportunity for England to become more important in Egyptian affairs which the English desired because of the importance of the Suez Canal as an eastern trade route (Porter, p.
Common topics in this essay:
Africa African,
Africa Company,
Orange Free,
Colony Britain's,
Cape Colony,
Germany France,
British Empire,
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european powers,
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east africa,
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19th century,
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royal niger company,
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Acceptance Essays
