British Expansionism
British expansion during the late 19th century primarily focused around the scramble for 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 British government believed that Egypt could not afford such a project in her present financial state: but it was not easy to persuade the Khedive so, or the press, or public opinion in Britain (Porter, p. The Sudan also became more important because of French activity to the west and fear that France desired to reclaim Egypt by encroaching on the Sudan and moving, north, as there became greater French hostility and resentment over the loss of Egypt and more importantly the Suez Canal to Britain. They only problem that arose from this was the fact that the British East India Company had neither the money nor the military needed to politically control the region. The Dutch had begun settling the region as early as the middle 17th century. The situation of the Royal Niger Company once again highlights Gladstone and his anti-expansionist policy being manipulated and circumvented under external pressure. He was most effective in creating interest by awakening Victorian morality concerning the still active slave trade occurring in east Africa. All the same Livingston's publicity and the work of other explorers and the use of quinine certainly contribute to the availability for British expansion in Africa by the 1880's. Although unification did not happen until the beginning of the 20th century after he had lost his position as governor of the Cape Colony and shamed himself by trying to take the Afrikaner states by force in a failed action called the Jameson Raid he laid the groundwork for the unification that would come at the end of the Boer War. The company was in trouble right from the start but made efforts to get involved with the Buganda Kingdom who were the primary rulers of the hinterland. The Cape Colony as was mentioned before was procured in 1795 from the French as a victor prize at the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The Dutch population that represented the majority of the European population up until the middle of the 19th century settled the area so as to escape religious persecution in the Netherlands. The British for the economic reasons attached with the canal stepped in and bought out the Egyptian shares in the Canal to help cancel some of the Egyptians debts. The early British territories were either in primarily un-inhabited coastal regions or they had been gained from other European powers that had previously established sound control of territory such as with France in regard to The Cape Colony. Goldie's administration turned out to be a success following the granting of a charter as The Royal Niger Company promptly went out and procured treaties with the principal rulers of the area staking claim and effectively limiting the further growth of their neighbors. The British role in Africa only began with the scramble for Africa.
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