European Colonization of

Africa

Why Africa? • Stories of Africa’s great wealth are spread

throughout western Europe (trade)• Missionaries and explorers are sent to

Africa by various European countries• Natural resources - cash crops, minerals,

land• Human resources – slaves for colonies

Early Colonization

• Brits establish Capetown as a “rest stop” between Europe & India (East India Co.)

• Portuguese, British, Spanish, French set up forts along Africa’s west coast for trading purposes

• Boers, Dutch farmers, come to southern Africa to farm

Cecil Rhodes

• British explorer/capitalist• Responsible for the failed

Cape-Cairo railway project • Founder of the De Beers

Mining Company• Owner of the British South

Africa Company, which carved out Rhodesia for itself

Atlantic Slave Trade• 1500s Spanish want more laborers for their colonies in the Americas• Slavery was not new to Africa (early kingdoms and Arabs enslaved

Africans)• Created civil unrest on the continent – tribes would capture members of

rival tribes and sell them to the slave traders• Triangle Trade (see map) peaks in 18th century

• Europe sold cheap manufactured goods to Africans (cloth & guns)• Africa traded humans (slaves)

• Middle Passage (journey b/w Africa & Americas – many slaves do not survive)

• Slaves were sold to the colonists in exchange for cash crops• Cash crops would then be sold in Europe

• Abolishing slavery• 1794 – France is first• Brits & other European countries follow suit• Demand for slaves in the US still high – so slave trade cont. (approx

1860s)

Triangle Trade

1880’s THE SCRAMBLE

FOR AFRICA

Who colonized where?

The Scramble for Africa

Click the name of the colonizing

country to see a list of African colonial

holdings

• Benin• Burkina Faso • Côte d'Ivoire • Guinea • Mali • Mauritania• Niger

• Senegal• Togo • Cameroon • Morocco • Algeria • Tunisia • Central African

Republic

• Chad • Djibouti• Gabon • Republic of

the Congo• Madagascar • Comoros • Mauritius

Colony Map

Colony Map

• Angola

• Mozambique

• Guinea Bissau

• Cape Verde

• São Tomé and Príncipe

Colony Map

German Colonies

• Tanzania* • Burundi **• Rwanda **

German colonies were divided among the European victors of WWI*=became a British colony**=became a Belgian colony***=became a French colony****=was occupied by South African government Colony

Map

• Cameroon ***• Togo ***• Namibia ****

Belgian Colonies• Democratic Republic of Congo• Rwanda (after WWI)• Burundi (after WWI)

• Libya• Eritrea• Somalia

Italian Colonies

Spanish Colonies• Western Sahara• Morocco• Equatorial

Guinea Colony Map

Independent Countries

Ethiopia

Liberia (often viewed as a US colony)

Colony Map

Decolonization/ African Independence

• Mid 1900s – Africans are rebelling against colonial rule (nationalism); Europe is losing control over colonies

• 1960-1965 – 27 countries see independence• Africans are just going to adopt colonial borders

despite the fact these borders ignore ethnic divisions

• Many rival tribes will be left to fight for control of the country – civil wars erupt all over Africa

South Africa

• Most recent “independence”

• 1994 - gained independence from the white Afrikaner government known for its apartheid practices

• Nelson Mandela – First president of an independent South Africa– Had been jailed by the Afrikaner gov’t for 27 yrs– President from 1994 – 1999– Won Nobel Peace Prize for his struggle to end the injustices of

apartheid in 1993

Post Independence Problems facing Africa today

• Overpopulation/ Population Density• Lack of technology & infrastructure development• Low GDP & GDP per capita• Disease – malaria & AIDS• Corrupt governments• Civil War• Famine• Poor use of natural resources• Still western imperialism – economic imperialism