Scramble for Africa: Colonial Powers & Conflicts
The Scramble for Africa: Powers and Conflicts
The two key powers in Africa during the late 19th and early 20th centuries were Great Britain (GB) and France. GB, having long controlled Egypt and the Cape, aimed to create a continuous longitudinal empire. France, for its part, wanted to create an empire stretching from the Gulf of Guinea to the Red Sea through the Sahara.
The inevitable clash between these two powers occurred in 1898 with the Fashoda Crisis in Sudan. Great Britain prevailed, allowing it to continue its southward expansion.
The Anglo-Portuguese Conflict
A new problem arose for Great Britain when Portugal attempted to unite its colonies of Angola and Mozambique, situated on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, respectively. Great Britain issued an ultimatum to Portugal, and, unwilling to jeopardize its traditional alliance with the British, Portugal conceded.
The Boer War
The next major conflict was between England and the Netherlands, leading to the Boer War. “Boer,” a term of contempt used by the British to refer to Dutch farmers (derived from the Dutch word “boe,” meaning cow), signified the tension. England already controlled the Cape in South Africa, but Dutch settlers had also established themselves in the regions of Orange and Transvaal. The discovery of significant diamond mines in these regions prompted the British to attempt to annex them, resulting in the aforementioned war.
German Intervention
England was on the verge of establishing a continuous longitudinal empire, but Germany, under Kaiser Wilhelm II, entered the scene. Wilhelm II dismissed Bismarck and pursued a more assertive foreign policy, aiming to participate as a major player in global politics and build a colonial empire to rival Great Britain’s. Germany’s late entry into the scramble for Africa meant it could only acquire territories in East and West Africa.
These territories, however, were relatively small compared to the British Empire and obstructed England’s ambition of completing its vertical line of control. This fueled a deep rivalry between the English and Germans, as Germany’s rapid industrialization brought it close to England’s level, and it sought to challenge British naval dominance by building a powerful fleet.
The Path to World War I
The escalating tensions led the British and French to set aside their historical animosities and form an alliance, the Entente Cordiale, which Russia later joined. France had broken free from the isolation that Bismarck had always feared. Germany, in response, forged an alliance with Austria and Italy. The world was thus divided into two opposing blocs, becoming a tinderbox where any spark could ignite a major conflict. This spark came in 1914, ushering in the First World War.
Key Colonial Terms
- Protectorate: A colonial system applied to regions with a majority indigenous population. Local authorities managed internal affairs, while foreign policy was controlled by the metropolitan power.
- Concession: Land granted to a metropolitan power for governance and exploitation for a maximum period of 99 years.
- Dominion: A British colonial system where the white population held significant power. A governor and a legislature elected by white settlers allowed for self-government in domestic policy, but foreign policy remained under the control of the metropolis. France, in contrast, treated its colonies as overseas departments (Départements d’Outre-Mer), with their inhabitants represented in the National Assembly.
- Colonialism: A phenomenon as old as history itself, involving the domination of a territory by a metropolitan power. The metropolis exploits the territory economically but often leads to the assimilation of the metropolis’s culture. The colonialism of the 19th century is closely linked to the economic needs of the Industrial Revolution, and Marxist historiography refers to it as imperialism.
- Berlin Conference: A conference held in Berlin in 1884-1885 to establish the rules for the partition of Africa. Key points included:
- Free navigation on the Congo and Niger rivers.
- Establishment of a state in central Africa, the Congo Free State, as the personal property of Leopold II of Belgium.
- The principle that the occupation of two coastal points by a power allowed for the claim of the interior territory between those points.