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African History in 19th and early 20th Centuries

Page history last edited by Robert W. Maloy 1 week, 4 days ago

The Berlin Conference on partition of Africa, 1884

 

The Berlin Conference on partition of Africa, 1884

Topics on the page

 

1.) Africa’s interaction with imperialism and the Scramble for Africa

 

  • The Berlin Conference (1884-1885)
    • Ethiopia and the Battle of Adwa (1896)
      • Taytu Betul

 

  • The White Man's and the Black Man's Burden

 

external image 200px-Paperback_book_black_gal.svg.png Historical Literature pages

 

 

2.) Case Study in Resisting Imperialism: Ethiopia and the Battle of Adwa 

 

3.) Agricultural changes and new patterns of employment

 

4.) Women in 19th Century and Early 20th Century Africa

  • Fatima N'Soumer 
  • Yaa Asantewana
  • The Women's War of 1929 in Nigeria
  • 1956 Women's March in South Africa

 

5.) LGBTQ+ In Imperial Africa 

 

Decolonization Map of Africa

 

Cross- Links

 

 

 

Focus Questions:

How did imperialism affect Africa?

What aspects of life in Africa were destroyed or damaged?

How did Africans resist imperialist powers and oppression?

 

Learning Plan:  Imperialism: Scramble for Africa is a plan for high school aged students that explains the motivations for Imperialism in Africa and allows students to uncover the consequences that resulted from the historical event.

 

Check out these interactive resources of Africa throughout colonial and postcolonial history.

 

  • Here is a crash course video talking about Imperialism, specifically in Africa and China.

 

  • Here is a brief overview video of the History of the Scramble for Africa 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Here is an interactive timeline that highlights key moments in the Imperialism movement in Africa.

 

 Here is a lesson plan that outlines the beginning of Imperialism. 

Barghash bin Said, Sultan of Zanzibar 1870-1888

Barghash bin Said, Sultan of Zanzibar 1870-1888

 

 

Behind Africa's Explorers, Muslim Empires on the Make

 

  • Dane Kennedy, The Boston Globe (February 24, 2013) discusses how Tripoli, Egypt, and Zanzibar contributed to, profited from, and then were displaced by 19th century European expeditions leading to the Scramble for Africa.

 

See The Colonization of Africa from The New York Public Library that includes historical information and an powerful image gallery.

The Scramble for Africa is a map from a 1917 atlas that shows how the European countries had divided the continent.

 

Scramble for Africa Lesson Plan/Simulation

 

 4 Minute Video of European Colonization in Africa Timeline 1415-2017

 

Imperialism in Africa



The Scramble for Africa
1. Africa is an enormous continent with hundreds of different cultural and linguistic groups. It is three times larger than Europe.


2. Europeans consistently asserted their control of Africans through construction of racist mentalities and practices, severely damaging the traditions and political structures of the African people.


3. Whenever possible, Africans resisted European oppression, culminating in the Nationalist movements of the late 20th century.

 

 

 

 

In the mid to late 19th century, Europe colonized Africa in what was known as “The Scramble for Africa”—

a big competitive race for wealth, power, and natural resources.

 

 

  • While colonization in Africa was new, the European nations had engaged in the slave trade and other exploitative practices for a long time.

 

 

  • Europeans had, therefore, already established the idea that Africans were inferior and they already had a long history of associating Africans with labor.

 

 

  • Therefore, as the slave trade declined, Europeans made the transition into coercing Africans into forced labor on their own land.

 

Methods Used by Europeans to Acquire Colonies in Africa
a. The signing of treaties between African leaders and European powers and also between European powers themselves over spheres of influence.
b. The use of diplomacy among Europeans, in some cases 'gunboat' diplomacy for uncooperating African leaders
c. The use of force and military conquest
d. Bribing African chiefs
e. Europeans used divide and rule
f. The use of missionaries
h.The use of unilateral declarations

Impact of Africa's Partition
1. The boundaries during the partition to mark the extent of European colonies in Africa formed the basis of modern African States.
2. The boundaries have been constant sources of conflict because they were drawn arbitrarily dividing communities and placing them under different states
3.Once boundaries were drawn up European nations embarked on exploitation of the colonies for their benefit
4.European nations introduced a new economic order in Africa through large scale agriculture, new cash crops, mining and the need for cheap labor from Africans for the benefit of European markets
5.This led to the exploitation and marginalization of Africans
6. Partition underdeveloped Africa

LInk here for a power point lesson on imperialism. 

 


Guided Questions on Imperialism:

 
1. What led to the "Scramble for Africa"?
2. Which European Countries controlled the most land in Africa?
3. Who led the British Imperialism in Africa?
4 Which African countries were left independent at the time of World War 1? 

 

White Man's and Black Man's Burden

 

  • Two main ideas Europeans used to justify their treatment of Africans:
    1. Belief that Africans were inferior
    2. Christian idea that Africans needed to be “civilized” (Africans were, of course, already living with religions and civil customs of their own.) Also called the "White Man's Burden."

 

Rudyard Kipling's 1889 poem, "The White Man's Burden" offers insight into this mindset.

 

The Black Man's Burden: A Response to Kipling

 

Imperialism and African Colonies, 19-20th Centuries

 

 

The Berlin Conference (1884-1885)


1884-1885 Berlin Conference: leaders of 14 European nations and the United States came together to “carve up” Africa. 

 

  • Now that competition was getting intense, they held this conference to negotiate boundaries and they chose areas of Africa without regard to existing ethnic or linguistic groups.

 

 

Berlin Conference 1884-85

1. The Berlin Conference was a meeting among European nations to create the rules on how to peacefully divide Africa for colonization
2.The meeting was convened by Otto Von Bismarck, the German Chancellor.

Resolutions at the Conference
1. Any European nations wishing to possess any African territory had to inform other European countries so that the claim could be ratified.
2. Any nation claiming such territories had to demonstrate effective occupation
3. The occupying powers were obligated to develop transport systems in their territories
4. It was agreed that the rivers, Congo, Niger and the Zambezi as well as tributaries were to be open for use by all European powers
5.The occupier nation had to agree to abolish slave trade, promote trade and missionaries.

 

For a map of European land claims in 1914, click here.

For an overview of Imperialism in Africa, watch this video by Crash Course.

 

Berlin Conference Youtube Video (3min)

external image Red_apple.jpg  For a lesson plan on a simulation of the Berlin Conference, click here.

 

 

 

Case Study in Resisting Imperialism: Ethiopia and the Battle of Adwa

 

Image of the Battle of Adwa by A. Davey

 

Image of the Battle of Adwa by A. Davey

 


Ethiopia is one of the two countries in Africa that remained independent during European colonization, the other being Liberia.

 

  • The Italians had been attempting for many years to colonize the land but met heavy resistance.

 

  • King Menelik II ruled Ethiopia and was one of the only successful resisting forces across the continent.

 

  • The conflict reached a boiling point and culminated in the Battle of Adwa where the Ethiopian forces overwhelmed the Italians and claimed independence.


Click here for a detailed description of the Battle of Adwa (1896)

Click here for a nationalist video of the events of the battle, including quotes, paintings, and music from the event.

Empress Taytu Betel, a biography from UNESCO

 

 

 

 

Agricultural Changes in Africa

 

Most of the major changes in agriculture that happened in Africa in the 19th and early 20th century occurred because Europe exploited the natural resources and African labor.

Key Points:

  • Europe, especially France, raised their demand for peanuts and peanut oil.

 

  • Coffee, tea and cocoa also became high demand products.

 

  • Where Africans had previously been self sustainable, growing the variety of food they needed, Europeans now made them specialize in single crops. This threw traditional ways out of balance and caused problems for Africans.

 

  • For Europe’s profit, they wanted only raw materials from Africa. This meant that African’s were not profiting highly from their exports.

 

  • Europeans set up many systems in which African’s had to live far away from their families to do agricultural labor. This caused disruption in African communities.

 

  • lonialism 

 

 

Women in 19th & Early 20th Century Africa

 

  • The arrival of European traders and missionaries brought along cash crops, meaning that women lost their autonomy and were forced to focus on providing for their families at home.

 

  • As a colonial legal system was established, women were largely ignored and were thus subjected to European patriarchy.

 

  • Women were vital in nationalist movements as urbanization took place. They played a variety of roles, most notably as spirit mediums.

 

When it came to actual conflict with Europeans, women were vital to the war effort though did not participate as actual combatants.

 

  •  Fatima N’Soumer 
    • Led armed resistance against the French from 1854-1857.
    • She was captured in 1857 and died in captivity in the year 1863, but inspired many African men and women to not sit idly by as their lands were taken.
    • Here is a short video about Fatima as well.

 

  • Yaa Asantewana, an Asante queen mother led the Asante in a battle against the British in 1900
    • Here is a video that outlines her life.  

 

  • 1929 a revolt in Nigeria by thousands of igbo market women against settler policies
    • Women's Revolt of 1929

 

 

LGBTQ+ In Imperial Africa 

 

  • Here is a link to an article that is a brief overview of the question of if Europeans brought homophobia to Africa and what LGBTQ+ was like in Africa prior to Europe’s interference.
    • This article includes debunking myths, the importance of understanding African cosmology, as well as pre colonial African societies not having a binary of genders.
    • This is an interesting read to examine how this author thinks Europeans influenced homophobia in Africa and to imagine what life in Africa was like prior to European colonization.

 

 Did Europe bring homophobia to Africa?  

 




Sources and Links:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/13chapter4.shtml

http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0029558.html (Link no longer functioning)

http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199846733/obo-9780199846733-0005.xml

Agatucci, Cora (1997). Part IV: Anti-Colonialism & Reconstruction 19th to mid-20th centuries. Retrieved March 8, 2007, from http://web.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/hum211/ Web site: http://web.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/hum211/timelines/htimeline4.htm

de Blij, H.J. (2003). The Scramble for Africa: Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 to Divide Africa. Retrieved March 8, 2007, from The Scramble for Africa: Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 to Divide Africa Web site (link no longer functioning): http://www.homestead.com/wysinger/berlinconference.html

Pearcy, Ph.D. , Thomas (1996). Imperialism in Africa to the eve of World War I. . Retrieved March 8, 2007, from W.W Norton and Company Web site: http://www.wwnorton.com/college/history/ralph/resource/impafr.htm

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