History 102: Late Nineteenth-Century Imperialism
and
the Scramble for Africa, 1880-1914

Causes of “New” Imperialism

  1. ECONOMIC motives
  2. PRESTIGE and NATIONALISM
  3. DOMESTIC POLITICS
  4. INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION and its technological advances
  5. SOCIAL DARWINISM
  6. WHITE MAN’S BURDEN
  7. MISSIONARY ZEAL

 

King of Belgium, Leopold II (r. 1865-1909)

•1860: "I believe that the moment is come for us to extend our territories. I think that we must lose no time, under penalty of seeing the few remaining good positions seized upon by more enterprising nations than our own.”

•1876: International Association for the Exploration and Civilization of the Congo

 

Henry M. Stanley (1841-1904)

•Orphan

•Self-made

•Wanderer

•Journalist

•Explorer

•Found David Livingstone

•1878: goes to work for Leopold

 

Pierre de Brazza (1852-1905)

•Explored the north of the Congo river for France

 

 

Berlin Conference (1884-1885): Otto von Bismarck and Jules Ferry

  1. Effective Occupation
  2. Congo Free State
  3. Abolished Slavery

 

 

Battle of Khartoum, 1885

Battle of Adowa, 1896
Menelik II of Ethiopia vs. Italy

Battle of Omdurman, 1898

 

Fashoda incident, 1898

·        French: Jean-Baptiste Marchand

·        British: Horatio Herbert Kitchener (later Lord Kitchener)

 

George Washington Williams (1849-1891)

•First African American Historian

•1889: Leopold II

•1890: Congo Free State to settle African Americans

•1890: wrote Leopold an open letter

•1891: died

 

Joseph Conrad (1857-1924)

•Jozef Teodor Konrad Nalecz Korzeniowski

•Merchant marine

•Languages

•Congo in 1890

•Heart of Darkness (1899)

 

Consequences of New Imperialism

1. ARMY OF OCCUPATION: Guns and plunder

2. AFRICAN SOCIETY

a)DEATH

b)RULES OF SOCIETY

c)ECONOMY

d)NEW BORDERS

e)HUMILIATION

 

3. CULTURE

4. CONFLICT AMONGST IMPERIAL POWERS

5. ENCOURAGED EUROPEANS’ SENSE OF SUPERIORITY and RACISM