https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scramble_for_Africa#Strategic_rivalry
Questions:
1. Africa may have seen extremely organized on the map nowadays, but how did this came to be?
2. What is interesting regarding the history of Africa?
3. On what continents did the European great powers set up colonies?
Connections:
We just started learning about the African colonization, also known as the scramble for Africa, I decided to do some research regarding this area.
New Knowledge:
- Great European powers like British, French, German, Belgian, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish conquered and organized almost all native countries of Africa, except for Ethiopia and Liberia, which are still independent, into colonies of their own.
- It all started with the decline of trade and shrinking of continental markets due to the long depression, a period when there are some deflation, bankruptcy, and unemployment. The original plans were just to bring new profit and wealth.
- The first colonization of Africa started when Belgium colonized the country of Kongo in the 1860's.
- However, the big colonization event happens after Great Britain's colonization of Egypt. Great Britain has always been at trade with many Asian countries (such as India, China) by sea trade routes, which pass through the Suez Canal that connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, significantly shorten the distance and time. The Suez Canal passes through Egypt territory at that time, thus it is under Egypt control. After Egypt fall in debt and made a treaty with Great Britain and France that Great Britain and France will forget the debt Egypt owned them in return for the control of the Suez Canal. Later, an anti-european movement in Egypt broke out and take over the government, decreasing Great Britain's and French control over it. Afraid that it might affect its oversea trade and global affairs, Great Britain forcefully and militarily invaded and defeated the Egyptian insurrection force (mostly Arab and Sudan) at the battle of Tel el-Kebir, and take control of the entire Egypt and the Suez Canal. This action was viewed by the other great European powers as a British deliberate and intentional attempt to colonize Africa, and immediately take to action to play their own parts in what they view as the scramble for Africa.
- Advance technologies played a huge role in the colonization, as it is what the European used to successfully subjugate the nations, even empires under their command. New repeating weapons like maxim guns, gatling guns, and other advance weapons helped European armies to defeat and crush African resistance, such as the Battle of the Shangani in the First Matabele War.
- However, comparing to the colonization of the New world, the comparison of the weaponry between the African tribes, nations, empires, and the European world powers are more balanced as overland trade stimulated by land connection had brought advanced technology to every corners of Africa. So it is not uncommon to see Africans welding the most concurrent rifles, muskets, and cannons, which are mostly bought from other nations (especially Russia), against the threat of imperialism. In fact, this is one of the reason how Ethiopia survived the colonization and decisively defeated the Italian conquerors in the battle of Adawa, one of the first in modern history.