The Scramble for Africa: White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876 to 1912

The Scramble for Africa: White Man’s Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876 to 1912European nations including Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, and Portugal scrambled out of Africa from 1957 to 1968. But in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, these same countries—ostensibly in the name of Commerce, Christianity, and Civilization—rapidly expanded their respective empires through colonialism on the African continent. This was The Scramble in.Coined in 1874 by Edwin Arnold, editor of Britain’s conservative Daily Telegraph newspaper, the catchphrase “Cape to Cairo,” reflected the concept of a British-dominated Africa. British colonial administrator Frederick Lugard promoted the Scramble. And Germany’s colonial past involved Rücklosigkeit—ruthless imperialism. Organized by the first Chancellor of Germany, Otto von Bismarck, the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 formalized the partitioning of Africa among European powers, leading to increased colonization.Beyond the extreme demands of terrain and climate, diseases such as malaria, smallpox, and yellow fever stood in the way of European expansion throughout the interior of the continent. Established native kingdoms and empires including the Zulu and Ashanti also resisted European encroachment.Political rivalries and the search for economic dominance characterized the power dynamics of Europe vis-à-vis Africa in the late 19th century. Leveraging treaties and protectorates, European powers sought sustained access to ivory, rubber, diamonds, and gold. Intersecting the politics and economics were the important Christian missionary efforts from both Europe and America. In addition to religious instruction, these initiatives also focused on education and healthcare for the highly diverse and numerous ethnic groups of Africa, who had never used the construct of nation-state.David Livingstone, a noteworthy Scottish physician and Christian missionary, aimed to spread Christianity and improve trade in Africa, believing that ending the slave trade was essential for Africa’s development. It was Welsh-American explorer and journalist Sir Henry Morton Stanley who famously found Dr. Livingstone near Lake Tanganyika in present-day Tanzania. Working under the orders of King Leopold II of Belgium, Stanley traversed the immense waterways of the Congo River basin convincing local chiefs to sign treaties with Leopold. The king’s rule over the Congo Free State from 1885 to 1908 was notoriously marked by atrocities and severe exploitation of the local people. Superiority to Africans was the hallmark of the European mindset at that time—all menial work was to be done by Blacks.Across Africa, the European industrial world crushed the medieval tribal world in most military confrontations, such as the Battle of Omdurman in Sudan in 1898. Asymmetric military technologies—12-pounder artillery, gunboats, Maxim machine guns, and breach-loading rifles such as the British Magazine Lee-Metford long-range rifle versus handmade spears, lances, and bludgeons.Colonial partitions resulted in artificial political demarcations based not at all on language, religion, ethnicity, or way of life. The improper design of African borders and use of these designs as political instruments have increased instability and underdevelopment up to and including today.Filled with details that bring explorers, politicians, traders, and tribal leaders to life, The Scramble for Africa provides critical context for understanding the "Mother Continent" in today’s world.—Dr. Robert S. Frey

Extremely ambitious read covering many regions of African continent in last 30 years of 19th century, focusing on European imperialism; what is commonly known as THE SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA. This book has become one of the standard-bearers for historians and casual readers interested in that period. When I wrote BEFORE THE SCRAMBLE: A SCOTTISH MISSIONARY'S STORY I very much relied on several key chapters in this book. The book's design is as follows: the chapters are independent from each other, each chapter covering a separate region of the continent, separate European powers and their respective military and political personalities involved in those respective areas. The research is impeccable, the detail of personalities and incidents are clear and richly portrayed. This book is one of those seminal documents that will withstand the test of the time. It will be an excellent source for researchers, teachers, and students. Again, I found it extremely useful when it came time for me to write about my distant relative who was a missionary in British Central Africa in the 1880s. What was really compelling was reading about individuals James Sutherland (my relative) met, who appear in THE SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA. It helped me gain tremendous perspective on the personalities, historical forces, and individual events that molded African imperialism. I will always treasure this book.

I read this good book, here in Brazil.This book has many excellent parts, such as:1-Page 433:"Their dominant themes were the threat to the lives of the Christian missionaries, the need to maintain the supression of the slave trade, and the damage to Britain's honour if the country reneged on her pledges.It was an old familiar crusade, the one for wich Livingstone and Gordon and Bishop Hannington had died - the crusade against Mulslim slave traders."2-Page 439:"Impressed by his exploits in battle, Tippu Tip gave him back his freedom.Then for several years he served as Tippu's lieutenant in the upper Lomani, hunting slaves and ivory, like others loyal to the Arabs, with a pack of obedient cannibals.(Troublemakers were distributed as rations)".Such as another reviewer wrote, the big problem of this book is to be very biased.It is very biased and focused in England's imperialism.About Portugal and Spain imperialism in Africa, there's almost nothing.As I show above, this book writes the true about XIX Century's african slavery:an islamic business.At the same time, in one page, this book when talking about blacks in South Africa, describe they as "servants", not slaves, the real condition of them.Even with these failures, this book is a good choice to learn, about the Scramble for Africa.

This classic recounts the European rush for power in Africa, which took place over a remarkably short period of time. It is a highly detailed account of European actions in Africa and of the European politics around the rush. This creates a point of view that is strongly European. That has a lot to do with the passing of time, and a lot (I would assume) about the paucity of African source material. The book is a tough read -- the amount of detail can be overwhelming -- but well worth while.