Individuals on the ground
Traders
The Goldie's company
danger to profits was by paying too high price to african men and middle men
industrial revolution created increased vegetable oil demand
lubricants for wheels of new factories, soap for new generations factory workers clean
main course of niger; brushed aside African Mafia
Threat of competition from new source, 2 large french trading companies.
Rhodes
Missionaries
Explorers
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Living stone
Buganda
Illustrated journals
Living stone
speke
Burton
French could possibly annex the middle and lower niger to create monopoly for french trade
similar to what they were doing in Senegal and upper course of the same river.
When african middle men struck back, company called gunboats to punish them
burnt villages and sunk canoes
was crude and not effective
lesson learnt where it is hopeless to do business in a place with real law and order by taking political control
Experienced great monopoly- textiles, spirits, palm oil, palm kernels.
standoffs occurred against domestic background of jingoistic posturing by politicians and journalists.
best known explorer alive, missionary and philanthropist, some called him a saint.
Arcadia found heart of the darkness,
new outburst of slave trade
When he wasn't exploring southern and Central Africa, teaching gospels to their inhabitants.
called it open sore of the world
believed open path to civilisation would heal this
thorugh nile brining trade and christianity, 3k miles from mediteranean, if only he could find it.
Urged the british to step up its efforts in
struggle against slavery
repeated that the end of slavery would mark the arrival of the golden age of stability and general prosperity.
Because livingstone was idiolised, when he disappeared Stanley was hired to find him at any cost.
was working class, scottish, through application and perseverance qualified as physician and clergyman, he personified the victorian ideal of active, manly christianity.
Sympathy towards.
Africans
haunted by witnessing slave trade aspects; burning villages, laughing raiders, howling women and children.
believed christianity, civilisation and commerce were the remedies to african maladies
believed Africans could be saved from themselves
1871 told stanley that his goal wasn't to preach gospel but to preach to europe what they must do about the horrors of slave trade, stop it all at once.
rejected stereotypes that detached africans from rest of humanity
died- 1873
King Mwanga, in rage ordered
all christians readers at court to be seized
castrated
hacked to death
bodies left to vultures
3rd June 1886- one large group, 11 protestants, 13 catholics, were taken and burnt on a funeral pyre
most astonishing part, even to executors that young boys died praising and singing the white mans god
many given freedom if renounced christianity, they chose matyrdom
Mass circulation illustrated journals, biographies of the saints, tracts and children’s fiction described
both the progress of individual missionaries and the people they encountered.
had a vast readership: by 1900 the Catholic magazine Annales had a circulation of about 1.5 million.
central message of these publications was that spiritual redemption was a crucial part of bringing civilisation
Stanley
Early life;
- Born illegitimately and raised in a workhouse in Wales
- Early career as a journalist for the ‘yellow press’ (cheap papers)
164 - Rose to prominence after discovering Livingstone was alive in 1871
Traced congo to the sea, reported central africa was a treasure house, a fountain of wealth waiting to be trapped.
1877 expedition as arriving in boma
7,088 miles and 999th day since left Zanzibar
circles great lakes, proved lualaba is congo
completed all livingstone tasks
cost, went to Zanzibar with 250 men, came back with 108 (inc. 13 women and 6 children)
14 drowned
38 killed in battle
62 died of starvation
some of dysentary
lesson for stanley; before cursed them as no better than slaves, now came to think of them as hereos and martyrs
British businessman and politician in southern Africa
Made a fortune from African diamond mines
Established South African Company
Land later became Rhodesia (Zimbabwe)
PM
Prime minister of Cape Colony (1890-1896)
Wanted British control over South Africa
Wanted Cape-to-Cairo Railroad
Architect of British imperialism in southern Africa
Great Britain became leading colonial power in southern Africa
Makinon
Carl Peters
the architect of Germany’s African empire, believed that his imagination, energy and foresight uniquely fitted him to spectacular achievements.
During an expedition in the latter months of 1889, Peters frequently confronted groups, from the Masai, who were expected to be hostile to the Galla tribesmen, with whom he had previously signed a solemn treaty of peace and friendship.
Peters was certainly the most pugnacious, the one who openly confessed to the ‘intoxication’ of killing Africans.
Major Von Wissman
1889- rebellion amongst the Arab slave traders, and so Bismarck sent out to distinguish German explorer, Wissman.
Had orders to take enough G officers and A mercenaries to fight rebellion
The G parliament voted 2 mill marks to equip Wissman's expedition
Victory was gauranteed even before trying to supress rebellion
After Wissmans victory the German East Africa would have to be goverened directly as an imperial colony
was very deranges, saw himself as African napolean, thought Africa would be Germany's india
thus he thought he would be a national hero
Peters violence
1894, one harem, slept w/ one of his mistresses and stole some cigars.
after he was caught, announced that "that pig will hang".
Peters ordered the execution of one of her mistress from sleeping with another man, and then claimed that he had been married to her by native custom, also entitiled him to order her death.
Peters’s sordid tyranny provoked protests from local missionaries and led to the scandal being aired in the Reichstag by a Social Democrat deputy. Peters was recalled to Berlin in 1895 and, after an investigation into his conduct, dismissed and left the country.
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De Brazza
Background information
admirer of livingstone, men were reasonably well-armed but style of travel was more conciliatory
could have forced way through peaceful tribes- but resisted
yearned to be the first to find source of ogowe river
was a noble prize- pushed french flag and trade deeper into interior, equatorial lakes
wanted to win confidence, inspire trust and even love, unusual for european explorer, apart from livingstone one of the only ones who felt real liking for Africans
Early life
1852-1905, italian born, french explorer
Brought up in Rome, the seventh son of an Italian nobleman
Joined French Naval school at Brest
Won a commission and came to Africa
Shocked to see French troops shooting down insurgents in Algeria
Volunteered to lead an expedition to chart the Lower Congo aged 22.
Exploration of Gabon
and ogowe rivers
woken up by crying of begging slaves to be rescued from cruel master, de brazza felt sympathy and bought him for 400 franc, higher than standard price.
met with tribe of cannibals, initially peaceful. encountered resistance and retreated, suffered ulcers and fevers.
“Unlike contemporary British explorers, de Brazza had a political mandate. He negotiated agreements with the chiefs... De Brazza was also laying the foundations for future French sovereignty of the region. He promised an end to the slave trade and, whenever he hoisted the Tricolour over his camp, he announced that whoever touched the flag became free.”
impact?
first main expedition, 1875-8, renowned for theatrics
on encounter w/ King makoko, had strong motive of making deal w/ europeans. King arranged Brazza to have french station at ncuna, north bank of pool. ground belonged to minor chief under king, were all pleased to welcome g=french after Brazza performed one of his unusal turns.
‘White men have two hands.
The stronger hand is the hand of war. The other hand is the hand of trade. Which hand do the Abanhos want?’ ‘Trade,’ they all cried. Then Brazza threw the cartridges in a hole, planted a tree on top, and said, ‘May there never be war again until this tree bears a crop of cartridges.’
1877 awarded legion d'Honneur
He pressed the case for ratification with the three usual justifications of empire-builders: humanitarian, economic, and political.
First equivalent to
livingstone's 3c's;
French catholism
French commerce (not free trade, of course, but trade only with france).
French civilisation
Congo was full of tropical riches: palm nuts, ivory, rubber, maize, copper and lead. To open up this commercial paradise,
he had discovered a short cut to link the Congo with Gabon.