British Imperialism In South Africa Essay

Analyze attitudes toward and evaluate the motivations behind the European acquisition of African colonies in the period 1880 to 1914

Thereafter thousands of British immigrated to South Africa to work in or control the mining industry. It could be said that the ‘history of twentieth-century southern Africa is to a very large extent dominated by the history of mining’ which to a certain extent is true. Most of the imperial expansion in South Africa at first glance does appear to have economic reasons. This can be further seen with Cecil Rhodes when he extended British influence to the northern reaches of South Africa in search for a second rand in which his whole expedition looks to be like conquistadores in search of land and gold . In 1910 the Transvaal republic was annexed by Britain, while economic reasons seem reasonable at first it can be argued that ‘political control of the Transvaal was not sought in order to control the gold-mines nor secure access to the supply of gold’ , that the British wanted to unify the region as part of the British Empire. Originally however, the importance of South Africa to the British was to protect the sea route to India, which was still vital, even after the Suez Canal was built, because the British were sure that they could defend the Cape with their naval strength, but were not so sure about the defence of the Suez if needed. Gallagher and Robinson assert that ‘Great Britain was in South Africa primarily to safeguard the routes to the east’ . However, this is still an economic factor. That Britain wanted to protect trade and strategy in the east, and while

     In Southern Africa, there were mineral discoveries in the 1860, 70, and 80’s. These discoveries had an enormous impact on Southern Africa. These discoveries lead to a “rush” of many fortune hunters and the establishment of the town of Kimberly, which grew quickly and soon became the largest urban society in the interior of Southern Africa. Soon the diamond industry was controlled by one monopolistic company. This was one negative effect of imperialism in Africa.

“African Perspectives on Colonialism” is a book written by A. Adu Boahen. This book classifies the African responses to European colonialism in the 19th century. Boahen begins with the status of Africa in the last quarter of the 19th century and follows through the first years of African independence. This book deals with a twenty year time period between 1880 and 1900. Boahen talks about when Africa was seized and occupied by the Imperial Powers of Europe. Eurocentric points of view dominated the study of this era but Boahen gives us the African perspective. There are always two sides of the story and Boehen tells us the side less talked about informing us of what he knows.

During the period of Apartheid in South Africa between 1948 and 1994 the reactions of the South African citizens towards the legal separation of races varied depending on race, ideals and time period. After gold and diamonds were fud inSouthAfrica both the dutch and British wanted the land to themselves, leading to the Boer War from which the Dutch farmers emerged victorious. Following the Boer War and the creation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, the Dutch Boers gained control over the majority of the land in the previously British Cape Colony along with the settlements they had already built, the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. Blacks in South Africa made up about eighty percent of the population but only lived on ten percent of

Mark X , chief of the Basutos of Southern Africa, wrote a letter to Sir George Grey, a British soldier and explorer, describing the way the Boers entered South Africa and gained power (Document 6). The African attitude toward the British at the time was noted to be positive; Mark X’s thought that all white men were honest. Later, the shift in economic ownership is captured in this letter as one British governor came to Mark X’s land and limited his power within the land. Then another governor came and took more land; the shift in attitude of the Africans toward the British is obvious as well when Mark X later stated that he had to send his son to watch the area in which the Boers occupied, as there was always trouble. As imperialistic steps were taken in Africa, the African attitude toward Europeans sharply changed.

Africa was a nation that was based off of selling slaves in which the Europeans were familiar with but by 1807, slavery was abolished which made King Leopold II move onto a different resource to line his pockets. The resource he started production on was rubber because of the widespread want for rubber for tires and other manufactured goods. Around the 19th century when Leopold acquired even more land and expanded his production on rubber and sometimes ivory his managers proceeded to force labor and strip away daily cleanliness which eventually led to the widespread disease of malaria which killed as many as 10,000,000 people. With a absolute infectious disease clouding Africa and the seemingly brutal army brought up by Leopold, what really was the driving force behind European Imperialism in Africa?

Several factors were the cause of this major land grab being Nationalism, Imperialism and to say the least pure greed! The British were the more dominant entity in the scramble and their main interests in the beginning were to acquire and protect sea routes to India. As a result of the congress of Vienna they acquired the area of South Africa known as the cape colony.

Assess the significance of the role of individuals in bringing about the expansion and dismantling of the British Empire in Africa in the period 1870-1981

Assess the significance of strategic factors in bringing about change in relation to expansion and dismantling of the British Empire in Africa in the period c1870 – c1981

In the early 1880’s, the powers of Europe started to take control of regions in Africa and set up colonies there. In the beginning, colonization caused the Africans little harm, but before long, the Europeans started to take complete control of wherever they went. The Europeans used their advanced knowledge and technology to easily maneuver through the vast African landscape and used advanced weapons to take control of the African people and their land. The countries that claimed the most land and had the most significant effect on Africa were France, England, Belgium, and Germany. There were many reasons for the European countries to be competing against each other to gain colonies in Africa. One of the main reasons was that the

Germany’s imperialist experience in Namibia came with several advantages. These advantages were of a political and economic nature. Benefits experienced included an increase of trade with other powers, an increased amount of political influence, and the control over valuable resources in South West Africa. Firstly, Namibia contained many valuable resources, which Germany had control over. Resources in Namibia included diamonds, rubber plantations, copper, lead and gold (Unknown Author, 2004). This stockpile of valuable resources meant that Germany could make massive profits if the correct steps were taken. Out of all of these commodities, not only is diamond the most valuable, but it was the most abundant in South West Africa. Access to these minerals greatly expanded Germany’s portfolio of tradable commodities. Secondly, Germany received large profits from trading its colony’s resources with other powers colonies. The direct trade between Germany and Britain colonies in 1910 was nearly 630 000 British pounds. Over two thirds of this income was from South West

Before the Europeans began the New Imperialism in Africa, very little was known about the inner parts of the continent. However, after some explorers delved deeper into the heart of Africa, the Europeans soon realized how economically important this area was, and how much they could profit from it. At the time, Britain had only small occupations of land in Africa, but after they realized that they could make money from the rich resources from the inner regions of Africa, they wanted to invade the African countries and take over. This led to the scramble and ultimately, the partition of Africa. During the Age of Imperialism, from 1870-1914, Britain was a major country, which proved to be true

The Boer War was a conflict that lasted from 1899 to 1902 in southern Africa between Great Britain and their allies, Transvaal (South African Republic) and Orange Free State, in what is now South Africa.

 The late 19th century imperialistic mentality brought many countries into heated conflicts. The two biggest players, before the Berlin Conference, were France and Britain (Bennett 67). These two rivals had been among the first to take interest in colonies in Africa. The British, by 1880, were mainly located in South Africa (51). They had annexed South Africa way back in 1815, mainly because of the strategic importance it held for trade to British India (69). At first, the British did not observe a great reason for expansion. By 1880, the "economical advantages" began to present themselves more clearly (Hugon 30).