Scramble for Africa

Africa on the eve of World War I (1914-1918) was nothing like the Africa of 40 years earlier. What had been a largely independent continent with some foreign control of its coasts was now almost entirely in European hands. Britain and France held the lion’s share. The British had almost fulfilled Cecil Rhodes’s dream of an unbroken line of colonies from the Cape to Cairo. Their colonies held promising economic potential, with gold in South Africa and cash crops in East and West Africa. The French controlled huge amounts of territory in North and West Africa, but much was desert and only a few colonies were productive. Germany would lose its African colonies in losing World War I, as would Italy in World War II (1939-1945). Britain and France would give up most of their colonies in the 1950s and 1960s. Spain would remain longer but be a less-significant participant in the colonial picture. Portugal would entrench itself and become, in the mid-1970s, the last European power to begin to relinquish its claims.

The Scramble and its aftermath held great irony. While the conquest was going on, events in Africa were of the greatest importance throughout Europe. European competition for African territory dominated headlines, brought down governments, and nearly drove nations to war. But once the conquest was complete, Africa was largely forgotten and not considered again until the movement for African independence of the 1950s and 1960s.

Effects of the European takeover on Africans were considerable. In the short term, the Scramble obviously led to Africans’ loss of control of their own affairs. But it also brought enormous hardship to most Africans. In addition to the deaths caused by the conquest itself, many Africans died as a result of disrupted lifestyles and movement of people and animals among different disease environments. Africa’s population did not begin to recover from the devastation caused by the Scramble and its aftermath until well into the 20th century. In the long term, the Scramble was part of a larger process of bringing non-Western peoples into the world economy—in most cases as exporters of agricultural products or minerals and importers of manufactured or processed goods. Colonial governments taxed their African subjects and used the revenues to improve the colony’s infrastructure: building roads, bridges, and ports that connected distant locales to the outside world. Meanwhile, institutions to improve people’s lives, such as hospitals and schools, appeared more slowly. Colonial rule also brought elements of Western culture—from the French and English languages and Western political models to Coca-Cola and automobiles. It was in reaction to European rule that Africans developed a sense of nationalism that would help them gain independence in the second half of the 20th century.

For Europeans, the Scramble for Africa helped set the stage for World War I. Competition for African territory raised nationalist feelings and kept relations tense and combative. It also gave Europeans a sense that war was good for “national character” and not so taxing on budgets and manpower. World War I would soon destroy these illusions.