The Scramble for Africa:

European colonisation across the continent

By Erin Taylor

A period often described as ‘the Scramble for Africa’ - manifesting itself in the final decades of the nineteenth century - saw rival European empires ‘scramble’ for imperial sovereignty, resulting in the continent’s subsequent partition, annexation and colonisation. After years of mostly informal imperialism where leverage and control was exerted over African coastal regions through treaties, trade and presence of private companies, such as the Royal African Company – the last quarter of the nineteenth century witnessed Europe’s establishment of a formal imperial hold over much of Africa. Historians have debated the explanations for the sudden plummet in European interest, but a number of key themes remain apparent throughout. Particularly, diplomatic interest in the continent accelerated as competing imperial bodies fought for pre-eminence through the acquisition of territory. Elsewhere, strategic desire to acquire the continent in order to protect the nearby trade route to India drove British interest while different European nations also longed for a monopoly over Africa’s rich abundance of raw materials.

            By December 1884, 14 European nations gathered in Berlin to act on these motives and discuss the partition of the interior of Africa in negotiations that lasted 3 months, until February 1885 – notably without the inclusion of Africa’s representatives themselves. During the conference, European powers disputed and fought for what they felt to be their share of the territory - and by the third month they had carved up the continent, mapping a new set of geographical boundaries. In establishing these new territorial divides, Europe had neglected and disregarded the presence of African communities’ pre-existing cultural and linguistic boundaries and the impact the shifting of them would have upon the ethnic communities who called the land their home. This disregard for the impact upon Africans was a pattern of behaviour that was laced through imperial rule where by 1900 focus had shifted from securing colonial rule to exerting control and extracting profit in an exploitation of the land, its resources and people for European economic gain.

About the Author

Erin Taylor is a second year BA History student at the University of Lincoln

References

1. The Scramble for Africa: late 19th century from South African History Online, www.sahistory.org.za

2. Partition of Africa’ from Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Western-colonialism/Partition-of-Africa