Colonization of Africa: Causes, Methods, and Legacy

Introduction: European Colonization of Africa

The occupation and control of one nation by another is defined as colonialism. Various European countries colonized many areas of the world, including North and South America, Asia, Africa, Australia, and the small islands scattered around the globe. Africa was colonized by different European nations between the late nineteenth century and the late twentieth century. Prior to colonization, Europeans had maintained contact with Africa for a long time — for example, through the Atlantic Slave Trade — but it was not until the late nineteenth century that they imposed a formal rule of law over the continent. Regardless of their particular ideologies and administrative systems, most colonial states justified themselves in the name of civilization and pacification.

In Europe, the nineteenth century was a time of industrialization, as many factories needed raw materials to be manufactured into marketable products. European nations consequently sought both a source of raw materials and a market for manufactured goods in Africa. Economic motivation played the major role in driving the colonization of Africa.

During this period, competition among European countries intensified due to nationalism. Each European nation had a strong sense of national pride and wanted to be powerfully identified on the world stage. This competition, which frequently resulted in wars within Europe, was also expressed in the race for colonial expansion in Africa. It is one of the principal causes of the Scramble for Africa in the late nineteenth century, which culminated in the colonization of virtually all African countries within twenty-five years (1885–1910). None of the major European powers — particularly Britain, Germany, and France — wanted to be without colonies.

In the nineteenth century, ideologies of racial superiority spread throughout Europe. Europeans saw themselves as the most advanced civilization in the world, and many viewed it as their responsibility to civilize the rest of humanity. Numerous inaccurate and racialized stereotypes of Africans circulated at the time, and these were used to justify colonialism in Africa.

In addition, colonialism in Africa coincided with the growth of Christian missionary activity on the continent. From the earliest centuries of Christianity, parts of Africa — including Ethiopia and Egypt — were already home to Christians. Although Christianity was introduced to most of the rest of Africa only in the modern era, serious missionary activity began in the nineteenth century. European countries were becoming more deeply engaged in Africa during the same period. Though the relationship between Christian missionary activity and colonialism remains debated among historians, evidence suggests that many missionaries supported the colonization of African countries, even while opposing its harsher aspects. Missionaries who were proponents of colonialism believed that European control would create a political atmosphere favorable to missionary work. Their support played a significant role in legitimizing the colonial venture among citizens of the colonizing powers in Europe.

African territories became European colonies in two main ways. First, some African leaders were willing to sign agreements with European nations for various reasons — some saw it as advantageous to gain European allies, while others did not fully understand the treaties or their consequences. Second, in cases where there was substantial resistance to colonial rule, military force was used.

This treaty-making and territory-claiming by European nations caused a competitive rush for terrain in Africa known as the Scramble for Africa. As a result, the then-Chancellor of Germany, Otto von Bismarck, convened a conference in 1884 for European nations to regulate the competition for African territories. The Berlin Conference aimed to assure European nations of access to important trade routes (particularly along the Niger and Congo River basins), to restrain the internal slave trade ongoing in parts of Africa, to ban the importation of firearms into Africa, and to establish rules for the occupation of African territories. The result was the Treaty of Berlin. By 1900, almost 90% of Africa was under European control.

Imperialism and the Scramble for Africa

Imperialism is empire-building and occurs when one state is more powerful than another state's obstacles — whether peoples, geographic barriers, or technological limitations — to expansion. Imperialism became a popular cause for the first time in Western countries in the 1890s, driven to a significant degree by propaganda that sought to make nationalism and imperial expansion widely appealing. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, European civilization experienced a period of extraordinarily rapid expansion around the world. European countries had become highly influential due to industrialization and organizational efficiency. This process of global expansion had begun in the fifteenth century but gathered tremendous speed in the nineteenth.

Latin America and the seaports of Asia were the first regions to be colonized by Europeans; Africa was the last continent to be colonized. European rule conquered and thoroughly dominated Native Americans. Most Latin American descendants of Spanish conquerors gained independence from Spain by the early nineteenth century, while many indigenous peoples remained subjugated. In Africa, the continent's climate, diseases, and geography delayed European colonization until the nineteenth century.

The Scramble for Africa (roughly 1880–1900) was a period of rapid colonization of the African continent by European nations, driven by economic, social, and military developments taking place in Europe. In the early 1880s, only a small portion of Africa was under European rule, mainly limited to the coast and a short distance inland along major rivers such as the Niger and the Congo. The European countries with a foothold in Africa at that time were Britain (which held Freetown in Sierra Leone), France (with settlements in parts of Senegal), Portugal (in Angola), and Spain (which held small enclaves in Northwest Africa). Several factors created the momentum for the Scramble, most of which originated in Europe rather than Africa.

End of the Slave Trade: Britain had had some success in halting the slave trade along the shores of Africa, but inland the situation was different. Muslim traders from north of the Sahara and on the East Coast continued to trade inland, and many local chiefs were reluctant to abandon the use of slave labor. Reports of slave-trading expeditions and markets were brought back to Europe by explorers such as Livingstone, and abolitionists in Britain and Europe were calling for more action to be taken.

Exploration: In the nineteenth century, a year would scarcely pass without a European voyage into Africa. The explosion of exploration was activated by the formation of the African Association by wealthy Englishmen in 1788, who wanted to find the fabled city of Timbuktu and trace the course of the Niger River. Over time, European exploration shifted from traveling out of pure curiosity to systematically recording details of markets and goods for the wealthy sponsors who funded the expeditions.

Capitalism: The need for commerce between Europe and Africa was recognized at the end of the European slave trade. Although industrialists may have turned away from slavery, they still sought to exploit Africa's resources. This was made easier by the fact that European explorers had located vast reserves of raw materials, mapped trade routes, navigated rivers, and identified population centers that could serve as markets for European manufactured goods.

Henry Morton Stanley: Of all the explorers of Africa, Henry Morton Stanley — an American born in Wales — is most closely connected to the start of the Scramble for Africa, having crossed the continent and located the missing Livingstone. Though Stanley is infamously known for his explorations on behalf of King Leopold II of Belgium, his work generated a rush of European explorers to do the same on behalf of their own countries.

Steam Engines and Iron-Hulled Boats: The face of international relations between Europe and the rest of the world changed when the Nemesis arrived at Macao, south China, in 1840. The vessel combined a five-foot shallow draft, an iron hull, and two powerful steam engines. Heavily armed, it could navigate the non-tidal sections of rivers, allowing access far inland. Explorers such as Livingstone, Henry Morton Stanley, and Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza used similar steamers in their African travels.

Medical Advances: Due to medical advances, Europeans could now survive the ravages of African diseases. During the eighteenth century, most Europeans sent to Africa died within their first year. The discovery by two French scientists, Pierre-Joseph Pelletier and Joseph Bienaimé Caventou, of quinine proved to be the solution to malaria — the disease that had been killing the majority of European visitors to the continent.

Politics: The room for expansion in Europe was exhausted after the unification of Germany and Italy in 1871. Britain, France, and Germany found themselves in a complicated political situation as they tried to maintain their dominance and empire. France looked to Africa to acquire territory after losing two of its provinces to Germany in 1870. Britain focused on gaining control of Egypt and the Suez Canal, as well as claiming territory in gold-rich southern Africa. Germany eventually embraced the idea of overseas colonies under Chancellor Bismarck.

Military Innovation: Europe was modestly ahead of Africa in terms of available weapons at the beginning of the nineteenth century, since traders had long supplied local chiefs with guns and gunpowder. The incorporation of percussion caps into cartridges and the development of the breech-loading rifle gave Europe a massive military advantage. Breech-loading guns had two to four times the rate of fire of the older muskets held by most Africans. Europeans who were pursuing colonization and conquest constrained the sale of breech-loading guns to Africans in order to maintain their military superiority.

Systems of Colonial Rule

The Scramble for Africa, which lasted only about twenty years, fundamentally transformed the political map of the continent. Only Liberia — a colony established by formerly enslaved African Americans — and Ethiopia remained free of European control, as the rest of Africa was violently conquered despite widespread African resistance. This frenzied rush into Africa in the early 1880s saw a swift increase in European territorial claims across the continent.

Due to colonialism, African borders shifted dramatically. The modern borders of African countries were imposed from the outside by European nations. Once these borders were drawn and territories claimed, European nations devised plans for governing their acquired colonies. These plans fell into four main categories.

In the early days of colonialism, European nations permitted the development of private companies that were granted vast territories to administer on their behalf. These companies were founded by businessmen attracted by the natural resources of the regions they were licensed to govern. They established their own systems of taxation and labor recruitment. The European powers granted these licenses because the companies assumed all the expenses related to establishing and governing the colonies, allowing European countries to gain the political benefit of additional colonies without the financial cost. For example, the British East Africa Company colonized Kenya on behalf of Britain; established in 1888, it governed Kenya until 1893. The British South Africa Company, formed in 1887, colonized three territories — Nyasaland (Malawi), Northern Rhodesia (Zambia), and Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) — and governed them until 1923.

However, these companies ultimately failed because they were unable to generate steady profits for their shareholders. The harsh nature of company rule provoked opposition from Africans and missionaries alike, and governing a colony proved expensive. By 1924, most companies had withdrawn, and this form of governance was replaced by various systems of direct European colonial administration.

Direct rule was the model of colonial governance used by France, Belgium, Germany, and Portugal. These European powers employed a policy of assimilation through centralized administrations typically located in urban centers. The policy held that colonizers were civilizing African societies to make them more like Europe. As a result, European powers did not negotiate governance with local African rulers. Local authorities held inferior positions within these administrations. Direct rule also employed a policy of divide and rule, implementing plans that deliberately weakened indigenous power networks and institutions.

This system of governance, used primarily by Britain, incorporated indigenous African rulers within the colonial administration. Although local leaders maintained a subordinate role, indirect rule was a more cooperative model than direct rule. It operated on the assumption that all Africans were organized into tribes with chiefs — an assumption that was not always accurate. As a result, this system deepened divisions between ethnic groups and concentrated power in the hands of certain men.

Settler rule was used by colonialists in southern Africa. It encouraged European settlers to impose direct control over their colonies and differed from other colonial arrangements because large numbers of European immigrants — not missionaries or colonial officials — settled permanently in these territories. The settlers demanded special political and economic rights and protections. Their security and prosperity depended on the economic exploitation and political domination of the African population, which far outnumbered them. This type of rule was characterized by particularly harsh policies toward the native African population.

Settler rule was practiced in South Africa, Zimbabwe (formerly Southern Rhodesia), Zambia (formerly Northern Rhodesia), Angola, Mozambique, and Namibia (formerly South West Africa), settled by colonists from Holland, Britain, Germany, and Portugal. It was also practiced in Kenya by Britain and in Algeria by France.

Despite Africa's geographic proximity to Europe relative to other European colonial territories, it was the last continent to be colonized. This was largely due to its formidable natural barriers: the Sahara Desert to the north, the Namib and Kalahari Deserts to the south, the impenetrable landscapes of the Great Rift Valley, and the vast equatorial rainforests. African rivers, dropping sharply from the continent's high interior plateau, create numerous impassable rapids and waterfalls. Africa was also plagued by deadly diseases. These conditions made it extraordinarily difficult for European colonizers to penetrate the interior until twentieth-century technological advances made it possible.