Africa



** Essential Questions **:
 * **How can political change cause conflict**
 * **How does the development of nationalism impact people, nations, and empires?**
 * **How can political relationships affect economic relationships?**
 * **What characteristics and factors unite people as a nation?**


 * Political change can cause conflict when it does not suit the needs/desires of all of the people.
 * The more pride a certain people has for its nation or empire, the more likely they are to support its decisions.
 * The friendlier one country is with another, the more likely that it will receive economic aid from that country in times of need.
 * Pride of the country, the success of the nation, potential for jobs are all factors that unite people as a nation.


 * Comments on Africa from Videos:**
 * Chinese would buy opium
 * Opium created many drug addicts
 * Chinese took British opium and threw it into the sea
 * Treaty of Nanjing gave Britain Hong Kong
 * Europeans could not take territories in Africa because of diseases
 * Technology made it possible for Europeans to take over Africa (steam ships, medicines, guns)
 * Africans were defeated because the Europeans were technologically superior
 * Europeans could almost always rely on their military prowess to coerce native leaders to do their will
 * Britain was able to take over Egypt because of its bankruptcy
 * Europeans depended on African intermediary governments
 * People in European African colonies were often oppressed, abused, and even killed
 * African nations were troubled by economic weakness and political disruption
 * African colonies could serve as good ports for naval and trade ships
 * Some of the worst oppression of Africans was in the Congo
 * Britain, France, and Germany rushed to acquire land in the Congo area
 * By the early 1900s, only Liberia and Ethiopia were able to resist European takeovers

__**Questions on Map of Imperialism and Global Economy:**__ https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DSwYun8F-8EmNCqIng3QaZ_XxK7Tg3u2RpJ9fEw8teI/edit

** : Analyze the quote below. Copy and paste the quote and your analysis into your wik **i:

** Like a cyclone, imperialism spins across the globe; militarism crushes peoples, and sucks the blood like a vampire. ** ** By Karl Liebknecht ** This quote means that imperialism has occurred all over the world, and and that the occupying nations' militaries will not be hesitant to kill the residing members of the country; the "sucks the blood like a vampire" part is referring to how the occupying countries literally drain the resources of the country being occupied, leaving them with nothing. __** Scramble for Africa: **__ https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TiWXvU-91sRxwHu2UphQ9hCaf4Ed86CQff8gtb5q4xE/edi __**Picture Detective Scramble for Africa:**__ https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sLVTE02zTcaSDMnZFTDKXwgBpDq0GFC3EaIRmpp75OE/edit __**GO on New Imperialism:**__ __**Frayer Model on Imperialism:**__ **The White Man Burden:** 1. The "White Man's Burden" was to expand their nation's territory and take over other peoples in other lands. 2. Kipling suggested the "White Man" gets "ungrudged praise" and "dear-bought wisdom" for carrying his "burden". 3. Kipling intended for the leaders of the American government to read this poem. I think the reactions to the poem were probably split; some people agreed with the idea of expansion and more territory, power, income, but others were opposed to it due to the racial notions of the poem. 4. The lines of the poem I found most interesting were "Take up the White Man's burden/ Send forth the best ye breed/ Go send your sons to exile/ To serve your captive's needs"; because Kipling is recommending to send young, healthy Americans to go and take over their "captives," a.k.a. people from other countries. It's just ironic to me that people from a country that boasts "freedom and liberty and justice" would go and deprive people of less-developed nations of exactly those three things.
 * ** Describe the significance of the Berlin Conference in 5 words **:
 * Trade
 * Money
 * Territory
 * Access
 * Division

** Primary Sources on Imperialism in Africa **


 * Read each of the quotes or documents and answer the questions under each one:

// " Throughout history it has been the inaction of those who could have acted, the indifference //// of those who should have known better, the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered //// that has made it possible for evil to triumph." //** Haille Selassie, Ethiopian emperor, 1892-1975 ** Questions to consider**:**
 * What is the perspective of the author? What events might have caused the author to think as he does?
 * Why might the author be making this statement?
 * How does the quote relate to Imperialism in Africa? Explain.

**"On French Colonial Expansion" A Speech before the French Chamber of Deputies, March 28, 1884, by Jules Ferry (1832-1893): Ferry was twice prime minister of France, from (1880-1881, 1883-1885)** // Gentlemen, we must speak more loudly and more honestly! We must say openly that indeed the higher races have a right over the lower races... // // I repeat, that the superior race races have a right because they have a duty. They have the duty to civilize inferior races...In the history of earlier centuries these duties gentlemen have been misunderstood; and certainly when the Spanish soldiers and explorers introduced slavery into Central America, they did not fulfill their duty as men of a higher race....But inour time, I maintain that European nations acquit themselves with generosity, with grandeur, and with sincerity of this superior civilizing duty. //
 * The perspective of the author is an unconquered nation surrounded by many nations currently being taken over. The imperialism going on in Africa might have caused him to think as he does.
 * The author might be making this statement because he is seeing that nobody is stepping in to stop the imperialism from happening in his continent.
 * The quote shows the author's dislike that his nation has been one of the //only// in Africa to have been able to resist. Almost everywhere else in the continent is being taken over.

// I say that French colonial policy, the policy of colonial expansion, the policy that has taken us under the Empire, that has led us to Tunisia, to Madagascar- I say this policy of colonial expansion was inspired by...the fact that a navy such as ours cannot do withtout safe harbors, defenses, supply centers on the high seas...Are you unaware of this? Look at the map of the world. //


 * Who is the author of this piece of evidence? What is his viewpoint?
 * What justifications does he offer to support his viewpoint?
 * Why might he be giving this speech? What is the purpose of this speech?
 * What does the speech tell you about life and attitudes of that time?


 * The author of this piece of evidence is Jules Ferry, who was twice prime minister of France. His viewpoint is that the "superior race" has to teach the "inferior races" how to be civilized, because that is their duty.
 * He justifies his viewpoint by stating that it is generous and sincere to "civilize" the inferior races.
 * He might be giving this speech to explain why France is taking part in the Scramble for Africa. The purpose of this speech is for the rest of the world to see what France and other European nations are doing as a good and generous thing to the African nations they are taking over.
 * The speech tells you that during that time of human history, people truly did believe that they were better than others in other parts of the world, and thought that they were inferior.

"The Rhodes of Colossus: Striding from Cape Town to Cairo" Published in Punch, or the London Charivari, December 10, 1982.Artists: Linley Sambourne


 * Where and when was this political cartoon published? What impact might this have on its perspective and bias?
 * What meaning does the title give to the Illustration? Why might the author have chosen the words he did/ (colossus, striding, Cape Town and Cairo)
 * Who is being depicted in this political cartoon? (research cartoon) What objects do you see?
 * What is the artists viewpoint? What evidence from the political cartoon supports your claim?


 * This political cartoon was published was published in London on December 10, 1892. Britons might have gotten offended at this drawing.
 * The title depicts British colonialist Cecil Rhodes as the Colossus from a Greek sixteenth century engraving. The author might have chosen the words he did to portray Britain as a giant in comparison to the technologically inferior, much weaker African nations.
 * The Colossus who stood with wide-set legs across Rhodes harbor in a sixteenth century Greek engraving. I see telegraph wires being measured from Cape Town in South Africa to Cairo in Egypt
 * The artist's viewpoint is to show Britain's major colonizing of Africa. Cecil Rhodes is shown as an immense figure and that is probably to represent Britain's great power, and that it is very possible for it to acquire all that territory stretching from Cape Town to Cairo.

__**Letter from Moshweshewe:**__ https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EvTZ8wU8eOFtUUEVdSlYoQjOeE7OuEmlPsWN6aW41B4/edit
 * Who is the author? Why is he writing the letter? What is the purpose?
 * The letter included the names of several individuals and groups. Who are these individuals and groups? How do they impact the meaning of the letter? (you will have to research names and groups as example Boers, Harry Smith....)
 * Do you think the letter was successful in fulfilling its purpose? Why or why not? Use evidence (quotes) from the letter to support your claim.


 * The author is Mark X of Moshweshewe, Chief of the Basutos. The purpose of writing the letter is to inform England that their own representatives are behaving in an undesired manner to the Africans.
 * Boers were white farmers living in Africa, and they impact the letter by providing a clear example of new inhabitants acting as if they suddenly control all the land. Harry Smith was a renowned military official in England, but disliked by many Africans, for his autocratic and oppressive behavior.
 * I do not think the letter was successful in fulfilling its purpose, because the chief even stated how "[i]n vain [he] complained" but things continued getting worse. After his unacknowledged complaints, Harry Smith sent "Warden to govern in the Sovereignty," who of course favored the Boers over the native Africans.


 * Source: Ndansi Kumalo, African veteran of the Ndebele Rebellion against British advances in southern Africa, 1896. **

So we surrendered to the White people and were told to go back to our homes and live our usual lives and attend to our crops. We were treated like slaves. They came and were overbearing. We were ordered to carry their clothes and bundles. They harmed our wives and our daughters. How the rebellion started I do not know; there was no organization, it was like a fire that suddenly flames up. I had an old gun. They—the White men—fought us with big guns, machine guns, and rifles. Many of our people were killed in this fight: I saw four of my cousins shot. We made many charges but each time we were defeated.But for the White men’s machine guns, it would have been different.


 * How were the the people of southern Africa treated by the imperialists?
 * Why was the African rebellion unsuccessful?


 * The people of southern Africa were treated like slaves by the imperialists.
 * The African rebellion was unsuccessful because the White men were technologically superior than the Africans and had much better guns.


 * Source: Mojimba, African chief, describing a battle in 1877 on the Congo River against British and African mercenaries, as told to a German Catholic missionary in 1907. **

And still those bangs went on; the long sticks spat fire, pieces of iron whistled around us,fell into the water with a hissing sound, and our brothers continued to fall. We ran into our village and they ran after us. We fled into the forest and flung ourselves on the ground. When we returned that evening our eyes beheld fearful things: our brothers, dead, bleeding, our village plundered and burned, and the river full of dead bodies.You call us wicked men, but you White men are much more wicked! You think because you have guns you can take away our land and our possessions. You have sickness in your heads, for this is not justice


 * Who is the author of this source? What does it refer to?
 * Describe the strength of the sides in this battle using evidence from the text.
 * What is the chief's opinion of the British?

**Source: German military officer, account of the 1905 Maji Maji Rebellion in German East Africa, German military weekly newspaper, 1906**.
 * The author of this source is Mojimba, an African chief. It refers to a battle in 1877 on the Congo River against British and African mercenaries.
 * The African side was not very strong, as Mojimba describes how easily his people would be defeated in the first sentence. The British was able to easily "take away [their] land and [their] possessions" because they had "guns".
 * The chief thinks of the British as evil, wicked men, who are sick in the head.

The chiefs spread it among their people that a spirit, living in the form of a snake, had given a magic medicine to a medicine man. The medicine guaranteed a good harvest, so that in future people would no more need to perform wage labor for foreigners in order to obtain accustomed luxuries. The medicine would also give invulnerability, acting in such a way that enemy bullets would fall from their targets like raindrops from a greased body. It would strengthen women and children for the flight customary in wartime, with the associated hardships and privations, and protect them from being seized by the victorious attackers, who were accustomed to taking women and children with them as war prizes. The medicine consisted of water, maize, and sorghum grains. The water was applied by pouring it over the head and by drinking.


 * What is the message the German military officer was trying to send about the East Africans? Give evidence from the document to support your claim
 * Why do you think the Africans made such claims?


 * I think the German military officer was trying to make the East Africans seem kind of dumb and not very smart. Right in the first sentence when he uses the word "magic," it probably already gave the readers a negative thought of the East Africans for believing in such things.
 * The Africans probably made such claims so that there would be more hope in the people, because they were probably very downcast at all the fighting and imperialism taking place all around them.

**Document 8**:

Smithsonian Institution sponsored African expedition for Theodore Roosevelt, 1909-1910. Photo was used as an illustration in Theodore Roosevelt's book, "African Game Trails" published in 1910.




 * Describe the person and objects in this photo.
 * What is the purpose of the photograph?
 * What economic or social implications does this photo indicate about Africa in 1909?


 * Theodore Roosevelt is wearing hunting gear and standing beside a dead elephant.
 * The purpose of the photograph is to show America the different variety of animals and game in Africa through Roosevelt's book.
 * This photo indicates that in 1909 Africa had plenty of available raw materials (such as ivory from elephants' tusks) and that America should be making good use of this fact.

**Document 9**:


 * What European industries benefited from African resources?
 * Which European country do you feel had the most valuable colonies? Why?
 * How could this document be used to explain the primary reason for European imperialism in Africa?


 * The clothes industry and monetary industries benefited from African resources.
 * Great Britain had the most valuable colonies, because it is the only country from the list that had acquisition of two colonies, and the resources that they exported were very valuable (many metals, such as gold, copper, zinc, lead; they even were able to export diamonds.
 * One could argue that Africa offered numerous opportunities for economic success for European countries, and that was why many European countries chose to take part in the Scramble for Africa.


 * Document 10 ** :

"Colonialism’s greatest misdeed was to have tried to strip us of our responsibility in conducting our own affairs and convince us that our civilization was nothing less than savagery, thus giving us complexes which led to our being branded as irresponsible and lacking in self-confidence. . . The colonial powers had assimilated each of their colonies into their own economy. Our continent possesses tremendous reserves of raw material and they, together with its potential sources of power, give it excellent conditions for industrialization. . ." Sekou Toure, West African nationalist, 1962


 * In 1962, what was the response of this West African nationalist to years of colonialism?


 * This West African nationalist did not think too highly of the years of colonialism in Africa. He says that the oppressing European countries made the African nations feel as if they were nothing but savages, and that was one of the main reasons why they changed their civilizations and ways of life. He does, however, agree that Africa has many economic opportunities and has potential for industrialization.