Contrary to popular belief, the Europeans did not begin to conquer it from the first second of their stay on the African coast in the same way as they did in America. Africa met the first colonists with dangerous diseases, centralized states and numerous, albeit poorly armed, armies. The first attempts at aggression against the African kingdoms showed that it would not be possible to conquer them with a detachment of 120 people, as Pizarro did with the Inca Empire. As a result, for almost four centuries after the appearance of the first Portuguese fort of Elmina in Africa (1482), European powers had practically no opportunity to control the deep regions of the mainland, content only with colonies on the coast and in estuaries.
Many European countries managed to participate in the colonization of the Black Continent. As the first "masters" of Africa, which was granted to them by a special bull of the Pope, the Portuguese extremely quickly, literally during the lifetime of one generation, managed to capture or establish strongholds in West, South and East Africa. At the beginning of the XVI century. The Ottoman Empire took over North Africa. Only a century later, in the 17th century, these two empires were followed by young colonial lions - England, the Netherlands, France. Their colonies in Africa in the XVII century. had Denmark, Sweden, Spain, Brandenburg and even Courland, a small Baltic duchy, which for some time owned an island and a fortress at the mouth of the Gambia River, where landless Latvian peasants were settled by colonists.
Europeans preferred to buy or rent land from local rulers rather than fight for it. In Africa, they were not interested in land, but primarily in goods: slaves, gold, ivory, ebony - and these goods could be bought relatively inexpensively or taken as tribute. In addition, the belief prevailed in Europe at that time that the climate in the depths of the continent was unbearable for a white man, and this was true: malaria, schistosomiasis and sleeping sickness significantly reduced the life of a European in Africa. The Portuguese in Angola and Mozambique and the Dutch colonists in South Africa advanced more than others, but on the whole the map of European possessions on the continent in 1850 differed little from that of 1600.
In the 1720s Peter I decided to equip an expedition for the development of the island of Madagascar by Russia. It was not destined to take place, but the archives preserved a letter from the Emperor of All Russia to a certain non-existent "King of Madagascar", where Peter calls himself his "friend": "By the grace of God, we, Peter I, are the Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia, etc., etc., and so on, to the most venerable king And the ruler of the glorious island of Madagascar, our congratulations.Because we have decided for some business to send to you our Vice-Admiral Wilster with several officers: for your sake, we ask you, so that they are inclined to allow ourselves, free stay, and in that they will offer you in our name to give you full and perfect faith, and with such a inclined answer to let them go to us again, we deigned, what we trust from you, and stay with you, friend. of the year".
As for the map of the interior of Africa before the European conquest, it is usually represented as a solid blank spot. It is easy to see that this is not so: in the middle of the XIX century. there were at least two dozen fairly developed states on the continent, with which the Europeans for the time being maintained very close and relatively friendly relations.
Everything changed literally in an instant in the last quarter of the 19th century, and there were several reasons for this. Europe learned the properties of quinine, produced from the bark of the South American cinchona tree and capable of treating malaria, which was no longer so terrible for European settlers. Europe developed the technology of rifled weapons, which had huge advantages over the smoothbore musket, which was equipped with the most advanced African armies. Europe has accumulated enough information about inner Africa thanks to a whole cohort of glorious travelers who successfully passed through the jungle, swamps, deserts and proved that the sun does not burn a person alive there, as the ancient authors believed. Finally, Europe had experienced an industrial revolution and was in dire need of new markets for manufactured goods, which were being produced at hitherto unheard-of speed and in large volumes. To start the colonial race, it was only necessary to fire the first shot. It was not the great powers that were destined to make it, but small Belgium.
This shot was fired in 1876 in Brussels, when the Belgian King Leopold II announced the creation of the African International Association to promote scientific and humanitarian projects in the Congo Basin. Throughout Europe, this move was hailed as the beginning of the Belgian conquest of Central Africa, and indeed it was. Having landed at the mouth of the Congo, the Belgian soldiers and the black militia armed by them went deep into the continent, forcing the local leaders by force to sign enslaving treaties with King Leopold on an "alliance", which in fact gave the land for nothing into the hands of the Europeans. Many leaders simply did not understand what they put their signature or fingerprint under. Dissenters were killed or imprisoned, uprisings were suppressed with unprecedented cruelty. Western journalists were aware of cases when militiamen hired by the king not only killed, but also ate their victims among the civilian population, especially children. In terms of its cruelty, the exploitation of the local population in the rubber plantations, mines, and road construction organized by the Belgians did not know anything like it in the history of Africa. People died in tens of thousands, and at the same time, repression and robbery remained uncontrolled, because the "Free State of the Congo", as this vast territory was called with terrible cynicism, was not controlled by the Belgian state, but was the personal property of Leopold. This unique lawlessness continued until 1908.
Belgium was immediately followed by England, France, Portugal and Spain, and a little later, the young great powers Germany and Italy, who also dreamed of their own colonial empires, joined the division of the African pie that had suddenly become so fashionable.
The race took on hurricane speed. Everywhere in Africa, where it was possible to negotiate with tribal leaders or break the resistance of local principalities, the European flag was immediately hoisted, and the territory was considered annexed to the empire. At the Berlin Conference of 1885, where the division of Africa was legalized, the great powers urged each other to correct, civilized behavior, but, as always happens in the division, clashes were difficult to avoid. One of the most famous "incidents" occurred near the Sudanese town of Fashoda in 1898, when the French detachment of Marchand, coming from West Africa, came face to face with the English expedition of Kitchener, also busy placing flags. It took intense negotiations and numerous concessions to avoid war: the French withdrew to the south, and the Sudan withdrew into the British sphere of influence.
It cannot be said that this lightning-fast division of the continent cost the colonialists without losses. The British had to go through several bloody battles to capture the Ashanti Confederation in Ghana and the Zulu state in South Africa, while the French overcame the desperate resistance of the Fulani Emirates and the Tuareg of Mali. For two years, German troops had to suppress the Herero uprising in Namibia, which ended in a large-scale genocide of Africans.
Although by 1900 the African continent had turned into a kind of patchwork scarf painted over with the colors of European empires, Tanganyika (the territory of present-day Tanzania) was subjugated by Germany only in 1907, and France secured control over West Africa not earlier than 1913. The liberation struggle of the Libyan tribes against the Italians continued until 1922, and the Spaniards managed to pacify the militant Berbers of Morocco only in 1926.
Independence managed to maintain only one state created by Africans - Ethiopia. At the end of the XIX century. the Ethiopian Negus Menelik II even managed to participate in the division of Africa, more than doubling the boundaries of his state at the expense of various tribes in the south, west and east.
The history of Africa is calculated for thousands of years, it is from here, according to the scientific world, that mankind originated. And here, too, many peoples returned, however, already in order to establish their dominance.
The proximity of the north to Europe led to the fact that Europeans in the 15-16th century actively penetrated the continent. Also the African west, it was controlled by the Portuguese at the end of the 15th century, they began to actively sell slaves from the local population.
The Spaniards and the Portuguese were followed by other states from Western Europe: France, Denmark, England, Spain, Holland and Germany to the "dark continent".
As a result of this, East and North Africa came under European oppression, in total more than 10% of African lands were under their rule in the middle of the 19th century. However, by the end of this century, the size of colonization reached more than 90% of the mainland.
What attracted the colonists? First of all, natural resources:
- wild trees of valuable species in large quantities;
- growing a variety of crops (coffee, cocoa, cotton, sugar cane);
- precious stones (diamonds) and metals (gold).
The slave trade also grew.
Egypt has long been drawn into the capitalist economy on a world level. After the Suez Canal was opened, England began to actively compete, who would be the first to establish his dominance in these lands.
The British government took advantage of the difficult situation in the country, prompting the creation of an international committee to manage the Egyptian budget. As a result, an Englishman became Minister of Finance, a Frenchman was in charge of public works. Then difficult times began for the population, which was exhausted from numerous taxes.
The Egyptians tried in various ways to prevent the establishment of a foreign colony in Africa, but over time, England sent troops there to take over the country. The British were able to occupy Egypt by force and cunning, making it their colony.
France began the colonization of Africa from Algeria, in which for twenty years it proved its right to dominate by war. Also, with prolonged bloodshed, the French conquered Tunisia.
Agriculture was developed in these lands, so the conquerors organized their own huge estates with vast lands, on which Arab peasants were forced to work. Local peoples were convened to build facilities for the needs of the occupiers (roads and ports).
And although Morocco was very important for many European countries object, it remained free for a long time thanks to the rivalry of its enemies. Only after the strengthening of power in Tunisia and Algeria did France begin to subdue Morocco.
In addition to these countries in the north, Europeans began to explore South Africa. There, the British easily pushed back the local tribes (San, Koikoin) to deserted territories. Only the Bantu peoples did not submit for a long time. 
As a result, in the 70s of the 19th century, the English colonies occupied the southern coast, without penetrating deep into the mainland.
The influx of people to this region is timed to coincide with the discovery in the valley of the river. Orange diamond. Mines became the centers of settlements, cities were created. The formed joint-stock companies have always used the cheap power of the local population.
The British had to fight for Zululand, which was included in Natal. The Transvaal was not fully conquered, but the London Convention provided for certain restrictions on local government.
Germany also began to occupy these territories - from the mouth of the Orange River to Angola, the Germans declared their protectorate (southwest Africa).
If England sought to extend its power in the south, then France directed its efforts inland in order to colonize the continuous strip between the Atlantic and Indian oceans. As a result, under French rule was the territory between the Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Guinea.
The British also owned some West African countries - mainly the coastal territories of the Gambia, Niger and Volta rivers, as well as the Sahara.
Germany in the west was able to conquer only Cameroon and Togo.
Belgium sent forces to the center of the African continent, so the Congo became its colony.
Italy got some lands in northeast Africa - huge Somalia and Eritrea. And fot Ethiopia was able to repel the attack of the Italians, as a result, it was this power that was practically the only one that retained its independence from the influence of Europeans.
Only two did not become European colonies:
- Ethiopia;
- Eastern Sudan.
Former colonies in Africa
Naturally, foreign possession of almost the entire continent could not last long, the local population sought to gain freedom, since their living conditions were usually deplorable. Therefore, since 1960, the colonies quickly began to be liberated.
This year, 17 African countries became independent again, most of them - the former colonies in Africa of France and those that were under the control of the UN. Lost colonies in addition to this and:
- UK - Nigeria;
- Belgium - Congo.
Somalia, divided between Britain and Italy, united to form the Somali Democratic Republic.
While most Africans became independent as a result of mass desire, strikes and negotiations, wars were still waged in some countries to gain freedom:
- Angola;
- Zimbabwe;
- Kenya;
- Namibia;
- Mozambique.
The rapid liberation of Africa from the colonists has led to the fact that in many created states, the geographical boundaries do not correspond to the ethnic and cultural composition of the population, and this becomes a reason for disagreements and civil wars.
And the new rulers do not always comply with democratic principles, which leads to massive dissatisfaction and the deterioration of the situation in many African countries.
Even now in Africa there are such territories that are controlled by European states:
- Spain - Canary Islands, Melilla and Ceuta (in Morocco);
- Great Britain - Chagos Archipelago, Ascension Islands, St. Helena, Tristan da Cunha;
- France - Reunion, the islands of Mayotte and Eparse;
- Portugal - Madeira.
XVIII--XIX centuries. Mass colonization of Africa
Cape Colony (Dutch Kaapkolonie, from Kaap de Goede Hoop - Cape of Good Hope), Dutch and then English possession in South Africa. It was founded in 1652 at the Cape of Good Hope by the Dutch East India Company. In 1795, the Cape Colony was captured by Great Britain, in 1803-1806 it was under the control of the Dutch authorities, in 1806 again captured by Great Britain. The territory of the Cape Colony was constantly expanding due to the lands of Africans: Bushmen, Hottentots, Bantu peoples. As a result of a series of wars of conquest by the Boer and British colonialists, the eastern border of the Cape Colony reached the Umtamvuna River by 1894. In 1895, it was incorporated into the Cape Colony. southern part Bechuan lands annexed in 1884-1885.
The creation of the Cape Colony was the beginning of the mass European colonization of Africa, when many states joined the colonization struggle for the most valuable areas of the Black Continent.
Colonial policy from the very beginning was associated with wars. The so-called trade wars of the 17th and 18th centuries were fought by European states for colonial and commercial dominance. At the same time, they were one of the forms of primitive accumulation. These wars were accompanied by predatory attacks on foreign colonial possessions and the development of piracy. Trade wars also engulfed the coast of Africa. They contributed to the involvement of new overseas countries and peoples in the sphere of European colonial conquests. The reasons for the exceptional profitability of trade with colonial countries lay not only in its colonial character. For the colonies, this trade was always non-equivalent, and with the progress of European industry and the growing use of machinery, this non-equivalence steadily increased. In addition, the colonialists often acquired the products of the colonial countries through direct violence and robbery.
In the struggle of European states, the question was decided which of them would win commercial, maritime and colonial hegemony and thereby provide the most favorable conditions for the development of their own industry.
The Dutch and British put an end to the maritime and colonial predominance of Spain and Portugal at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries. As the model capitalist state of the time, Holland surpassed any other European state in the number and importance of its colonial acquisitions. At the Cape of Good Hope, Holland founded its "settlement" colonies.
A struggle unfolded between Europeans for colonies in Africa. At the very beginning of the 19th century, the British captured the Cape Colony. The Boers pushed back to the north on the lands taken from the indigenous population created the Republic of South Africa (Transvaal) and the Orange Free State. Then the Boers took Natal from the Zulus. In the next 50 years, England waged wars of extermination directed against the indigenous population (Kaffir Wars), as a result of which it expanded its possessions of the Cape Colony to the north. In 1843 they drove out the Boers and occupied Natal.
The northern coast of Africa was mainly invaded by France, which by the middle of the 19th century had taken possession of all of Algeria.
In the early 20s of the 19th century, the United States bought land on the west coast of Africa from the leader of one of the local tribes to organize a settlement of blacks. The colony of Liberia, created here, was declared an independent republic in 1847, but in fact remained dependent on the United States.
In addition, the Spaniards (Spanish Guinea, Rio de Oro), the French (Senegal, Gabon) and the British (Sierra Leone, Gambia, Gold Coast, Lagos) owned strongholds on the west coast of Africa.
The division of Africa was preceded by a series of new geographical research continent by Europeans. In the middle of the century, large Central African lakes were discovered and the sources of the Nile were found. The English traveler Livingston was the first European to cross the continent from the Indian Ocean (Quelimane in Mozambique) to the Atlantic (Luanda in Angola). He explored the entire course of the Zambezi, Lake Nyasa and Tanganyika, discovered the Victoria Falls, as well as Lakes Ngami, Mweru and Bangweolo, crossed the Kalahari Desert. The last of the major geographical discoveries in Africa was the exploration of the Congo in the 70s by the British Cameron and Stanley.
One of the most widespread forms of penetration of Europeans into Africa was the continuously expanding trade in manufactured goods in exchange for the products of tropical countries through unequal settlements; despite the official prohibition, the slave trade was carried on; enterprising adventurers penetrated deep into the country and, under the flag of the fight against the slave trade, were engaged in robbery. Christian missionaries also played a significant role in strengthening the positions of the European powers on the Black Continent.
European colonialists were attracted to Africa by its huge natural wealth - valuable wild trees (oil palms and rubber plants), the possibility of growing cotton, cocoa, coffee, and sugar cane here. On the coast of the Gulf of Guinea, as well as in South Africa, gold and diamonds were found. The partition of Africa has become a matter of big policy for European governments.
South Africa, along with North Africa, Senegal and the Gold Coast, belongs to those areas of the mainland where the colonists began to move inland. Back in the middle of the 17th century, Dutch, and then German and French settlers acquired large plots in the Cape Province. The Dutch prevailed among the colonists, so they were all called Boers (from the Dutch "boer" - "peasant"). The Boers, however, soon became not at all peaceful farmers and pastoralists who earned their livelihood by their own labor. The colonists - their number was constantly replenished by newly arrived settlers - by the beginning of the 19th century already owned vast fields and pastures and stubbornly filtered further into the interior. At the same time, they destroyed or expelled the fiercely resisting Bushmen and other peoples of the Khoisan-speaking group, took away their land and livestock.
British missionaries, seeking to justify the colonial policy of England, at the beginning of the 19th century wrote with indignation in their reports about the brutal, inhuman destruction of the local population by the Boers. The English authors Barrow and Percival portrayed the Boers as lazy, rude, ignorant people, cruelly exploiting "half-savage natives." Indeed, hiding behind the dogmas of Calvinism, the Boers declared their "divine right" to enslave people with skin of a different color. Some of the conquered Africans were used on farms and were almost in the position of slaves. This applies primarily to the hinterland of the Cape Province, where the colonists had huge herds of cattle.
The farms were mostly subsistence farming. The herd often numbered 1,500-2,000 heads of cattle and several thousand sheep; Africans looked after them, forced to work by force. Near the urban settlements - Kapstad, Stellenbos, Graf Reinst - in addition, the labor of slaves brought from afar was used. They worked in the household, in agricultural enterprises, vineyards and fields, as dependent artisans. The Boers constantly pushed the boundaries of their possessions, and only the scythe, with heroic efforts, held them back on the Fish River. In the first hundred and fifty years of its existence, the Cape Colony served mainly as a way station for the Dutch East India Company on the way to India, but then the colonists got out of its control. They founded, primarily under the influence of the French Revolution, "autonomous regions", where, extolling freedom in words, they actually carried out territorial expansion and exploitation of the African population. At the beginning of the 19th century, Great Britain captured the Cape Colony. Since 1806, the residence of the English governor was located in Kapstad. Between the two groups interested in colonial expansion - the Boers and the British - a struggle began. Both pursued the same goal - to exploit the population of Africa, but they differed in their immediate tasks, motives and forms of their activity, for they represented different stages and driving forces of colonial expansion.
The Boers lost in this duel - they were not in a position to resolutely go over to capitalist methods of exploitation. This was preceded by numerous disagreements and clashes, and for many authors the entire history of South Africa in the 19th century even appears exclusively in the light of the "Anglo-Boer conflict".
Shortly after the Cape Colony became an English possession, administrative power passed from the Dutch authorities to English officials. Colonial troops were created, which included African "auxiliary" units. Boer farmers were heavily taxed. Since 1821, an increased influx of English settlers began. First of all, the administration provided them with the most fertile lands in the eastern part of the colony. From here they, having broken the resistance of the spit that lasted for decades, moved to the river Kei. By 1850, this area was annexed to the English colony, and then the entire territory of the Xhosa settlement was conquered.
The British authorities supported capitalist colonization by appropriate measures, including the involvement of natives in the economy as a labor force. Slavery often continued to exist, albeit in an indirect form, in the form of forced labor or a system of working off. On large farms, it only gradually gave way to the capitalist exploitation of African rural workers and tenants ("squatter systems") that continues to this day. These forms of exploitation were by no means more humane for the African population than slave labor and other forms of dependence on Boer farms. Boer farmers considered themselves disadvantaged in their economic and political rights. They were particularly protested by the prohibition of slavery, the legislative acts of the British administration regarding the attraction and use of African workers, the conversion of Boer farms into concessions, the depreciation of the Dutch riksdaler, and other factors of this kind.
By this time, the consequences of the primitive, predatory methods of using the arable land and pastures of the Cape had also affected. Extensive pastoralism and the existing order of inheritance of land had previously pushed the colonists to move further inland and seize new areas. In 1836, a significant part of the Boers left their place to free themselves from the pressure of the British authorities. The "great track" began, the resettlement of 5-10 thousand Boers to the north. In colonial apologetic historiography, it is often romanticized and called the march of freedom. The Boers rode in heavy wagons drawn by oxen, which served as their dwelling on the way, and during armed skirmishes with the Africans, turned into a fortress on wheels. Huge herds moved nearby, armed horsemen guarded them.
The Boers left the Orange River far behind, and here in 1837 they first met the Matabele. The Africans courageously defended their herds and kraals, but in the decisive battle of Mosig, their capital, in the south of the Transvaal, matabele warriors who fought only with spears could not resist the modern weapons of the Boers, although they fought to the last drop of blood. Thousands of them were killed. The Matabele with all their people hurriedly retreated north, through the Limpopo, and drove off their cattle.
Another group of Boers, also carried away by a thirst for conquest, under the leadership of their leader Retief, crossed the Drakensberg Mountains into Natal. In 1838 they perpetrated a massacre among the Zulu who lived here, established themselves on their lands and in 1839 proclaimed the independent Republic of Natal with Pietermaritzburg as its capital. It was run by the people's council. They built the city of Durban (or Port Natal, after the name of the coast, in honor of the landing of Vasco da Gama on it on Christmas Day 1497) and thus secured access to the sea. The land was divided into large farms of 3,000 morgens (morgen is about 0.25 hectares) or more each. However, the British colonial administration of the Cape Province also long ago coveted the fertile lands of Natal. The British occupied Natal and in 1843 declared it a colony. Although the right of settlement was recognized for the Boer farmers, most of them left their homes. They again crossed the Dragon Mountains with their herds and wagons and rejoined the Boers of the Transvaal. Near them, north of the Waal River, they formed three republics: Leidenburg, Zoutpansberg and Utrecht, which in 1853 united to form the Republic of South Africa (Transvaal).
A year later, the Orange Free State was proclaimed to the south of it. The government of England and the colonial authorities of the Cape were forced to recognize the sovereignty of the newly formed Boer states, but did everything to keep them under their influence. The Orange Free State and the Transvaal were republics, peasant in essence, religious-ascetic in appearance. From the middle of the XIX century. merchants and artisans also settled on the territory of the Orange Free State, and a certain number of English colonists appeared.
The Calvinist Church, following its principles of isolation, adopted the ossified forms of dogma.
To justify the exploitation of the African population, she developed a kind of system of racial discrimination and declared it "divine providence." In reality, the Boers drove from the land and enslaved the settled indigenous population and tribal groups of the Suto and Tswana tribes, seized vast territories and turned them into farms. Some of the Africans were driven back to the reserves, some were doomed to forced labor on farms. The Tswana defended themselves against "defense" measures imposed by force; many went to the west, to waterless areas that looked like deserts. But here, too, their leaders experienced pressure from two sides very early.
Britain realized that these areas, devoid of economic value, were of great strategic importance: whoever owns them, it is not difficult to surround the possessions of the Boers and secure their interests in the neighboring Transvaal. Then the German Empire, which also encroached on central Bechuanaland, captured Southwest Africa, and this sealed the fate of the Tswana tribes. Great Britain hastened to take advantage of the "aid" treaties which she had long ago entered into fraudulently with some of their leaders, and in 1885 a small detachment of English colonial units actually occupied their territory.
Another important enclave for years successfully resisted the armed detachments of the Boers and their "trek", undertaken in search of rich pastures and cheap labor, the Suto territory, led by the tribal leader Moshesh.
The Southern Suto tribes lived in the mountainous upper reaches of the Orange River in what is now Lesotho. Fertile and rich in mountain pastures, this area was densely populated. Naturally, she early became the object of desire of the Boer pastoralists, and then of the English farmers. Here, during the defensive battles against the Zulu and Matabele, an association of the Suto tribes was formed and strengthened. Under Moshesh I, a brilliant military leader and organizer, his people were united in the struggle against European colonialism. In three wars (1858, 1865-1866, 1867-1868) they managed to defend their rich pastures and the independence of Basutoland.
But the leaders of the Sutos could not for long resist the sophisticated tactics of the British colonial authorities, who sent merchants, agents and missionaries from the Cape ahead of them. Moses even himself turned to the British with a request for help in order to protect himself from the encroachments of the Boers. In pursuance of the treaties, in 1868 Great Britain established a protectorate over Basutoland, and a few years later directly subordinated it to the British administration of the Cape Colony. Then the Sutos took up arms again. The Sutos responded to the mass seizure of land, the introduction of a system of reserves, colonial taxation and the project of disarmament of Africans with a mighty uprising that lasted from 1879 to 1884. The British, not limited to punitive expeditions, somewhat modified and in some ways even weakened the protectorate system. As a result, they managed to bribe some of the leaders, make them more accommodating, and eventually turn them into an important support for the colonial exploitation of Basutoland.
Thus, in the 70s, Great Britain established dominance over the Cape Colony, Natal and Basutoland. Now she purposefully directed her actions against the Zulu state north of Natal, plotting at the same time to encircle and capture the Boer republics of Orange and Transvaal. The struggle of the colonial powers for the mastery of South Africa soon received a powerful new impetus: on the hot summer days of 1867, the first diamonds were found on the banks of the Orange River. Thousands of miners, merchants and small entrepreneurs rushed here. New urban settlements sprang up.
The area east of the Waal River to Spear and Wornisigt, named after the British Colonial Minister Kimberley, was littered with diamond placers. The British colonial administration of the Cape Colony provided its entrepreneurs and merchants with control over the diamond mining zone and free access to it. In 1877, British troops attacked the Transvaal, but the Boers managed to repulse the attack, defend their sovereignty and preserve the colonies, and in 1884 Great Britain again confirmed the Transvaal's limited independence.
However, the discovery of diamond placers on the Orange, and in the early 80s - rich gold deposits near Johannesburg in the Transvaal set in motion such forces that the Boers could not resist pastoralists and farmers, and even more so the African tribes and peoples, although the latter exerted heroic resistance. From now on, colonial policy was determined by large British companies and associations of finance capital. Their operations were directed by Cecil Rhodes (1853--1902), who made his fortune on the exchange speculation in the shares of mining enterprises. It took him only a few years to acquire many diamond mining concessions, and then to monopolize all the diamond and gold mining in South Africa. In the 80s and 90s, the Rhodes group occupied a dominant position in the rapidly developing South African industry. With the support of Lord Rothschild, Rhodes became the leading financial magnate of his day.
From the 80s of the XIX century. the British monopolists dreamed of a continuous colonial complex in Africa "from Cap to Cairo." In making these dreams come true, they broke the Matabele resistance north of Limpopo and herded tens of thousands of African miners and seasonal workers into labor camps. Overwork brought them to complete exhaustion, and sometimes to physical death.
The resistance of the inhabitants of South Africa developed under exceptionally difficult conditions. Because of the complex intrigues waged against each other by the British and the Boers, the Africans sometimes did not understand that both of these colonial forces were equally dangerous to the independence of the indigenous people. Often they tried to maneuver between the two fronts, concluding agreements with the invader, which at that moment seemed to them less dangerous. The more terrible were the consequences of such mistakes. While the Africans were gathering forces to repulse one foreign conqueror, another, no less dangerous colonial robber, treacherously hiding behind the mask of an ally, crept up to the borders of their lands and villages and took them by surprise.
The Xhosa tribes were the first to rebel against the Boer farmers, who were striving for land grabs, and the English colonialists. As far back as the 18th century, English settlers reached the Fish River and from this point infiltrated into the rich pastures of the spit breeders. The Xhosa, however, could not accept the incessant reduction of their pastures, cattle rustling, as well as the agreement imposed on them, which established the Fish River as the boundary of their settlement. They invariably returned to their usual places of pastures and settlements, especially during periods of drought. Then the Boers sent punitive expeditions against the kraals of the Xhosa.
The war of the Xhosa tribes, first against the Boer and then the English invaders, lasted for almost a hundred years. It appears in colonial historiography as the eight "Kaffir" wars. The first clashes with the Europeans took place in an environment of hostility between individual tribal groups, in particular between the leaders of Gaik and Ndlambe. Thanks to this, the Boer, and most importantly, the English invaders successfully prevented the formation of a united African front and were able to neutralize individual leaders. An example is the war of 1811, when, with the approval of Gaiki, English troops took punitive action against some Xhosa groups under Ndlambe. Before that, the leaders of Ndlambe and Tsungwa, bribed by the extremist circles of the Boers and relying on the help of the Hottentots fleeing forced labor, defeated the troops of the English general Vandeleur and approached the Keiman River. Therefore, the punitive actions of the British were distinguished by cruelty, they did not take prisoners and killed the wounded on the battlefield.
The disparate Xhosa groups needed to unite and act together. Such was the situation when a prophet named Nhele (Makana) entered the scene. By promoting his teachings and "visions" based on traditional African and Christian religious ideas, he tried to rally the Xhosa in the fight against the colonial exploiters. Only Ndlambe recognized him, and the British colonialists, capitalizing on this circumstance, concluded an "alliance pact" with Gaika. More than 2,000 Xhosa warriors died in the battle with the allies, and Nhele Kosa itself lost all territory up to the Keiskama River: it was annexed to the Cape Colony. This war, the fourth in a row, was an important turning point. The threat of colonial conquest forced the leaders of individual tribes to forget their feuds and continue to act together. Defensive battles strengthened the combat capability of tribal alliances. In 1834, all the Xosa who inhabited the border regions revolted. They were well organized and employed new tactical methods of warfare. Some colonial units were destroyed by partisans. Nevertheless, in the end, the British again defeated the spit and annexed to their colony all areas west of the Kei River (1847). The capture of Natal, first by Boer immigrants, and in 1843 by the British colonial administration, split the previously united area of \u200b\u200bsettlement of both Nguni peoples - the Xhosa and the Zulu.
From that time on, the British administration stubbornly sought new territorial conquests and the final conquest of the Xhos. All agreements with individual leaders were annulled, so war broke out again (1850-1852). The battles were notable for their special duration and persistence. It was the longest and most organized Xhosa uprising. Inspired by the new prophet, Mlandsheni, the Xhosa declared a "holy war" against the invaders. They were joined by thousands of Africans, forcibly dressed in the uniforms of colonial soldiers, and Hottentot policemen. Armed with modern weapons, they significantly increased the anti-colonial uprising. On Christmas Day 1850, thousands of Xhosa warriors crossed the borders of British Capraria.
These actions were led by the leader of the pebble Kreli. We emphasize that at the same time the supreme leader Suto Moshesh fought against the British troops, and in 1852 his cavalry numbering 6-7 thousand people inflicted a temporary defeat on the British. The rebels also negotiated with some of the Grikwa and Tswana leaders about joint action against the colonialists.
And yet the moment was missed when the uprising could be crowned with a victory, at least temporarily. The English colonizers again succeeded in winning the leaders over to their side by false promises and in capturing the last lands of the Xhosa in the Transkei. Now the borders of the English colonies rested on the territory of the Zulu tribal association.
The last time individual Xhosa tribes rose up against colonial enslavement and complete loss of independence in 1856-1857. The chiefs of the Crelis and Sandilis, with their tribes on a small piece of land, were besieged on all sides by the English armies, and they were threatened with starvation. In this hopeless situation, under the influence of the new prophet, they had chiliastic visions of the future: the judgment of God, they believed, would drive out the white strangers; in the "future kingdom", where the Christian doctrine will find no place for itself, the dead will rise, above all the immortal prophets and slain leaders, and all the lost cattle will be reborn. This will put an end to any kind of political and economic dependence. The prophet Umlakazar called in his sermons: "Do not sow, next year the ears will sprout by themselves. Destroy all the maize and bread in the bins; slaughter the cattle; buy axes and expand the kraals so that they can accommodate all those beautiful cattle that will rise with us ... God angry at the whites who killed his son ... One morning, waking up from a dream, we will see rows of tables laden with dishes; we will put on ourselves the best beads and jewelry.
Yielding to these religious suggestions, the Xhosa slaughtered all their cattle - one European missionaries give an impressive figure: 40 thousand heads - and began to wait for the "last judgment". After the "day of resurrection" expected on February 18-19, 1857, thousands of Xos died of starvation. The European conquerors, who allegedly had to leave the country due to a lack of food, did not even think about leaving. So the active struggle against colonialism was replaced by the expectation of the intervention of supernatural forces and the onset of the "kingdom of justice." Undoubtedly, the scythe driven into a dead end, who did not know the laws of social development, drew strength and hope from it. Only when the scythe was convinced that their visions had not come true did they take up arms again in complete desperation. English troops easily defeated people half-dead from hunger. Most of the scythe died during hostilities or starved to death. The rest obeyed. Thus ended almost a century of heroic resistance of the Xhos tragically.
In the fight against the Xhosa, the colonizers usually encountered separate disunited tribes, which only occasionally united in direct rebuff to the conquerors. A much more dangerous adversary was the military alliance of the tribes and the state of the Zulu.
The supreme leader of the Zulu, Dingaan, was at first very friendly to the Boers and, not understanding their colonialist plans, clearly in defiance of the English settlers and invaders recognized in the contract the ownership of the Boers in southern Natal. Soon, however, he realized his mistake and tried to correct it by ordering the death of the leader of the Boers Piet Retief and his companions. War became inevitable. Between the Zulu army and the troops of the Boers, a stubborn bloody struggle began for land and pastures in that part of Natal, which belonged to the Zulu under Shaka. In 1838, with the support of the British, the Boers went on the offensive. In vain did Dingaan's army of 12,000 men try to capture the Boer camp, which was defended by the Wagenburg. The Zulu suffered a heavy defeat. The battlefield was littered with the bodies of Africans, 3-4 thousand people fell. The river, in the valley of which the battle took place, has since been called the Blood River - the Blood River. Dingaan was forced to withdraw his army north of the Tugela River. The Boers took possession of the huge herds that used to belong to the Zulu, and forced Dingaan to pay a large indemnity in cattle.
Subsequently, in this state there were many dynastic civil strife, there was a struggle for predominance between individual leaders and military leaders.
The Boers kindled dissatisfaction with the supreme leader Dingaan, and subsequently even took a direct part in the hostilities of pretenders to the throne. In 1840 Dingaan was killed. A significant part of Natal fell into the hands of the Boer colonists, but the Zulu retained their independence, and even the English conquerors who appeared after the Boers did not dare to encroach on it for the time being.
However, the Zulu chiefs, unable to come to terms with the lack of grazing land and the threat of colonial annexation, organized resistance again and again. In 1872, Ketchwayo (1872-1883) became the main leader of the Zulu. Realizing how great the danger looming over him, he tried to unite the Zulu tribes to fight back. Ketchwayo reorganized the army, restored military kraals, and in the Portuguese colony of Mozambique bought modern weapons from European merchants. By this time, the Zulu army numbered 30,000 spearmen and 8,000 soldiers under arms. But the conflict arose earlier than the supreme leader expected.
The English colonial authorities of Natal sought, in parallel with the advance in the Transvaal, to completely subdue the Zulu. In 1878, they presented an ultimatum to Ketchwayo, in fact, depriving the Zulu state of independence.
The British demanded to recognize the power of their resident, to allow missionaries into the territory of the Zulu, to disband the combat-ready Zulu army, and to pay a huge tax. The Council of Chiefs and Warlords rejected the ultimatum. Then in January 1879, British troops invaded Zululand. This war, however, was destined to become one of the most difficult and bloody campaigns of English colonialism in the 19th century. Official figures put the military spending alone at £5 million.
Initially, the Zulu managed to inflict tangible blows on the colonialists. Their successes caused a number of uprisings along the borders of Natal and the Cape Colony, including among the Suthos. Only after the British troops received substantial reinforcements from the colonial administration were they able to defeat the Zulu. Ketchwayo was captured and sent to Robben Island. However, the British government has not yet decided to carry out the complete annexation of the Zulu territory. By dividing the powerful Zulu state into 13 tribal territories that were constantly at war with each other, it thereby weakened it and established its indirect control over it. Ketchwayo was even temporarily returned from exile on the terms of his recognition of a de facto British protectorate. But later Zululand was nevertheless annexed to the British possessions in Natal, and colonial relations of exploitation were established on its territory in the interests of European landowners and capitalists.
At all stages of pre-imperialist colonial expansion, the African peoples and tribes that became victims of the first colonial conquests resisted them. The glorious traditions of the African peoples, which modern Africans are justly proud of, include the defensive wars of the Ashanti, Xhosa, Basotho and Zulu, and also the Hajj of Omar and his followers in the first two thirds of the 19th century. Unfortunately, they arose, as a rule, still spontaneously. Separate tribes or tribal unions, headed by an aristocracy, i.e. semi-feudal nobility, often opposed foreign invaders disunitedly.
As in previous centuries, many anti-colonial movements and uprisings either took place under the religious flag of the renewal of Islam, or, as in South Africa, took on the character of Christian-animistic messianism or the preaching of the prophets. Belief in the supernatural powers of the leaders did not allow Africans to realistically assess the military superiority of their opponents. The visions and prophecies reflect the immaturity of the anti-colonial movement caused by the social conditions of the period. In addition, the resistance carried out by the tribes invariably aimed at restoring the old order. Even the liberation movement of the educated merchants, the intelligentsia, and some of the leaders of West Africa could demand reforms and participation in government, mostly on paper.
Although the Africans resolutely and courageously resisted colonialism, their struggle was doomed to failure. The social and, consequently, the military-technical superiority of Europe was too great for the peoples and tribes of Africa, who were at the stage of the primitive communal or early feudal system, to win not a temporary, but a lasting victory over it. Due to the rivalry between different ethnic groups and internecine strife within the tribal aristocracy and the feudal stratum, resistance to foreign invaders was usually inconsistent, contradictory, and most importantly, was deprived of unity and isolated from other performances of this kind.
By the seventies of the XIX century. on the African continent, European powers owned 10.8% of the entire territory. Less than 30 years later, by 1900, the possessions of European states in Africa already accounted for 90.4 ° / 0 of the territory of the continent. The imperialist division of Africa was completed. Hundreds of thousands of Africans who defended their land and independence died in an unequal struggle with the colonialists. The imperialists, on the other hand, were given broad opportunities to plunder the country's natural wealth, unrestrained exploitation of its peoples and unheard-of enrichment.
1. Africa on the eve of partition
Indigenous people of Africa
Historically, Africa was divided into two main parts, which differed from each other in ethnic terms, in terms of the level of socio-economic development and in the form of political structure. North Africa, down to the great deserts, has long been closely connected with the Mediterranean world. Its population is Arab and Arabized, distinguished by relative ethnic homogeneity. Egypt, Tunisia, Tripoli and Cyrenaica were part of the Ottoman Empire: Morocco was an independent state. The social system of the countries of North Africa was a complex set of social relations - from emerging capitalism in urban centers to the tribal system of nomads. However, with all the diversity of social orders, feudal relations prevailed.
Another part of the continent, located south of the Sahara, represented! presents a more complex picture. The northeast (the northern part of Eastern Sudan, Ethiopia, the countries of the Red Sea coast) was inhabited mainly by peoples speaking Semitic-Hamitic languages. Negroid peoples, speaking the Bantu languages, as well as various Sudanese languages, inhabited the vast expanses of tropical and southern Africa. In the far south lived the Koikoin (Hottentots) and San (Bushmen) tribes. A special place among the African peoples was occupied by the population of Madagascar, anthropologically belonging to the Mongoloids and speaking the Malagash language (Malayo-Polynesian group).
The socio-economic system and forms of political organization in this part of Africa were very diverse. In a number of regions of Western Sudan, as well as in Madagascar, the feudal order constituted the main type of social relations, combined, as a rule, with significant elements of the slave-owning and primitive communal system. Along with the feudal states, which in certain periods achieved significant centralization (Ethiopia, the state of Imerina in Madagascar, Buganda, etc.), tribal unions, rudimentary state formations, arose, disintegrated and revived again. Such were the unions of the Azande and Mangbettu tribes in Western tropical Africa, the Zulu in South Africa. Many peoples in the middle zone of Western Sudan, in the northern bend of the Congo and other regions did not even know the rudimentary forms of state organization. There were no clearly defined boundaries. Tribal wars never stopped. Under these conditions, Africa became an easy prey for the colonialists.
European penetration into Africa
The Portuguese were the first Europeans to settle on the African continent. As early as the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th century. they explored the coast of Africa from Gibraltar to the eastern ledge of the mainland north of Mozambique and founded colonies: Portuguese Guinea and Angola - in the west and Mozambique - in the east. In the second half of the 17th century, the Dutch (Cape Colony) entrenched themselves in the extreme south of Africa, partly exterminating, partly enslaving the San and Koikoin. Following the Dutch, colonists from France and other European countries headed here. The descendants of these first colonists were called Boers.
A struggle unfolded between the Europeans themselves for colonies in Africa. At the very beginning of the XIX century. The British took over the Cape Colony. Pushed back to the north, the Boers created the Republic of South Africa (Transvaal) and the Orange Free State on new lands, forcibly taken from the indigenous population. Shortly thereafter, the Boers took Natal from the Zulus. In extermination wars against the indigenous population, which lasted almost 50 years ("Kaffir Wars"), England expanded the possessions of the Cape Colony to the north. In 1843, the British captured Natal, driving out the Boers from there.
The northern coast of Africa was the object of colonial conquests, mainly by France, which, as a result of long wars against the Arab population, by the middle of the 19th century. conquered all of Algeria.
In the early 20s of the XIX century. The United States of America bought land on the West Coast of Africa from the leader of one of the local tribes to organize the settlement of Negroes released by individual slave owners. This was an attempt to create a base for further expansion in Africa and at the same time for the settlement of free Negroes, who posed a threat to the existence of slavery in the United States . The colony of Liberia, created here, was declared an independent republic in 1847, but in fact it remained dependent on the United States.
In addition, the Spaniards (Spanish Guinea, Rio de Oro), the French (Senegal, Gabon) and the British (Sierra Leone, Gambia, Gold Coast, Lagos) owned strongholds on the west coast of Africa.
Partition of Africa at the end of the 19th century. preceded by a series of new geographical explorations of the continent by Europeans. In the middle of the century, large Central African lakes were discovered and the sources of the Nile were found.
The English traveler Livingston was the first European to cross the continent from the Indian Ocean (Quelimane in Mozambique) to the Atlantic (Luanda in Angola). He explored the entire course of the Zambezi, Lake Nyasa and Tanganyika, discovered the majestic phenomenon of African nature - the Victoria Falls, as well as Lakes Ngami, Mweru and Bangweolo, crossed the Kalahari Desert. The last of the major geographical discoveries in Africa was the exploration of the Congo in the 70s by the British Cameron and Stanley.
Geographical studies of Africa made a major contribution to science, but the European colonialists used their results in their own selfish interests. Christian missionaries also played a significant role in strengthening the positions of European powers on the Black Continent.
The most common form of European penetration into Africa was the ever-expanding trade in industrial goods in exchange for the products of tropical countries on the basis of non-equivalent calculations. The slave trade continued on a large scale, despite its official prohibition by the European powers. Entrepreneurial adventurers equipped armed expeditions deep into Africa, where, under the banner of combating the slave trade, they engaged in robbery, and often hunted slaves themselves.
European colonizers were attracted to Africa by its huge natural wealth - significant resources of valuable wild trees, such as oil palms and rubber plants, the possibility of growing cotton, cocoa, sugarcane coffee, etc. Gold was found on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea, and then in South Africa and diamonds.
The division of Africa became a matter of "big politics" of European governments.
2. Capture of Egypt by England
Economic enslavement of Egypt
By the mid-1970s, Egypt was already experiencing the consequences of the country's being drawn into the world capitalist economy. The capitulation of Muhammad Ali in 1840 and the extension of the Anglo-Turkish trade convention of 1838 to Egypt led to the abolition of previously existing trade monopolies. Foreign manufactured goods gained wide access to the country. There was a process of introducing export crops, especially cotton. The industry for the primary processing of agricultural products developed, ports were re-equipped, railways were built. New classes were formed - the national bourgeoisie and the proletariat. However, the development of capitalism was hampered by feudal relations in the countryside and by the ever-increasing penetration of foreign capital. The Egyptian government, due to the high costs caused by the construction of the Suez Canal, ports and roads, was forced to resort to external loans. In 1863 the public debt of Egypt reached £16 million. Art.; the payment of interest alone absorbed a significant portion of the country's income. Loans were guaranteed by the main income items of the Egyptian budget.
After the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, the struggle of the capitalist powers, primarily Britain and France, to establish their dominance over Egypt acquired a particularly tense character.
In November 1875, as a result of the financial bankruptcy declared by the Ottoman Empire, the rate of Egyptian securities fell catastrophically. The British government took advantage of this to force the Egyptian Khedive Ismail to sell England his shares in the Suez Canal Company for a pittance.
Foreign creditors began to openly interfere in the internal affairs of Egypt. The British government sent a financial mission to Cairo, which drew up a report on the difficult financial situation of Egypt and proposed to establish foreign control over it. After lengthy Anglo-French disputes, an Egyptian Debt Commission was formed from representatives of England, France, Italy and Austria-Hungary; English and French controllers received the right to manage the income and expenditure of Egypt. In 1878, the so-called European cabinet was formed, headed by the English protege Nubar Pasha. The post of Minister of Finance was taken by an Englishman, and the post of Minister of Public Works by a Frenchman.
Foreign ministers levied heavy taxes from the fellahs (peasants), and increased the taxation of the landlords' lands. In February 1879, they fired 2,500 Egyptian officers, which hastened the outbreak of indignation in the army, which resulted in a demonstration of officers. In April 1879, an appeal signed by more than 300 ulemas, pashas, beys and officers was sent to the Khedive demanding the immediate removal of foreigners from the government. Khedive Ismail was forced to comply with this demand. The new cabinet was composed only of the Egyptians, headed by Sheriff Pasha.
In response to the removal of foreigners from the government, England and France obtained from the Turkish sultan the removal of Ismail and the appointment of a new Khedive, Tevfik. He restored Anglo-French control over finances and reduced the size of the Egyptian army to 18,000 men.
The rise of the national liberation movement
The omnipotence of foreigners offended the national feelings of the Egyptians. At the head of the national liberation movement of the movement were representatives of the young Egyptian national bourgeoisie, the Egyptian intelligentsia, officers, and patriotic landlords. All of them united under the slogan "Egypt for the Egyptians" and created the first political organization in Egypt, Hizb-ul-Watan (Homeland Party, or National Party).
In May 1880, a group of officers spoke out against the obstacles placed in the promotion of Egyptian officers, the forced use of soldiers for labor work and the systematic delay in salaries.
In early 1881, officers led by Colonel Ahmed Arabi sent a petition to the Egyptian government demanding the resignation of the Minister of War and an investigation into his promotions. Arabi, a native of the fellahs, was a talented and energetic leader of Hizb-ul-Watan. He understood the importance of the army as the only organized force in the country and tried to find support among the peasantry. In February 1881, soldiers under the command of patriotic officers seized the building of the War Ministry and arrested the Minister of War.
The success of the Arabi group caused fear among the government and its foreign advisers. An attempt to remove patriotic regiments from Cairo met with resistance. The Watanists demanded the resignation of the cabinet, the drafting of a constitution, and an increase in the Egyptian army. The armed action of the army in September 1881 forced the Khedive to accept all the demands of the Watanists.
These events increased the anxiety of the colonialists. British and French diplomacy tried to organize a Turkish intervention in Egypt. When this failed, France put forward a project to establish joint Anglo-French military control over Egypt. England, seeking to independently seize Egypt, refused to accept this proposal.
Meanwhile, the new government of Sherif Pasha, formed after the September uprising, decided to hold parliamentary elections (on the basis of a very limited electoral law of 1866). Most of the Vatanists got into Parliament. They insisted that the future constitution give the parliament the right to fully control at least that part of the state budget that was not intended to pay off the public debt. The draft constitution worked out by Sheriff Pasha provided Parliament with only deliberative rights in this matter. Most of the deputies of the Egyptian Parliament at the session that opened on December 26, 1881, expressed dissatisfaction with this project. Arabi put forward a proposal to form a new cabinet.
In January 1882, a joint Anglo-French note was handed to the Khedive demanding the dissolution of parliament and the suppression of Arabi's activities. Despite this pressure, the Egyptian parliament in early February forced the resignation of Sherif Pasha's government. Ahmed Arabi entered the new cabinet as Minister of War. The creation of a national government was marked by large gatherings in support of it. The new cabinet adopted a draft constitution that provided for the approval of the budget by the government together with a parliamentary commission (except for the part intended to pay off the public debt).
After an unsuccessful attempt to bribe Arabi, on May 25, 1882, England and France presented the Khedive with notes demanding the resignation of the cabinet, the expulsion of Arabi from the country, and the removal of prominent Watanists from Cairo. The national government resigned in protest against gross foreign interference, but this caused such serious unrest in Alexandria and Cairo that Khedive Tewfik had to restore Arabi to the post of Minister of War on May 28.
Occupation of Egypt by England
At an international conference on the Egyptian question convened in Constantinople in June 1882, the British delegates were forced to join a protocol obliging all European powers not to resort to annexation or occupation of Egyptian territory.
Without waiting for the approval of the protocol of this conference, the commander of the English squadron stationed on the Alexandria raid, Vice Admiral Seymour, sent a provocative demand to the military governor of Alexandria to stop the construction of forts by the Egyptians. Presented on July 10, 1882, the British ultimatum offered to fulfill this demand within 24 hours.
On July 11, 1882, the British fleet subjected Alexandria to a fierce 10-hour bombardment. Then the land British units, numbering 25 thousand people, landed on the shore and occupied the city. Khedive Tevfik, betraying the interests of his people, fled from Cairo to Alexandria occupied by the British. In Cairo, an Extraordinary Assembly was formed from representatives of the nobility, clergy and Watani officers to govern the country and organize its defense against British aggression. The Extraordinary Assembly declared Khedive Tewfik deposed and appointed Arabi commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
Arabi had about 19,000 regular troops and 40,000 recruits at his disposal. The Egyptian army had a significant amount of ammunition and weapons, including about 500 cannons. A strategic plan for the defense of Egypt was developed.
However, in the implementation of the defense plan, Arabi made serious military-political miscalculations: he did not strengthen the Suez Canal zone, hoping that the British would not violate the convention on the neutralization of the canal; entrusted the most important defensive positions to undisciplined Bedouin detachments, whose leaders the British managed to bribe. Disregarding the neutralization of the Suez Canal, the British transferred troops from India to Port Said and Ismailia, thus ensuring an attack on Cairo from two directions.
The British forces broke through the front, stretched and weakened by the betrayal of the Bedouin leaders. On September 13, 1882, Arabi's troops were defeated at Tel-Ay-Kebir. September 14, British troops captured Cairo and then occupied the whole country. Arabi was arrested, put on trial and expelled from Egypt. At that time there was no social force capable of leading a victorious popular struggle against foreign conquerors. The weak, barely emerging national bourgeoisie expected to achieve the expansion of its rights through compromises and was not interested in a revolutionary war. The feudal elements that joined Arabi at the most acute moment of the struggle against the English aggressors took the path of open betrayal. All this taken together caused the defeat of the national movement and facilitated the transformation of Egypt into an English colony.
3. French colonial expansion in the Maghreb countries
In the countries of the Maghreb (Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco), large land masses in the agricultural coastal strip belonged to landowners and were cultivated by peasants who paid feudal rent. Here, communal land ownership was also preserved on a noticeable scale. The steppe regions adjoining the desert were predominantly inhabited by nomadic tribes, in which the process of feudalization was at an early stage and elements of the tribal system played a significant role. Handicraft and small-scale production was developed in the cities.
The Maghreb was not only one of the first objects of French colonial expansion in Africa, but also the gateway through which this expansion spread to other parts of the continent.
Back in 1830, the French army invaded Algeria, but more than two decades passed before France, in a bloody war against the Algerian people, established its colonial rule in the country. The privileged elite of the European population in Algeria - landowners, speculators, the military - barely numbered 10 thousand people. They seized the best lands and became the main pillar of the French colonial regime, inspiring further expansion, which was directed from Algeria to the west and east.
The next object of this expansion was Tunisia. The capture of Tunisia by France in 1881 caused an uprising that swept almost the entire country. Only after a hard war did the colonialists manage to break the stubborn resistance of the Tunisian people.
The French authorities have created a new system of government in Tunisia. The French Resident General, with the Bey retaining only nominal power, was also the Prime Minister of Tunisia. The post of Minister of War was taken by the commander of the French Expeditionary Force.
French generals, senators, ministers, newspaper editors became large Tunisian landowners. On their estates, which reached 3,400 hectares, Arab peasants were forced to work on a share-cropping basis. In total, about 400 thousand hectares of the best lands were seized.
At the expense of the Tunisian people, the French colonialists built strategic railways, highways and ports. When large reserves of minerals were discovered in the bowels of the country - phosphates, iron ore and non-ferrous metal ores, French industrial companies and banks began to take part in the exploitation of Tunisia.
In North Africa to late XIX in. only Morocco still retained its independence. This was mainly due to the fact that the intense rivalry between several European powers did not allow any of them to establish its dominance over a country that occupied an important strategic position and had rich natural resources.
The Moroccan Sultanate had been divided for a long time into two unequal zones: one included the main cities and their environs, which were really controlled by the Sultan's government, the other - an area inhabited by tribes that did not recognize the power of the Sultan and were often at enmity with each other. On the territory of Morocco were captured by Spain in the XV century. the cities of Ceuta and Melilla. France, having strengthened itself in Algeria and Tunisia, began to intensively penetrate into Morocco!
4. British colonial conquests in South Africa
European colonization of South Africa
South Africa was, along with the Maghreb, one of the oldest areas of European colonization, a springboard for expansion into the interior of the continent. The western part of South Africa was inhabited by the Koikoin and the San, as well as related Bantu-speaking tribes.
The main occupation of most Bantu tribes was cattle breeding, but they also developed hoe farming. On the eve of the collision with the Europeans, and especially during the resistance to the colonialists, more or less stable alliances of tribes arose among the Bantu.
The colonialists managed to cope with the Koikoin and San tribes relatively easily, partly exterminating them, and partly pushing them into the desert regions. The conquest of the Bantu turned out to be more difficult and stretched over a number of decades.
The situation in South Africa was greatly complicated by the fact that, along with the main conflict between the colonialists and the indigenous population, there were sharp contradictions between the two main European population groups: the British and the descendants of the Dutch colonists - the Boers, who had lost all connection with the mother country. This second conflict took on sometimes extremely acute forms. Initially, it developed as a clash of interests of the English, mainly commercial and industrial, population, as well as the English administration with Boer farmers.
By the 70s of the XIX century. England owned Basutoland, the Cape Colony and Natal. English possessions, like a huge horseshoe, stretched along the coast, blocking the Boers from further expansion to the east. The objects of European colonization in southern Africa were the lands of the Zulu in the northeast, the Bechuana, Matabele and Mason in the north, the lands of the Herero, Onambo, and Damara in the northwest.
In the summer of 1867, near the Hoptoun trading post on the banks of the river. Orange were accidentally found the first diamonds in South Africa. A stream of prospectors poured into Orange. The previously deserted desert came to life. The number of miners quickly increased to 40 thousand people. New towns and cities sprang up around the diamond mines.
For the extraction of diamonds, joint-stock companies began to be created, using the cheap labor of the indigenous population. In a competitive struggle, one of the companies - "De Beers", led by Cecil Rhodes, managed to monopolize diamond mining.
Anglo-Zulu War 1879
A serious obstacle to English expansion in the direction of the Boer republics was the Zulu state.
Since the beginning of the 70s, when Ketchwayo became the leader of the Zulus, in the Zulu state (Zululand), which acutely felt the lack of pasture land, preparations began for a liberation war, for the reconquest of the territories seized by the colonialists. Ketchwayo restored the Zulu army, updated its organization, bought weapons in Mozambique. However, the Zulus failed to complete the necessary preparations.
On December 11, 1878, the British colonial troops in Natal sent an ultimatum to Ketchwayo, the acceptance of which would mean the liquidation of the independence of the Zulu state. The council of chiefs and tribal elders rejected the ultimatum.
January 10, 1879 English troops crossed the river. Tugela and invaded Zululand. A brutal bloody war began. The English army numbered 20,000 infantry and cavalry and had 36 guns. Nevertheless, the Zulus repeatedly dealt serious blows to the invaders. Shortly after the start of the war, the British had to retreat to the borders of Natal.
Ketchwayo repeatedly turned to the British with an offer of peace, but the British command continued hostilities. Despite the huge superiority of forces, England achieved victory in this inglorious colonial war only six months later. Fierce internecine wars organized by the British began in the country, which for another three years flooded Zululand with blood. In January 1883, the unity of Zululand was restored under the supreme rule of Ketchwayo on the condition that it be recognized as a British protectorate. In 1897, Zululand was officially incorporated into Natal.
Aggravation of Anglo-Boer relations
In 1877 English troops invaded the Transvaal; The British organized a government of British officials in Pretoria. During the Anglo-Zulu War, the Boers did not take advantage of England's predicament. The common interests of the colonialists in the fight against the Zulu tribal union - the most serious force that opposed European expansion in South Africa - turned out to be more powerful than their contradictions. The situation changed after the end of the Anglo-Zulu War.
At the end of 1880, the Boer uprising against the British began. Soon, in the battle of Mount Majuba, the Boer militia inflicted a serious defeat on the English forces advancing from Natal.
Gladstone's liberal cabinet, which came to power in England at that time, preferred to resolve the conflict peacefully. Self-government of the Transvaal was restored. Under the London Convention of 1884, England recognized the independence of the Transvaal, which, however, was deprived of the right to conclude agreements with foreign powers without the consent of England (this did not apply to the Transvaal's relations with the Orange Republic) and to develop territorial expansion to the west or east - to the coast. But even after the conclusion of this convention, England persistently continued the policy of encircling the Boer republics with her possessions.
German expansion also began in this area. Against the protests of the British government, in April 1884 Germany proclaimed a protectorate over the territories from the mouth of the Orange River to the border of the Portuguese colony - Angola. Following this, the German agents began to advance deep into the mainland, consolidating the dominance of Germany over vast possessions by "treaties" with the leaders. The strip of these possessions (German South-West Africa) was approaching the Boer republics.
In 1887, England annexed the lands of Tsonga, north of Zululand. Thus, a continuous chain of English possessions closed along the east coast and came close to Portuguese Mozambique. The access to the east was finally cut off for the Boer republics.
Further development of British expansion to the north
Germany's annexation of South West Africa sealed the fate of Bechuanaland, a vast territory that occupied a significant part of the Kalahari Desert. The marginal lands of Bechuanaland, where no minerals had yet been discovered, were not of independent value. However, the threat of contact between German and Boer possessions prompted England at the beginning of 1885 to proclaim its protectorate over Bechuanaland in order to drive a wide wedge between its rivals. The capture was made on the basis of agreements with several leaders of the Bechuan tribes and under the pretext of opposing the conquest plans of the Boers. After that, the British dismembered Bechuanaland: the southern, more fertile part was declared a British possession and later included in the Cape Colony, while the northern, desert part was formally left under British protectorate.
In 1884-1886. rich gold deposits were discovered in the Transvaal. Gold diggers rushed to the Transvaal. Within a few years, the center of the gold mining industry, Johannesburg, grew up near Pretoria. The establishment of the dominance of monopolies in the gold-mining industry took place much faster than in its time in the diamond industry. This was partly due to the fact that the monopolistic enterprises already established in the diamond industry immediately extended their scope of activity to the gold-bearing regions. The powerful owners of the De Beers company, headed by Rhodes, bought gold-bearing plots from farmers on a large scale and invested large capitals in gold mining.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the Rhodes group, having gained a dominant position in key sectors of the rapidly developing industry, secured complete control over the British administration of South Africa. In 1890 Rode became Premier of the Cape Colony (he remained so until 1896). From separate, sometimes accidental annexations in the south of the African continent, England moved in the 80-90s to the consistent and persistent implementation of the Rhodes plan, which provided for the creation of a continuous strip of British possessions in Africa from Cairo in the north to Cape Town in the south.
After the annexation of Bechuanaland, only one vast area of South Africa remained that had not yet been subjected to European colonization - the land of machon and matabele. By the end of the 1980s, a major knot of contradictions began to develop here: not only England and the Boer republics, but also Germany and Portugal intended to seize these lands, which, as was believed at that time, were not inferior to the Transvaal in terms of mineral wealth.
In February 1888, the British authorities managed to achieve the signing of a treaty of friendship by the leader of the Matabele Lobengula. Lobengula undertook not to enter into negotiations with anyone and not to conclude agreements for the sale, alienation or cession of any part of his country without the sanction of the British High Commissioner. Thus, the matabele and machon lands subject to Lobengula were included in the British sphere of influence.
In September of the same year, a new embassy arrived at Lobengula in his capital, Bulawayo, headed by Rhodes's companion, Rudd. In the course of six weeks of negotiations, Rudd managed to trick Lobengula into signing a treaty, the contents of which he had the most vague idea of. For a thousand guns of obsolete design, a gunboat, and a monthly pension of £100. Art. Lobengula granted the Rhodes Company full and exclusive right to develop all the mineral wealth of the country, "to do everything that they (i.e., the company) may seem necessary for the extraction of such", as well as the right to expel all their competitors from the country.
In 1889, the British government granted the British South Africa Company created by Rhodes a royal charter, that is, broad privileges and support from the authorities for the implementation of the agreement with Lobengula.
On the occupied lands, the company established its own administration. Employees of the company behaved like conquerors. Massacres of the local population became more and more frequent. The situation heated up In October 1893, the British moved their troops from the areas of Mashonaland they occupied to Bulawayo. In November, Bulawayo was taken and burned. The matabele army, heroically defending their country, was almost completely destroyed: the advantage of the British, who widely used machine guns, affected. Lobengula fled from the advancing British troops and died in January 1894.
The defeat of the last organized military force that the indigenous population of South Africa could oppose to the colonialists left Rhodes's company free to plunder. Since the spring of 1895, she introduced in her official documents a new name for the country - Rhodesia, in honor of the inspirer and organizer of her capture, Cecil Rhodes. The confiscation of land and livestock belonging to the local population began to take place at an extremely rapid pace. Preparations began for the eviction of a significant part of the inhabitants in specially designated areas for them - reservations. Forced labor was widely used.
In March 1896, an uprising broke out in Matabeleland, which spread to Mashonaland a few months later. The fierce struggle continued until September 1897 and ended with the victory of the British troops. The uprising, however, forced the British to make some concessions to the rebels: matabele were allowed to return to areas from which they had previously been evicted; the less organized Mashon tribes were unable to achieve such results.
After the capture by the Rhodes company of the Limpopo-Zambezi interfluve, the conquest of South Africa by England was almost completed. Only the two Boer republics remained the last obstacle to the implementation of the imperialist plan to create a continuous strip of British possessions from Cape Town to Cairo.
5. European expansion in West Africa
French colonial conquests
If the main direction of British colonial expansion in Africa was determined by the Cairo-Cape Town plan, then French policy was imbued with the desire to create a continuous strip of possessions from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. In the late 70s and early 80s, three main directions of the French offensive into the interior of the continent were outlined: to the east from Senegal, to the northeast from the region of the river. Ogowe and the opposite direction - to the west from French Somalia. The French possession of Senegal was the main springboard for this offensive.
Another area from which the European colonialists advanced into the depths of the continent was the coast of the Gulf of Guinea, where a sharp struggle began between France and England. Later, Germany joined this struggle.
In 1890, the French authorities in Senegal, worried about the rapid advance of England and Germany from the Guinean coast, considered that the time had come to put an end to the independence of the states, which were headed by the emirs of Samori and Ahmadu. In 1890-1893. the state of Ahmadu was defeated, in 1893 the Djenne center of the Masina region was taken, in 1894 French domination extended to Timbuktu, the ancient center of caravan trade routes that crossed West Africa. The further advance of France to the east was suspended for about a year and a half by the Tuareg, who in 1594 defeated a large detachment of French troops.
The colonial war with Samory dragged on. It was only in 1898 that the armed resistance to the invaders in Western Sudan, which had lasted for about 50 years, was broken.
In the 80s, on the site of scattered trading posts located at a great distance from each other, significant colonial possessions of France were formed - first in Guinea, and then on the Ivory Coast.
French expansion met serious resistance in Dahomey (Slave Coast), the most powerful of the states of West Africa. Dahomey had a permanent regular army, part of which was formed from women. The army was replenished with a trained reserve, and, if necessary, with a general militia. In 1889 clashes began between the Dahomey and French troops. The Dahomeans delivered a series of serious blows to the colonialists, and in 1890 a peace treaty was concluded, according to which France pledged to pay 20 thousand francs annually for the possession of Coton and Porto Novo. However, in 1892 the war resumed. This time France sent an impressive force to Dahomey, and by the end of the year the Dahomean army was defeated.
Colonial conquests of England and Germany
On the eve of the final partition of West Africa, England held small settlements at the mouth of the river. Gambia, in Sierpa Leone with a natural harbour, Freetown, on the Gold Coast and in Lagos. The Ashanti state put up a particularly stubborn resistance to the British colonialists. In an effort to weaken their opponent, the British colonialists fomented contradictions between the Ashanti and the Fanti people inhabiting coastal areas. The Fanti lands became the springboard for the English advance into the interior of the country. In 1897, the invaders managed to capture the Ashanti capital - Kumasi, but in 1900 they faced a powerful popular uprising. Within four months, the English garrison was besieged at Kumasi, and only the arrival of significant reinforcements changed the balance of power. It took England a few more years to extend its dominance to the northern territories of the Gold Coast.
Advancing up the Niger, the British faced French expansion in the opposite direction. The final demarcation of the British and French possessions in West Africa was fixed by a series of agreements concluded in 1890. A British protectorate was declared over Northern and Southern Nigeria.
The Muslim sultanates to the west and east of Lake Chad were not only tempting prey for the British and French colonizers. In the mid-80s, Germany began to expand in the same direction, striving to get ahead of its competitors. Territorial seizures were prepared by the creation of German trading posts in West Africa, as well as by the activities of scouts and explorers who concluded agreements with tribal leaders. In July 1884, the German traveler Nachtigal, on behalf of Bismarck, hoisted the German flag in a number of points in Togo and Cameroon, after which Germany officially proclaimed its protectorate over the coastal strip of these areas.
From Cameroon and Togo, Germany sought to advance towards the Niger and Lake Chad parallel to the directions of British and French expansion. In this competition, the old colonial powers had a number of advantages and, above all, great experience. With the final settlement of the borders, carried out in the 90s by diplomatic means, on the basis of the actual seizures of Germany, a narrow strip was left in Togo, bounded in the east by the French Dahomey, and in the west by the English Gold Coast. In Cameroon, Germany succeeded in asserting a territory five times the size of Togo and moving north as far as Lake Chad, but the regions of Niger and Benue remained outside German possessions. As early as the 1990s, the rule of the German imperialists provoked a number of uprisings by the local population.
Completion of the partition of West Africa
By 1900, the division of West Africa was completed. The predominant part of it went to France. French acquisitions merged with possessions in the Maghreb and formed a continuous colonial territory from the Mediterranean to the Gulf of Guinea.
English possessions remained like islands - although sometimes of impressive size - among the array of French colonies. In economic terms, as well as in terms of population, the British colonial possessions in West Africa, located along the lower reaches of the most important rivers - the Gambia, Volta and Niger, significantly exceeded the French, among which the barren Sahara occupied the largest space.
Germany, which later than others took part in the colonial conquests, had to be content with a relatively small part of West Africa. Economically, the most valuable African colonies Germany were Togo and Cameroon.
A small territory of Guinea was retained by Portugal and Spain.
6. Division of Central Africa
Belgian colonial expansion
In the 70s of the XIX century. Belgium's colonial expansion also intensified. Belgian capital sought to take an active part in the division of Africa.
In September 1876, on the initiative of King Leopold II, who was closely associated with the country's influential financial circles, an international conference was convened in Brussels, in which, along with diplomats, specialists in international law, economists, travelers - explorers of Africa, etc. took part. Belgium, Germany, Austria-Hungary, England, France, Italy and Russia were represented. The organizers of the conference in every possible way emphasized the scientific and philanthropic goals allegedly pursued by it - the study of the mainland and the familiarization of its peoples with the benefits of "civilization".
The conference decided to establish an Association to organize expeditions and set up trading posts in Central Africa. To conduct the current work, national committees were created in individual countries and a commission heading the entire enterprise. The funds of the Association were to be made up of private donations. Leopold II personally contributed large sums to the Association's fund. The Belgian National Committee was the first to form as early as November 1876. Soon similar committees were set up in other countries.
The Brussels Conference of 1876 was the prologue to the division of Central Africa. A well-known part of the Belgian ruling circles associated the activities of the Association with their calculations for the creation of a Belgian colonial empire. On the other hand, it seemed to the governments that took part in the Brussels Conference and founding the Association that such a method would allow them, under the guise of an international organization, to secure their own interests in Central Africa.
The Belgian committee organized several expeditions to the Congo basin, but managed to create only one trading post there. The Englishman Stanley, who entered the service of the Association, launched an energetic colonial activity in the Congo.
In 1879-1884. Stanley and his assistants founded 22 trading posts in the Congo basin - strongholds of the economic, political and military domination of the Association - and concluded about 450 agreements with tribal leaders to establish the Association's protectorate (in fact, the protectorate of the Belgian king). In cases where the diplomatic dexterity of Leopold's agents could not produce the desired results, military expeditions were undertaken in order to compel the tribal leaders to sign the required treaties. Thus, within a few years, the Association became the sovereign of a vast, though not clearly defined, territory in the Congo Basin.
Belgium failed to seize the designated areas without hindrance, its interests clashed with the interests of other powers, primarily France and Portugal.
Contradictions between the colonial powers
When, in 1880, Stanley's expedition reached the small lake which the Congo River forms near its confluence with the Atlantic Ocean, and which was later called Stanley Pool, they were surprised to see the French flag on the right bank.
Back in 1875, the French began to advance from the previously captured Gabon towards the Congo River. In September 1880, Savorgnan de Brazza, acting on behalf of the French National Committee of the Association, concluded with Chief Makoko, whose possessions extended around Stanley Pool, a treaty granting France "special rights" to the lower reaches of the Congo, and thereby cutting off the Belgian Association's access to the sea. On November 30, 1882, the French Chamber of Deputies secured for France the acquisition of de Brazza. All French possessions in Equatorial Africa were united into a colony called the French Congo.
The threat to the possessions of the Belgian Association also arose from the other side. In 1882, Portugal protested against Stanley's captures. She accused the Association of taking "foreign property" and opposed her "historical rights" to it.
England actually stood behind Portugal. In February 1884, an Anglo-Portuguese treaty was signed, according to which England recognized the coastal strip for Portugal, and Portugal granted British subjects, ships in this strip the same rights as the Portuguese had.
The implementation of the Anglo-Portuguese treaty would deal a crushing blow to the Belgian colonial plans. However, in April 1884, the French government, alarmed by the strengthening of the position of its main colonial rival - England, preferred to go for a partial settlement of its conflict with the Association in order to present the latter as a shield against Anglo-Portuguese claims. In the agreement concluded with the Association, France actually recognized its sovereignty over the occupied lands, although without clearly delineating the boundaries. Soon the position of the Association was also supported by Germany, which declared that it did not recognize the Anglo-Portuguese treaty.
England thus found itself in a state of isolation. This prevented the implementation of her plans in other parts of the African continent (for example, along the lower reaches of the Niger), where British interests were more significant than in the Congo basin, and where her main competitors were the same France and Germany. England also feared that the economic strangulation of the Association, which might result from an Anglo-Portuguese treaty, would lead to the strengthening of France. In view of all this, the British government did not submit an agreement with Portugal for ratification in Parliament, and in June 1884 it was annulled.
Berlin conference
By the middle of the 80s of the XIX century. the struggle for the partition of Africa became markedly more acute. Almost every attempt by one or another colonial power to occupy new lands ran into similar aspirations of other states.
In November 1884, on the initiative of Germany and France, an international conference of 14 states with "special interests" in Africa was convened in Berlin. The association did not directly participate in the conference, but its representatives were part of the Belgian and American delegations. The work of the conference lasted until the end of February 1885.
The Berlin Conference adopted decisions on freedom of trade in the Congo basin and on freedom of navigation on the African rivers, but its real aim was the division of Central Africa among the imperialist powers.
In the course of negotiations conducted by representatives of the Association with the countries participating in the conference, international recognition of the Association and its vast holdings in the Congo basin was achieved. In November 1884 - February 1885, the Association concluded relevant agreements with Germany, England, Italy and other countries, and the mention of it as a new state in the Congo basin was included in the General Act of the conference.
On August 1, 1885, a few months after the end of the Berlin Conference, the International Association of the Congo was transformed into the Congo Free State. Formally, ties with Belgium were limited to a personal union carried out by King Leopold II, but in fact the Congo basin became a Belgian colony.
7. Enslavement of the peoples of East Africa
Beginning of the division of Northeast Africa
Of the European powers that began to seize Northeast Africa in the 1970s and 1980s, England was in the most advantageous position. Even before the occupation of Egypt, she tried to gain a foothold in Eastern Sudan, which, like Egypt, which conquered it, was considered an integral part of the Ottoman Empire. The management of Eastern Sudan was carried out at the expense of the Egyptian budget. However, the actual power here belonged to the English General Gordon, who was officially in the Egyptian civil service.
Enslaving Eastern Sudan, England thereby asserted its dominance over Egypt, whose agriculture was entirely dependent on the flow of the Nile waters.
On the coast of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, England met a rival, France, which relied on a small territory around the city of Obock, which occupied a commanding strategic position at the exit from the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. In the 80s, France captured the entire coast of the Gulf of Tadjoura, as well as the city of Djibouti, which became the main stronghold of French expansion in Northeast Africa. However, the main danger to British plans in the area was not these small territorial gains of France, but the growing ties of the French with Ethiopia. In the late 80s, Djibouti became the main port through which Ethiopia's foreign trade was carried out. A French military mission was invited to Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.
At the same time, Italian expansion unfolded in Northeast Africa. As early as 1869, immediately after the opening of the Suez Canal, the Genoese shipping company purchased Assab Bay and the Damarkia Islands from the Sultan of Raheita for the construction of a coal warehouse on the sea route, which was destined to become one of the busiest in the world. Ten years later, the Italian government bought the rights from the company. Assab became an Italian colony, in 1882 it was occupied by Italian troops and formally annexed. Assab was the main springboard from which Italy later launched an offensive against Ethiopia.
The British government supported Italian claims in Northeast Africa, seeing them as a counterbalance to France's colonial aspirations. Thanks to this, Italy was able to significantly expand its possessions to the south and north of Assab. In 1885, the city of Mas-Saua, previously captured by England, was transferred to Italy. In 1890, these territories were united into the colony of Eritrea.
Even earlier, in 1888, Italy proclaimed a protectorate over the vast territory of Somalia. Most of the Italian acquisitions were in the scorching desert, but they were of strategic importance, for they cut off Ethiopia from the coast. England's colonial conquests in northeast Africa were relatively small. In 1876, she established a protectorate over Fr. Socotra, occupying a key position at the exit to the Indian Ocean, in 1884 seized part of the land inhabited by Somalis on the coast of the Gulf of Aden.
The division of Northeast Africa by the European powers was completed after the uprising in Sudan - the largest event in the history of the liberation struggle of the African peoples against the colonialists.
Mahdist uprising in Sudan
In August 1881, during the Muslim fast of Ramadan, the young preacher Mohammed Ahmed, a native of the Nubian Dangala tribe, by that time already widely known in Sudan, declared himself Mahdi - the messiah, the messenger of Allah, called to restore true faith and justice on earth. Mahdi called on the people of Sudan to rise up in a holy war - jihad - against foreign enslavers. At the same time, he proclaimed the abolition of hated taxes, the equality of all "in the face of Allah." The peoples of Sudan were asked to unite to fight a common enemy. “Better a thousand graves than paying one dirham of tax” - this call spread throughout the country.
Muhammad Ahmed, under the name of Mahdi, soon became the recognized leader of the popular liberation uprising that unfolded in Sudan.
The ranks of the rebels, poorly armed but determined to fight the conquerors, grew rapidly. A year after the start of the uprising, by September 1882, only two heavily fortified cities, Bara and El Obeid, remained under the control of the Anglo-Egyptian authorities in Kordofan. In January - February 1883, these cities, too, besieged by the rebels, were forced to surrender. The establishment of the Mahdists in El Obeid, the main city of Kordofan, was their biggest political victory. The uprising spread to the province of Darfur, Bahr el-Ghazal, Equatoria. A particular danger to British rule was the spread of the uprising to the Red Sea coast of Africa - in close proximity to the main communications linking England with its colonies.
In March-April 1884, the population of the regions of Berbera and Dongola revolted. In May, the Mahdists took possession of Berber. The route from Khartoum to the north was cut off. In January 1885, after a long siege, Khartoum - the capital of Eastern Sudan - was taken by storm, and Governor General Gordon was killed. In the summer of that year, the expulsion of the Anglo-Egyptian troops from the Sudan was completed.
The uprising of the Mahdists, directed against the British colonialists and the Egyptian feudal bureaucracy, had a pronounced liberation character. However, soon after the victory of the Mahdists and their conquest of state power, serious social changes took place in the rebel camp.
The deep upheavals that Sudan experienced in the 1980s undermined the old tribal ties. The tribal nobility came to power after the expulsion of the foreign administration; the union of tribes that arose during the uprising gradually turned into a state organization of a class type. The Mahdist state was formed as an unlimited feudal theocratic monarchy.
Mohammed Ahmed died in June 1885. The Mahdist state was headed by a native of the Arab Bakkara tribe Abdallah, who took the title of caliph. He had all the power - military, secular and spiritual. Separate branches were subordinated to the closest associates of Abdallah government controlled. Taxes were not only kept in defiance of the Mahdi's promise, but new ones were introduced.
At the same time, the joint struggle brought together the various peoples of Sudan. The disintegration of the tribal system was facilitated by the beginning process of the formation of nationalities connected by an ethnic community.
The Mahdist uprising had repercussions outside Sudan. The beginning of the uprising coincided with the national liberation struggle of the Egyptian people. At least a third of the Egyptian soldiers who participated in the battles with mah diets went over to the side of the rebels. In the future, the existence of an independent Sudan had a huge impact on enslaved Egypt. The repercussions of the Mahdist uprising swept across the entire African continent, penetrated into distant India. The victories of the Mahdists inspired many peoples of Africa and Asia to resist the colonialists.
British takeover of Eastern Sudan
After the fall of Khartoum, the British colonialists did not take active steps against the Mahdist state for more than 10 years. During this decade, the political situation in East Africa has changed dramatically. Sudan was surrounded by the possessions of a number of European countries, each of which sought to gain a foothold in the Nile Valley. Eritrea and most of Somalia were taken over by Italy. German agents carried on feverish activities in East and West Tropical Africa. Leopold II vigorously developed expansion from the Congo he captured to the northeast, to the southern provinces of Sudan.
France was rapidly expanding its colonial empire in this area, approaching Sudan from the west. Its influence was noticeably strengthened in Ethiopia as well.
From now on, France could lead the offensive to the Nile valley also from east to west and thus complete the creation of a continuous strip of French possessions from the Atlantic to the Red Sea.
All this posed a great threat to the British colonial plans. The British Government felt it necessary to take decisive action in the Sudan. In December 1895, Salisbury publicly announced that the destruction of Mahdism was the task of the British government. Following this, it was decided to occupy the Dongolu region and from there to launch an offensive to the south. The commander-in-chief (sirdar) of the Egyptian army, the English general Kitchener, was entrusted to lead the campaign.
By the beginning of the resumption of hostilities against the Sudan, Kitchener had a ten thousandth, well-armed Anglo-Egyptian army. There were about 100 thousand people in the Mahdist army, but only 34 thousand of them had guns. The offensive of the Anglo-Egyptian troops proceeded very slowly. The capture of Dongola took over a year. A major battle took place in April 1898 near Metemma. Despite the desperate courage of the Sudanese troops, marching in dense ranks towards machine-gun fire, military equipment and organization brought victory to the British. On September 2, 1898, the main forces of the Mahdists were defeated near the walls of Omdurman, having lost more than half of their strength in killed, wounded and captured. Kitchener joined Omdurman. The victors subjected the defenseless city to a terrible defeat. The severed heads of prisoners were displayed on the walls of Omdurman and Khartoum. The ashes of the Mahdi were removed from the mausoleum and burned in the furnace of the steamer.
In January 1899, British dominion over Eastern Sudan was legally formalized in the form of an Anglo-Egyptian condominium. All real power in the Sudan, on the basis of this agreement, was transferred to the governor-general, who was appointed by the Egyptian khedive on the proposal of England. Egyptian laws did not apply to the territory of Sudan. The independence that the peoples of Sudan had been upholding for 18 years with weapons in their hands was destroyed. Retreating with the remnants of the troops, Abdallah continued to fight until 1900.
Fashoda
The defeat of the Mahdists in 1898 did not yet mean the establishment of England along the entire length of the Nile Valley. Having captured Omdurman and Khartoum, Kitchener moved swiftly south to Fashoda, where a French expeditionary detachment led by Captain Marshal had arrived before that.
Kitchener categorically demanded Marchand's departure. Marchand no less resolutely refused to comply with this demand without the order of his government. Since France was in no hurry to meet the British claims, the British cabinet took pressure measures. The English press spoke in an extremely militant tone. Military preparations began on both sides. “England is within a hair's breadth of war with France (Fashoda). Rob ("divide") Africa "( V. I. Lenin, Notebooks on Imperialism, M., 1939, p. 620.), - V. I. Lenin later noted.
It did not come to the Anglo-French colonial war. The French government saw that the balance of power was not in favor of France: Marchand's small detachment was opposed by Kitchener's army; it tried to bargain with the British for some compensation for the withdrawal of Marchand's detachment, but the British government declared that any negotiations were possible only after the evacuation of Fashoda by Marchand. In the end, France had to give in. In November 1898 Marchand left Fashoda. In March 1899, an agreement was concluded on the delimitation of British and French possessions in Eastern Sudan. The border passed mainly along the watershed of the Nile and Lake Chad basins. France was finally removed from the Nile valley, but secured the previously disputed region of Vadai (to the northeast of Lake Chad).
Partition of East Tropical Africa
By the beginning of the 1980s, East Tropical Africa had become a field of fierce rivalry between the British, German and French colonizers. Germany was especially active in this region, striving to create a continuous array of its possessions in Africa - from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, on both sides of the equator. The invasion of East Africa was carried out by a private company established in 1884 - the Society for German Colonization, headed by K. Peters. Based on the "rights" acquired by Peters under 12 treaties with local leaders, the German East African Company was founded in February 1885, exercising sovereignty over a large territory.
Two weeks after the foundation of the company, an imperial charter (similar to the royal charter granted to British colonial societies) placed both the rights and possessions of the company under the protection of the German state. At the beginning of 1885, a representative of the company entered into new agreements, according to which the coastal strip several hundred kilometers north of the Portuguese possessions departed under its control. The wealthy Sultanate of Bitu ended up in the German realm.
The emergence in an extremely short period of vast German colonial possessions in the east of the African continent caused alarm in London. In April 1885, at the direction of the British government, the Sultan of Zanzibar protested against the German invasion of his possessions. The German government objected that the Sultan was not carrying out the "effective occupation" in the disputed territories, prescribed by the decisions of the Berlin Conference. In August 1885, the Sultan was forced to recognize the German protectorate over the areas captured by the Peters company. Not satisfied with this, Peters came up with plans to create a vast German colony in East Africa, equivalent to British India. These plans, however, met resistance from a strong competitor, the Imperial British East African Company, which acted in similar ways (contracts with chiefs, setting up trading posts, etc.). There was a motley patchwork of English and German possessions in East Tropical Africa.
In 1886 an attempt was made to settle the mutual claims of England, Germany and France in East Africa. Behind the Zanzibar sultan, that is, in fact, behind England, the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, as well as a coastal strip ten miles wide and a thousand miles long, remained. The German East Africa Company received the exclusive right to lease from the Sultan of the coastal regions, and the Imperial British East Africa Company was granted the corresponding rights to the north. Germany retained Bita, surrounded by English possessions. France was granted freedom of action in Madagascar.
The agreements of 1886 were extremely fragile. A significant part of the lands divided by the European powers had not yet been captured by them. The absence of a sufficiently clear boundary between spheres of influence raised a large number of controversial issues. The German colonial companies remained the possessions of the Zanzibar Sultan cut off from the ocean, who increasingly became an obedient toy in the hands of England. On the other hand, the British were unhappy that the German possessions in Bita were wedged into the British sphere. The situation was complicated by the fact that France did not give up its attempts to create its own colonies in this part of the mainland. Belgium sought to penetrate here from the west. In 1888, in the territories subject to Germany, the Arabs united with the Bantu peoples and raised an uprising. Soon the colonizers were expelled from almost all the lands they had captured. The rapidly growing uprising was a danger to all imperialists. Therefore, in the fight against the rebels, all the powers that had colonial interests in East Africa - Germany, England, France, Italy - united. A naval blockade of the coast was organized. Taking advantage of this support and pulling up significant forces, Germany suppressed the uprising with incredible cruelty.
In 1889, having intervened in the internecine struggle in Buganda (part of Uganda), England subjugated this country. In the same year, she captured vast areas in the south, which later formed the territory of the English colony, called Northern Rhodesia. Thus, German possessions in East Africa were reduced to a minimum size. Peters' ambitious plans for a "German India" in Africa did not materialize.
The final delimitation of the English and German possessions in East Tropical Africa took place in 1890, when the so-called "Helgoland Treaty" was concluded. Yielding to Germany about. Helgoland, England included in its sphere of influence Zanzibar, Bita, Pemba, Kenya, Uganda, Nyasaland and also some disputed territories in West Africa, on the border of the Gold Coast and Togo.
Italian defeat in Ethiopia
Ethiopia (Abyssinia) was the only African country that managed to successfully rebuff the European colonialists and defend its independence.
In the middle of the XIX century. in Ethiopia, fragmented into many feudal principalities, the formation of a centralized state began. In addition to economic processes, political factors contributed to this: the growing threat of aggression from the European colonialists required the rallying of forces to protect the country's independence.
By 1856, the regions of Tigre, Shoa and Amhara were united under the rule of Fedor II, who took the title of negus (emperor) of all Ethiopia. Conducted by him in 1856-1868. progressive reforms contributed to the weakening of feudal separatism, the strengthening of the power of the Negus, and the development of the country's productive forces. A single army was created instead of the fighting squads of the feudal lords. The tax system was reorganized, state revenues were streamlined, and the slave trade was banned.
In the 80s, Ethiopia attracted increased attention of the colonial circles of Italy. Italy made its first attempt to significantly expand its possessions in Northeast Africa at the expense of Ethiopia in 1886. However, in January 1887, the Ethiopians inflicted a heavy defeat on the Italian expeditionary force.
At the beginning of 1889, when a struggle broke out between the major Ethiopian feudal lords for the crown of the Negus, Italy supported the ruler of Shoa, who ascended the throne under the name of Menelik I. In May 1889, Menelik and the Italian representative signed the Uchchialsky an agreement that secured a number of territories for it. Not content with this, the Italian government resorted to outright fraud. In the text of the agreement, which remained with the Negus and written in Amharic, one of the articles (17th) indicated that the Negus could use the services of Italy in diplomatic relations with other states. In the Italian text, this article was formulated as an obligation of the negus to seek the mediation of Italy, which was tantamount to establishing an Italian protectorate over Ethiopia.
In 1890, Italy officially informed the powers about the establishment of a protectorate over Ethiopia and occupied the Tigre region. Menelik made a strong protest against the Italian interpretation of the Ucchiala Treaty, and in 1893 announced to the Italian government that from 1894, when the treaty expires, he would consider himself free from all obligations stipulated by it.
Ethiopia was preparing for an imminent war. A 112,000-strong army was created. Menelik managed to achieve an unprecedented unification of separate regions in the history of the country.
In 1895, Italian troops moved deep into Ethiopia. On March 1, 1896, a general battle took place near Adua. The Italian invaders suffered a crushing defeat. In October 1896, a peace treaty was signed in Addis Ababa, according to which Italy unconditionally recognized the independence of Ethiopia, renounced the Treaty of Uchchiala and pledged to pay an indemnity to Ethiopia. The border of 1889 was restored, which meant the loss of the Tigre region by Italy.
Results of the division of East Africa
By 1900, the division of East Africa was completed. Only Ethiopia managed to maintain its independence. The richest areas of East Africa were captured by England. An array of English colonial possessions stretched from the Mediterranean to the source of the Nile. In the north, Egypt, Eastern Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, part of Somalia passed under the rule of England, in the south - Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, which merged with British possessions in South Africa. Rhodes' plan was close to being carried out. Only German East Africa and Ruanda-Urundi wedged into the territories subject to England. In Mozambique, Portuguese possessions were preserved.
The example of Ethiopia and Eastern Sudan showed that the consolidation of the African peoples, the establishment of state centralization contribute to the protection of their independence and make it possible to resist the might of the colonial powers. For the peoples of the African continent, this was a most valuable historical experience.
8. Annexation of Madagascar by France
Madagascar was a centralized feudal monarchy, the core of which was the state of Imerina, which developed on the basis of the Merina people. The dominant position was occupied by the class of feudal lords, who had large land holdings. The most numerous part of the population were personally free peasants united in communities. At the end of the XIX century. the community, which had previously been a stable economic and social unit, entered the stage of decay.
In the last decades of the XIX century. important reforms were carried out in Madagascar. To finally break the remnants of feudal separatism, the country was divided into eight provinces headed by governors appointed by the government. Central power was exercised by the king and the cabinet of ministers headed by the prime minister, as well as by the royal council. The army and the judicial system underwent transformations.
Some progress was also made in the field of cultural development. In 1881, a decree was issued on the compulsory education of all children aged 8 to 16, although the real conditions for its implementation existed only in Imerin, where up to 2 thousand schools were opened. The formation of a national intelligentsia began in the country. Newspapers and books began to be published in Malagash.
Invasion of the colonialists
Back in the 30s of the XIX century. France concluded a number of "protectorate" treaties with tribal leaders, who gave her several points on the west coast, in the lands of Sakalava. In the following decades, the French colonialists sought to expand their sphere of influence.
Relations between Madagascar and France deteriorated sharply in the early 1980s. In 1882, the French government demanded that Madagascar recognize the French protectorate. At the same time, France opened hostilities: the French squadron bombarded the coastal cities, the landing of the French troops captured Majunga, an important port on the west coast, the bay of Diego Suarez in the northeast, and the port of Tamatave. The Malgash people put up armed resistance. In September 1885, the colonialists were defeated near Farafati. Nevertheless, the forces were too unequal, and the Malagasy government had to sign a peace treaty in December 1885, which satisfied the basic demands of France.
War 1882-1885 and the unequal treaty that ended it were the first step towards the annexation of Madagascar by France.
The transformation of Madagascar into a French colony
In September 1894, the French Resident General presented a draft of a new treaty to Queen Ranavalone III; under its terms, control over the country's foreign and domestic policy was transferred to the French authorities and armed forces were introduced into the territory of Madagascar in an amount that the French government "deems necessary."
The re-equipment and reorganization of the Malagasy army, begun after 1885, had not yet been completed, but the Malagasy troops heroically defended the independence of their country. The campaign of the French troops from Mazhunga to Tananariva took about six months. Only on September 30, 1895, the French expeditionary force approached Tananarive and bombarded the capital of Madagascar.
The next day, October 1, a peace treaty was signed, asserting the dominance of France over Madagascar. The power of the queen and her government nominally still remained, but the implementation of the diplomatic representation of the country was entirely transferred to France; internal management was also subject to its control.
At the end of 1895, a wave of popular resistance to the colonialists arose. The uprising swept the whole country. Communication routes between Mazhunga and Tananariva were cut. In May 1896, the rebels were 16 km from the capital. In most of the country, partisan power was established.
In the summer of 1896, France decided to discard all conventions: the annexation of Madagascar was announced by an act of the French Parliament. In February 1897, the French deposed the queen and expelled her, and the country was divided into military districts. The colonialists established their unlimited power over the population. However, guerrilla warfare in a number of areas of the island continued until 1904.
European colonization affected not only North and South America, Australia and other lands, but the entire African continent. From the former power of Ancient Egypt, which you studied in the 5th grade, there is no trace left. Now all these are colonies divided among different European countries. In this lesson, you will learn how the process of European colonization took place in Africa and whether there were any attempts to resist this process.
In 1882, popular discontent broke out in Egypt, and England sent its troops into the country under the pretext of protecting its economic interests, which meant the Suez Canal.
Another powerful state that extended its influence to the African states in modern times was Omani Empire. Oman was located in the eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula. Active Arab traders carried out trading operations along almost the entire coast of the Indian Ocean. As a result, numerous trade trading posts(small trading colonies of merchants of a certain country on the territory of another state) on the coast of East Africa, in the Comoros and in the north of the island of Madagascar. It was with the Arab traders that the Portuguese navigator encountered Vasco da Gama(Fig. 2), when he managed to go around Africa and pass through the Mozambique Strait to the shores of East Africa: modern Tanzania and Kenya.
Rice. 2. Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama ()
It was this event that marked the beginning of European colonization. The Omani empire could not stand the competition with the Portuguese and other European navigators and collapsed. The remnants of this empire are considered to be the Sultanate of Zanzibar and a few sultanates on the coast of East Africa. By the end of the 19th century, they all disappeared under the onslaught of Europeans.
The first colonizers who settled in sub-Saharan Africa were Portuguese. First, the sailors of the XV century, and then Vasco da Gama, who in 1497-1499. rounded Africa and reached India by sea, exerted their influence on the policy of local rulers. As a result, the coasts of countries such as Angola and Mozambique were explored by them by the beginning of the 16th century.
The Portuguese extended their influence to other lands, some of which were considered less effective. The main interest for the European colonizers was the slave trade. It was not necessary to found large colonies, countries set up their trading posts on the coast of Africa and were engaged in the exchange of European products for slaves or conquest campaigns to capture slaves and went to trade them in America or Europe. This slave trade continued in Africa until the end of the 19th century. Gradually, different countries banned slavery and the slave trade. At the end of the 19th century, there was a hunt for slave-owning ships, but all this was of little use. Slavery continued to exist.
The conditions of the slaves were monstrous (Fig. 3). In the process of transporting slaves across the Atlantic Ocean, at least half died. Their bodies were thrown overboard. There was no record of slaves. At least 3 million people, and modern historians claim that up to 15 million, Africa lost due to the slave trade. The scale of trade changed from century to century, and it reached its peak at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries.
Rice. 3. African slaves are transported across the Atlantic Ocean to America ()
After the appearance of the Portuguese colonialists, other European countries began to claim the territory of Africa. In 1652, Holland showed activity. At that time Jan van Riebeeck(Fig. 4) captured a point in the extreme south of the African continent and named it Kapstad. In 1806, this city was captured by the British and renamed Cape Town(Fig. 5). The city still exists today and bears the same name. It was from this point that the spread of the Dutch colonialists throughout South Africa began. The Dutch colonizers called themselves Boers(Fig. 6) (translated from Dutch - “peasant”). Peasants made up the bulk of the Dutch colonists who lacked land in Europe.
Rice. 4. Jan van Riebeeck ()
Rice. 5. Cape Town on the map of Africa ()
Just as in North America, the colonists clashed with the Indians, in South Africa, the Dutch colonists clashed with the local peoples. First of all, with the people scythe, the Dutch called them kaffirs. In the struggle for the territory, which received the name Kaffir Wars, the Dutch colonists gradually pushed the native tribes further and further to the center of Africa. The territories they captured, however, were small.
In 1806, the British arrived in southern Africa. The Boers did not like this and refused to submit to the British crown. They began to retreat further north. So there were people who called themselves Boer Settlers, or Burtrekers. This great campaign continued for several decades. It led to the formation of two independent Boer states in the northern part of present-day South Africa: Transvaal and the Orange Republic(Fig. 7).
Rice. 7. Independent Boer States: Transvaal and Orange Free State ()
The British were unhappy with this retreat of the Boers, because she wanted to control the entire territory of southern Africa, and not just the coast. As a result, in 1877-1881. The first Anglo-Boer War took place. The British demanded that these territories become part of the British Empire, but the Boers strongly disagreed with this. It is generally accepted that about 3,000 Boers took part in this war, and the entire English army was 1,200 people. The resistance of the Boers was so fierce that England abandoned attempts to influence the independent Boer states.
But in 1885 in the area of modern Johannesburg, deposits of gold and diamonds were discovered. The economic factor in colonization was always the most important, and England could not allow the Boers to benefit from gold and diamonds. In 1899-1902. The second Anglo-Boer War broke out. Despite the fact that the war was fought on the territory of Africa, it took place, in fact, between two European peoples: the Dutch (Boers) and the British. The bitter war ended with the fact that the Boer republics lost their independence and were forced to become part of the South African colony of Great Britain.
Together with the Dutch, the Portuguese and the British, representatives of other European powers quickly appeared in Africa. Thus, in the 1830s, active colonization activities were carried out by France, which captured vast territories in North and Equatorial Africa. Actively colonized and Belgium, especially during the reign of the king LeopoldII. The Belgians created their own colony in central Africa called Free State of the Congo. It existed from 1885 to 1908. It was believed that this was the personal territory of the Belgian king Leopold II. This state was only in words m. In fact, it was inherent in the violation of all the principles of international law, and the local population was driven to work on the royal plantations. A huge number of people on these plantations died. There were special punitive detachments that were supposed to punish those who collected too little rubber(sap of the hevea tree, the main raw material for the manufacture of rubber). As proof that the punitive detachments had coped with their task, they had to bring to the point where the Belgian army was located, the severed hands and feet of the people they were punishing.
As a result, almost all African territories by the endXIXcenturies were divided among the European powers(Fig. 8). The activity of European countries in annexing new territories was so great that this era was called "race for Africa" or "fight for Africa". The Portuguese, who owned the territory of modern Angola and Mozambique, counted on the capture of the intermediate territory, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi, and, thus, on the creation of a network of their colonies on the African continent. But it was impossible to implement this project, since the British had their own plans for these territories. Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, based in Cape Town, Cecil John Rhodes, believed that Great Britain should create a chain of its own colonies. It should start in Egypt (in Cairo) and end in Cape Town. Thus, the British hoped to build their own colonial strip and stretch the railway along this strip from Cairo to Cape Town. After the First World War, the British managed to build the chain, but the railway was unfinished. It doesn't exist to this day.
Rice. 8. Possessions of European colonialists in Africa by the beginning of the 20th century ()
In 1884-1885, the European powers held a conference in Berlin, which made a decision on the question of which country belongs to this or that sphere of influence in Africa. As a result, almost the entire territory of the continent was divided between them.
As a result, by the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, Europeans had mastered the entire territory of the continent. Only 2 semi-independent states remained: Ethiopia and Liberia. This is due to the fact that Ethiopia was difficult to colonize, because one of the main tasks of the colonizers was the spread of Christianity, and Ethiopia since the early Middle Ages has been a Christian state.
Liberia, in fact, was a territory created by the United States. It was on this territory that former American slaves were taken out of the United States by decision of President Monroe.
As a result, the British, French, Germans, Italians and other nations began to conflict in England. The Germans and Italians, who had few colonies, were dissatisfied with the decisions of the Berlin Congress. Other countries also wanted to get their hands on as much territory as possible. AT 1898 year between the British and French occurred fascist incident. Major Marchand of the French army captured a stronghold in modern South Sudan. The British considered these lands their own, and the French wanted to spread their influence there. As a result, a conflict broke out, during which relations between England and France deteriorated greatly.
Naturally, the Africans resisted the European colonizers, but the forces were unequal. Only one successful attempt can be singled out in the 19th century, when Muhammad ibn abd-Allah, who called himself Mahdi(Fig. 9), created a theocratic state in Sudan in 1881. It was a state based on the principles of Islam. In 1885, he managed to capture Khartoum (the capital of Sudan), and even though the Mahdi himself did not live long, this state existed until 1898 and was one of the few truly independent territories on the African continent.
Rice. 9. Muhammad ibn abd-Allah (Mahdi) ()
The most famous of the Ethiopian rulers of this era fought against European influence. MenelikII, who ruled from 1893 to 1913. He united the country, carried out active conquests and successfully resisted the Italians. He also maintained good relations with Russia, despite the significant remoteness of these two countries.
But all these attempts at confrontation were only isolated and could not give a serious result.
The revival of Africa began only in the second half of the 20th century, when African countries began to gain independence one after another.
Bibliography
1. Vedyushkin V.A., Burin S.N. History textbook for grade 8. - M.: Bustard, 2008.
2. Drogovoz I. The Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902. - Minsk: Harvest, 2004.
3. Nikitina I.A. Capture of the Boer Republics by England (1899-1902). - M., 1970.
4. Noskov V.V., Andreevskaya T.P. General history. 8th grade. - M., 2013.
5. Yudovskaya A.Ya. General history. History of the New Age, 1800-1900, Grade 8. - M., 2012.
6. Yakovleva E.V. The colonial division of Africa and the position of Russia: the second half of the 19th century. - 1914 - Irkutsk, 2004.
Homework
1. Tell us about European colonization in Egypt. Why didn't the Egyptians want the Suez Canal to open?
2. Tell us about the European colonization of the southern part of the African continent.
3. Who are the Boers and why did the Anglo-Boer Wars break out? What were their results and consequences?
4. Were there attempts to resist European colonization and how did they manifest themselves?