Africa
Last Updated   2/7/2008      1/20/2008     1/13/2008

The Opening of Africa
Missionaries and explorers opened up the interior of Africa.


David Livingstone
1840, Livingstone goes to Africa to convert natives to Christianity.
He observed and wrote about the Arab slave trade.
Livingstone was searching for the source of the Nile River.
Henry Stanley was sent to locate Livingstone.


After two years, Stanley found him at Lake Tanganyika.
"Doctor Livingstone, I presume?"
1874-1889, Stanley became an explorer and explored the Congo.
1879, King Leopold II of Belgium hired Stanley to obtain land in the Congo basin.



Leopold II
Stanley signed treaties with African chiefs.
this was the way to obtain African lands.
The chiefs had no idea what they were signing.
The Africans received cloth, beads, and guns for their lands.
Leopold II had his soldiers force the Africans to collect rubber for him.
If they resisted they were shot.
Missionaries and other Europeans protested.
Leopold II gave his lands to the Belgium government.
The Belgium government did away with forced labor.



Suez Canal
1869, the Suez Canal opened.
It connected the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea.
It was built by Egyptians, and paid for by the French.
1875, Egypt sold the canal to Great Britain.
Great Britain and France took over the finances of Egypt.
1882, Egyptians rebel.
British troops moved in.
Egypt became a country under the control of a larger, stronger, nation.

From the Cape to Cairo

Sudan
Britain then conquered the Sudan and set up a government with Egypt.


Charles Gordon was the military governor of the Sudan.
1876, he was assigned to evacuate Egyptians and westerners from the Sudan.


1881, Mahdi declares a jihad against Egyptian authority in the Sudan.
1883, Mahdi crushes Egyptian forces sent to destroy him.
1885, Mahdi's forces captured Khartoum, the capital of Sudan.


Charles Gordon is killed and beheaded.
After his victory, Muhammad Ahmad became the ruler of most parts of modern day Sudan.
1885 June, the Mahdi dies.

South Africa
Europeans came to South Africa in 1652.
The Dutch East India Company established a supply depot.
Some of the workers became farmers and expanded to the north and the east.
In 1806, Holland aligned with France.
Great Britain invaded and annexed South Africa.
The British also began moving north from the Cape Colony.
The Boers were living there.
Boer is the Dutch word for "farmer."
The Boers did not want to speak English.
The Boers did not want to do away with slavery.
1836, the Boers leave Cape Colony.
1838, the Boers made their Great Trek into the interior.
They moved north and set up two independent states: Transvaaal and the Orange Free State.
The number of settlers from Great Britain increased.
Conflicts resulted.




Zulu War
Natal was a British colony on the southern border of Zululand.
In early 1870s, Cetshwayo became king of the Zulu.
Late 1878 the British gave him an ultamatium.
1879 January, British troops invade Zululand after they ignored ultamatiums.

Battle of Isandlwana
1879 January 22, Zulus defeat Chelmsford's British troops at Battle of Isandlwana.
1300 (858) British soldiers were killed.
52 British officers were killed.



Rorkes Drift
1879 January 22, at Rorkes Drift the Zulus were driven off after 10 hours of fighting. (Movie Zulu)
145 soldiers held off 4000 Zulu reserves.
11 British soldiers received the Victoria Cross.
The Battle of Rorkes Drift is one of the greatest examples of bravery and heroism in British military history.

For three months, the British were besieged at Eshowe.
Cetshwayo had lost alot of men and could not mount an offensive.
Chelmsford had time to regroup.
British troops were sent to Africa.

Holbane Mountain
28 March, British attack Holbane Mountain, a Zulu stronghold.
The British are surprised by the Zulu army and are scattered.



Khambula
29 March, the Zulu attack at Khambula.
They are driven off after heavy fighting.
2 April, Chelmsford relieves Eshowe.
1 June, Louis Napoleon, exiled prince imperial of France is killed.



Battle of Ulundi
4 July, British defeat Zulus at Battle of Ulundi.
1500 Zulu are killed, only three British soldiers are killed.
Ulundi is burned and Cetshwayo flees.
The British burned the military kraals.
Zulu chiefs begin to surrender.
1879 August 28, Cetshwayo surrenders.

Gold & Diamonds
In 1886, gold & diamonds were discovered in Boer States.
Thousands of people poured into the area.
The Boers were soon outnumbered.
The Boers would not allow the newcomers to vote.
But the newcomers had to pay taxes.



Cecil Rhodes
This angered Cecil Rhodes.
He was the Prime Minister of the Cape Colony.
He came to Africa at age 18.
He made a fortune in gold and diamonds.
He had a plan of an English speaking African Empire.
Rhodes had a railway built north of the Boer states.
British settlers moved into the area called Rhodesia.

The Boer War
The Boer Wars was the name given to the South African Wars of 1880-1 and 1899-1902.

First Boer War
1880 December 16, shots fired after Transvaal declares independence from Great Britain.
The British army is besieged all over Transvaal.
The Boers fought Commando style.
The Boers repulsed British calvary and infantry attacks.
Gladstone, the English Prime Minister, realized more troops would be needed.
He ordered a truce.
1881 March 23, a final peace treaty was signed.
The British agreed to Boer self-government in the Transvaal.

Second Boer War
Germany supplied the Boers with weapons.
The Boers attacked British outposts.
1899 October 11, the Boer War had begun.
At first, the Boers were winning.
The British captured the Boer capital.
The Boers refused to surrender.
For two years, the Boers carried on a guerrilla warfare.
The British then destroyed Boer farms and put their women and children in prison.
1902 May, because of this the Boers gave up.
1910, Transvaaal and the Orange Free State were joined with the Cape Colony.
They formed the new Union of South Africa.
Britain gains more colonies: Zanzibar, Uganda, British East Africa, Nigeria.
Cecil's Rhodes plan of an English speaking African Empire came true.

Other European Empires

Portugal
1648, Angola, the oldest colony in Africa, was founded by Portugal.
1885, Portugal made Portuguese East Africa (Mozambique), a protectorate.

France
In the 1830s, France used pirate raids as an excuse to invade Algeria.
The French moved out from Algeria.
They established the largest European Empire in Africa.
The empire included Tunisia, Morocco, French West Africa, French Equatorial Africa, and Madagascar.

Italy
The Italians conquered Eritrea.
They took over part of Somaliland.
1896, Italy tries to take Ethiopia.
Italy defeated by King Menelik II's Ethiopian troops.
1911, Italy acquires two provinces from the Ottomans.
They combined the areas and created Libya.

Germany
1884, Germany sets up protectorates over Togoland and the Cameroons.
Later, German Southwest Africa and German East Africa were added.

Independents
By 1914, Ethiopia & Liberia only free areas in Africa.
Liberia was founded in the 1830s by former African American slaves of the United States

Bibliography
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"Charles George Gordon." Wikipedia On Line Encyclopedia. 20 Jan. 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_George_Gordon.

"David Livingstone." Wikipedia On Line Encyclopedia. 20 Jan. 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Livingstone.

Greenblatt, Miriam, and Lemmo, Peter. Human Heritage A World History. Columbus, Ohio: McGraw-Hill, 2001.

Kugel, Alfred.   "Nordic Volunteers in the Ango-Boer War."  7 Feb. 2008.  http://www.scc-online.org/ph07aug.pdf.

"Leopold II of Belgium." Wikipedia On Line Encyclopedia. 20 Jan. 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A9opold_II_of_Belgium.

"Muhammad Ahmad." Wikipedia On Line Encyclopedia. 20 Jan. 2008.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ahmad.

Schwartz, Peter. "The Zulu War." 10 April 2007. 20 Jan. 2008. http://schwartz.eng.auburn.edu/zulu/zulu.html.

"Second Boer War." Wikipedia On Line Encyclopedia. 20 Jan. 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Boer_War.

"Suez Canal." Wikipedia On Line Encyclopedia. 20 Jan. 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Canal.

"The Battle of Khambula." BritishBattles.com. 2007. 20 Jan. 2008. http://www.britishbattles.com/zulu-war/khambula.htm.

"The Battle of Ulundi." BritishBattles.com. 2007. 20 Jan. 2008. http://www.britishbattles.com/zulu-war/ulundi.htm.