European Colonisation of Africa
Senior 2 · History
European Colonisation of Africa
Lesson 2 of 4
22 min
How did a few thousand European officials and soldiers take control of millions of Africans? Not by force alone. Europeans combined treaties, companies, alliances with local rivals, missionaries and, when those failed, overwhelming firepower. Knowing these methods explains why African responses, the topic of the next unit, took the forms they did.
Europeans persuaded African rulers to sign "treaties of friendship" or "protection". Many rulers believed they were agreeing to trade or an alliance, not giving up their land. Documents were written in European languages and translated by the Europeans' own interpreters.
Example: In 1888 Charles Rudd, working for Cecil Rhodes, obtained the Rudd Concession from Lobengula, king of the Ndebele, granting mining rights. Lobengula was told it would bring only a few miners. Rhodes's company used it to occupy Mashonaland in 1890, and war with the Ndebele followed in 1893. Other examples: Carl Peters's treaties in East Africa (1884) for Germany and Stanley's treaties in the Congo for Leopold II.
Governments gave private companies a charter, a licence to trade, collect taxes, keep armed forces and govern, so that conquest cost the government little.
Where Africans resisted, Europeans used force. Breech-loading rifles and the Maxim machine gun gave small armies huge advantages. At Omdurman in Sudan (1898) British-led forces killed about ten thousand Sudanese soldiers while losing fewer than fifty men. Conquering armies were mostly made up of African soldiers recruited by the Europeans.
Europeans exploited rivalries between African states and within them. The British allied with Buganda against Bunyoro; the French used enemies of Samori Touré against him. Succession disputes and religious divisions were turned to European advantage.
Missionaries and traders often arrived first. When they were threatened, their home governments used it as a reason to intervene, and missionaries sometimes acted as advisers and translators in treaty-making.
Rulers who co-operated received gifts, weapons, recognition and help against their enemies, while those who resisted were removed and replaced.
Powers settled their borders with each other, often with straight lines drawn on maps. The Anglo-German agreements of 1886 and 1890 divided much of East Africa between Britain and Germany.
In 1898 the English writer Hilaire Belloc wrote a mocking verse about European travellers in Africa:
"Whatever happens, we have got
The Maxim gun, and they have not."
Question: What does this verse suggest about the methods of colonial conquest, and what does it leave out?
It suggests that military technology, especially the machine gun, was decisive: however bravely Africans fought, Europeans could win through firepower, as at Omdurman in 1898. But it leaves out the other methods that often mattered as much: treaties obtained by deception, chartered companies, alliances with African rivals, and the fact that most soldiers in colonial armies were Africans. Force explains many victories, but not how a small number of Europeans could hold such large territories for decades.
Tip
Memory hook: "The Companies Made Deals, Making Gifts, Agreed". Treaties, Chartered companies, Military force, Divide and rule, Missionaries and traders, Gifts and bribes, Agreements between powers. Always pair each method with one named example.
What was a chartered company, and why did governments use them?
Solution. A private company given a government licence (charter) to trade, keep armed forces, collect taxes and govern a territory. Governments used them because the company, not the taxpayer, paid the cost of conquest and administration.
Explain how the Rudd Concession was used to colonise Zimbabwe.
Solution. Lobengula signed away mining rights in 1888, believing only a few miners would come. Rhodes's British South Africa Company used the document as legal cover to send settlers and police into Mashonaland in 1890 and later made war on the Ndebele.
Give an example of "divide and rule" in East Africa.
Solution. The British allied with Buganda's chiefs and used Ganda soldiers against Kabalega of Bunyoro in the 1890s, rewarding Buganda with land taken from Bunyoro.
Why did European armies in Africa win most battles?
Solution. Superior weapons such as breech-loading rifles and Maxim guns, large numbers of African soldiers recruited into colonial forces, and the ability to exploit divisions among African states.
Remember
Sources and credits
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
