The ‘Scramble for Africa’

• The ‘Scramble for Africa was when European powers took over most of Africa in the late 1800s
• It was seen as the white man’s burden to bring civilisation to Africa
• Britain sought to maintain her empire.
• France and Germany hoped to increase their empire
• With the largest empire, Britain’s status as an imperial power had been unchallenged for a decade, however, by the 1900s other powers began to envy the prestige Britain’s empire brought her and the political influence she had abroad
• The ‘Scramble for Africa’ was triggered by a number of developments

  - The 1870s depression encouraged businesses to seek new or cheaper raw materials

  - The Ottoman Empire that contained many North African regions was in decline - King Leopold of Belgium initiated a new tactic of staking claims to overseas territory in the Congo, he made treaties with the tribal masters and then claiming to have established an influence over the region
• ▪ King Leopold extracted a fortune from the Congo from rubber

  ▪ He used forced labour from the native population to harvest and process the rubber ▪ Under his regime millions of Congolese people died