attitudes towards empire 1857-90

• Explorers


  Men drawn to Britain's colonies who came to wield considerable influence in Britain's Empire
• David Livingstone

  Scottish explorer, part of the London Missionary Society, wanted to spread Christianity and commerce in Africa
• Livingstone's travels

  1. Travelled to South Africa in 1841

  2. Fell out with missionary partner in Botswana, returned to UK

  3. British government-funded expedition along Zambezi River in 1858 to find natural resources, sent 2,000 letters home

  4. Wanted to find source of River Nile in 1866

  5. Died of malaria and dysentery in Zambia in 1873
• Livingstone was a Scottish explorer who was part of the London Missionary Society and wanted to spread Christianity and commerce in Africa
• Livingstone first travelled to South Africa in 1841
• Livingstone fell out with his travelling missionary partner in Botswana and returned to the UK
• In 1858, the British government funded Livingstone in an expedition along the Zambezi River to find natural resources, and he sent 2,000 letters home from his travels
• In 1866, Livingstone wanted to find the source of the River Nile
• In 1873, Livingstone died of malaria and dysentery in what is now Zambia
• Livingstone on slavery

  • Livingstone was anti-slavery. He said on slavery "to overdraw its evil is a simple impossibility".
  • In 1871, on his expedition to find the source of the River Nile, he saw 400 local African men being killed by the Arab ruler & slaver Dugumbe's army.
  • Local people were often captured and sold to Western Europeans to be sold in the slave trade.
• John Kirk

  • Kirk was a Scottish physician and botanist who worked alongside Livingstone.
  • John Kirk went on Livingstone's expedition to find natural resources along the Zambezi River between 1858 and 1864.
  • In 1870, Kirk became the acting British Consul in Zanzibar. He wanted to abolish the slave trade on the island of Zanzibar.
  • Sultan Barghash was the Omani ruler of Zanzibar. Kirk pressured Bargash to abolish the slave trade on the island of Zanzibar and succeeded.
• Richard Francis Burton


  Linguist and scholar fascinated by Muslim life and manners
• Richard Francis Burton


  • Early in his life, he was a captain in the East India Company's army
  • He wrote 43 books on his travels and brought Eastern ideas to the Western world e.g. Kama Sutra (1883) and Arabian Nights (1885)
  • Despite his ability to speak many languages and experience of African and Arabian culture, he co-founded the Anthropological Society with Dr. James Hunt which promoted the racist view that humans of different races have different genetic origins, with some going as far to state that different races are of a different species (known as 'scientific racism')
• John Hanning Speke

  • Hanning Speke worked alongside and in competition with Burton. The two had many public disputes.
  • Speke and Burton tried to find the source of the River Nile together.
  • Speke died in a mysterious shooting incident in 1864, aged 37.
• Missionaries were committed to spreading God's message to the "uncivilised" in the colonies. Missionaries often paved the way for Britain to impose its rule officially.

  Types of missionaries

  • Anglicans, Roman Catholics, Presbyterians and Methodists were all branches of Christianity that wanted to spread the Gospel and Bible to Africa.
  • At the start of the 19th Century, conversion was seen by many as a part of a Christian’s duty.
• Muscular Christianity

  • Muscular Christianity was a type of British cultural supremacy, which viewed the native traditions of potential territories as inferior and uncivilized.
  • Muscular Christianity placed importance on Christian values, masculinity, and athleticism.
  • This movement occurred mostly within all-boys' public schools in England.
  • At the time, most government and military officials had attended such schools.
• Missionaries


  Conflated with the British Empire
• David Livingstone

  • Missionary
  • Explored the Zambezi for natural resources
• William Carey


  • Missionary
  • Known for converting Indian people to Christianity in the late 1700s
  • East India Company didn't support missionaries in India at this time
• Missionaries

  • Opened territories to British influence (e.g. Congo and inland China)
  • Followed the British flag (e.g. Punjab in the 1850s)
• John MacKenzie


  • Methodist missionary
  • Put pressure on the British government to establish a protectorate over Bechuanaland (now Botswana) in 1885
• Female missionaries

  • Women's roles in Victorian society were very restrictive and there was a very conservative worldview with defined gender roles.
  • Becoming a missionary allowed some women to escape strict gender roles.
  • Key female missionaries included:
  • Mary Carpenter, who went to India.
  • Mary Slessor, who went to Nigeria.
• Cecil Rhodes


  Key figure who exerted considerable influence as a trader "on the spot"
• Kitchen (1996): 'Cecil Rhodes was 'the worst type of monopolizing imperialists''
• Cecil Rhodes


  • Owned all the diamond mines in South Africa
  • Owned the predecessor of the De Beers diamond cartel
• 1889


  1. Rhodes founded the British South Africa Company

  2. Established the colony of Rhodesia (named after himself)

  3. Supported the British South Africa Company's expansion against German and Boer interests

  4. Secured gold discovered in the Witwatersrand Reef in South Africa

  5. Secured a strategic position against rivals
• William Mackinnon


  Worked in the trading bays in Bengal
• Mackinnon founded the Calcutta and Burma Steam Navigation Company


  1856
• British East Africa Company

  • Controlled areas of Uganda and Kenya
  • Taxed the local population
  • Governed the area
  • British people were immune from any prosecution
• A civil war broke out between local people and the East African Company

  1892
• The territory run by the British East African Company was transferred to the British government. Uganda became a protectorate.


  1893
• Mackinnon's motivations


  Financial and missionary ideals
• Mackinnon founded the Free Church of Scotland East African Scottish Mission in Kenya


  1891
• George Goldie


  Traded palm oil in the Niger (palm oil replaced slaves as the main export in the region)
• Goldie's actions

  1. Persuaded all British trading firms working on the Niger River to join to form the United African Company

  2. This created a monopoly

  3. After 5 years of resistance, and after buying French trading companies in the Niger, Goldie was granted a charter by Parliament

  4. The Company was renamed the Royal Niger Company
• Local chiefs, like Jaja of Opobo, were banned by the Company


  From exporting palm oil
• King Koko of the Nembe resisted the Company's control of Nigeria

  Was forced into exile
• The British Government took direct control of the 2 protectorates included in Goldie's company, Northern Nigeria and Southern Nigeria in exchange for £895,000


  1900
• The local population seems like an afterthought of the transaction
• Colonial administrators had the ability to wield considerable influence in the British Empire. Key figures included:

  Evelyn Baring

  • Baring's first posting was in India, appointed as a private secretary to the Viceroy.
  • Baring, later known as Lord Cromer, was competent, but arrogant, leading to the nickname of ‘Over-Baring’.
  • Baring believed in British superiority to all of the Indians and Egyptians over whom he ruled.
  • Baring's second posting was as the Consul General in Egypt (1882-1907).
  • Baring approved the Dufferin Report (1883), which established a puppet parliament.