Scramble for Africa
The Scramble for Africa[a] was the invasion, colonization, and partition of most of Africa among seven Western European powers during the era of "New Imperialism" (1833–1914). In 1870, 10% of the continent was formally under European control. By 1914, this figure had risen to almost 90%, with only Liberia and Ethiopia retaining their full sovereignty.[b]
For information on the colonisation of Africa prior to the 1880s, including Carthaginian and early European colonisation, see Colonisation of Africa. For the book by Thomas Pakenham, see The Scramble for Africa (book).
The 1884 Berlin Conference regulated European colonization and trade in Africa, and is seen as emblematic of the "scramble".[2] In the last quarter of the 19th century, there were considerable political rivalries between the European empires, which provided the impetus for the Scramble.[3] The later years of the 19th century saw a transition from "informal imperialism" – military influence and economic dominance – to direct rule.[4]
With the decline of the European colonial empires in the wake of both world wars, most of their African possessions achieved independence during the Cold War. However, the old imperial boundaries and economic systems imposed by the Scramble continue to affect the politics and economies of African countries.[5]
Causes[edit]
Africa and global markets[edit]
Sub-Saharan Africa, one of the last regions of the world largely untouched by "informal imperialism", was attractive to business entrepreneurs. During a time when Britain's balance of trade showed a growing deficit, with shrinking and increasingly protectionist continental markets during the Long Depression (1873–1896), Africa offered Britain, Germany, France, and other countries an open market that would garner them a trade surplus: a market that bought more from the colonial power than it sold overall.[4][9]
Surplus capital was often more profitably invested overseas, where cheap materials, limited competition, and abundant raw materials made a greater premium possible. Another inducement for imperialism arose from the demand for raw materials, especially ivory, rubber, palm oil, cocoa, diamonds, tea, and tin. Additionally, Britain wanted control of areas of the southern and eastern coasts of Africa for stopover ports on the route to Asia and its empire in India.[10] But, excluding the area that became the Union of South Africa in 1910, European nations invested relatively limited amounts of capital in Africa.
Pro-imperialist colonial lobbyists such as the Alldeutscher Verband, Francesco Crispi and Jules Ferry, argued that sheltered overseas markets in Africa would solve the problems of low prices and overproduction caused by shrinking continental markets. John A. Hobson argued in Imperialism that this shrinking of continental markets was a key factor of the global "New Imperialism" period.[11] William Easterly, however, disagrees with the link made between capitalism and imperialism, arguing that colonialism is used mostly to promote state-led development rather than corporate development. He has said that "imperialism is not so clearly linked to capitalism and the free markets... historically there has been a closer link between colonialism/imperialism and state-led approaches to development."[12]