•Divided into 100’s of ethnic & linguistic groups•Mixture of large empires & small independent villages•Most practiced traditional beliefs•Others practiced Islam & Christianity

•Largest Land Mass

•3X the size of US

•Petroleum,gold, copper, diamonds, cotton, coffee, peanuts, lumber

•Established contact in early 1450’s•Early contact limited to coastal territory•Travel to interior was limited due to navigability of rivers & disease

•Large networks of Africans controlled trade (gold & ivory)•European interest based on slave Trade (Triangular trade)

•Known as the Dark Continent•1860’s Scottish missionary David Livingstone- first European to explore Sub- Saharan Africa• Reported lush forests, waterfalls, & grasslands•Discovers Victoria Falls

•1871 American Henry Stanley searches for & finds Livingstone •Stanley finds mouth of Congo opening up interior to trade•Helps establish Congo Free State for King Leopold II of Belgium•Sets off Scramble for Africa

The Congo Free State orThe Belgian Congo

King Leopold II:(r. 1865 – 1909)

Harvesting Rubber

Punishing “Lazy” Workers

5-8 Million Victims! (50% of Popul.)

It is blood-curdling to see them (the soldiers) returning with the hands of the slain, and to find the hands of young children amongst the bigger ones evidencing their bravery...The rubber from this district has cost hundreds of lives, and the scenes I have witnessed, while unable to help the oppressed, have been almost enough to make me wish I were dead... This rubber traffic is steeped in blood, and if the natives were to rise and sweep every white person on the Upper Congo into eternity, there would still be left a fearful balance to their credit. -- Belgian Official

Belgium’s Stranglehold on the Congo

•Belgian presence in the Congo setoff European race for colonies•No European power wanted to be left behind

•Discoveries of Gold & Diamonds in South Africa also increased interest

Conference of European powers set up rules for colonizing AfricaTo prevent war, 14 European nations met at the Berlin

Conference in 1885-85 to lay down rules for the division of Africa

They agreed that any European nation could claim land by notifying other nations and showing they could control that land

• Divided Africa w/ no regard for ethnic or linguistic groupsNo African rulers attended• By 1914 only 2 countries remained independent

•Variety of Cultures & Languages

•Low Level of Technology

•Ethnic Strife

•Scattered throughout Africa•Controlled heavily populated regions heavy in resources•Parts of West & East Africa, Egypt, & most of Southern Africa

•Dutch Farmers(Boers) settle Cape town in 1652•English acquired Cape colony from Dutch in 1806•Boers resented English rule & Migrated north (The Great Trek)

•1816 African leader Shaka unites the Zulu Nation

•Zulu warriors fight against European slave traders & Ivory hunters

The Zulu

•The Great Trek causes conflict between Boers & Zulus•Boers aided by British defeat Zulus•Boers establish independent Republics of Transvaal & Orange Free State

•1867 diamond & gold deposits discovered in Boer territory•1890 Cecil Rhodes expands control of South Africa•Annexes the Boer Republics

•Boers resist & fighting lasts from 1899-1902•1910 British form Union of South Africa( *Racial segregation until1993)

Diamond Mines

Raw Diamonds

Most Resistance was unsuccessful•Superior European technology•Alliances failed

Maji- Maji Rebellion 1905•Germans in East Africa squash spiritual uprising (26,000 killed)

•Menelik II Emperor of Ethiopia•Purchases weapons from France & Russia

•Defeated Italian forces in 1896

Only African nation to resist Europeans

•Reduced local warfare•Improved sanitation, hospitals & education•African products popular in European Market•Improved infrastructure•Railroads,dams, telephones & telegraph lines

•Lost land & independence•Death caused by new disease & resistance•Change to cash crops resulted in famine•Breakdown of traditional culture European establishment of boundaries (Problem today)