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Around this time, Europe became increasingly interested in the continent of Africa. Before 1870, inland continental Africa had been largely ignored by the European powers, partly due to a simple lack of interest on their part and partly due to a lack of resistance to tropical diseases, a problem that gave Africa the name ‘White Man’s Grave’. The inroads they had made were predominantly in coastal towns that served as either trading posts or re-fuelling stations, as in the case of Cape Town. The interior was unknown and Africa was also referred to as the ‘Dark Continent’ for that reason.
However, as Europe industrialised, the need grew for raw materials to feed its factories and more and more countries began to look to Africa as a new source of supply as well as a market into which they could sell their newly manufactured goods. The discovery of quinine, which gave some protection against malaria, together with the invention of new vaccines, contributed to reducing the high number of European deaths from disease and opened the country to further exploration. The final impetus was a religious one; European Christians saw a whole new continent ready for the word of God.
Almost from the beginning, European nations competed aggressively for land. The French had lost territory (and pride) to the Germans in 1871 and their American empire no longer existed, thanks largely to Britain. They had also obtained a renewed taste for colonial possessions following their invasion of Algeria in 1830. Africa offered them a new opportunity for expansion.
Britain was looking to expand its empire, which had also been reduced since the independence of its American colonies. It was also concerned about a rapidly industrialising Germany which was pursuing an aggressive policy of growth under Kaiser Wilhelm II. Sandwiched among the great powers in the middle of Europe, King Leopold II of Belgium felt that this was his one chance to gain territory in a way that did not involve war; after all, more territories equated to higher prestige. Leopold would go on to seize the Congo as his personal property. Portugal, Italy and a host of other countries also sought to get into the game.
In 1882 the British invaded and occupied Egypt, concerned that instability there would affect the operation of the Suez Canal – built in 1869 – which significantly reduced the time and cost of travel to India. In an attempt to protect Egypt from invasion, Britain also conquered the Sudan to Egypt’s south. With the strategic port of Cape Town in its hands since the beginning of the century, its route to India was now secure; however, the inevitable response to these actions was a rush by other European powers to gain territory in Africa. The speed at which they rushed into the continent encouraged Bismarck to call an international conference in Berlin to set the rules for dividing it up. No Africans were invited.
Within 20 years, most of the continent was under the control of one European power or another. Of all the African countries, only Abyssinia (later Ethiopia) and Liberia were never conquered by Europeans. As with other European conquests, the locals were not given much consideration, with large numbers enslaved and killed in an effort to exploit the territory and its resources. The newly developed machine gun made up for the lack of manpower allocated by European governments in their attempt to tame what they considered an uncivilised land.
One of the overriding and lasting effects of European colonisation was the imposition of borders that cut across tribal boundaries and caused conflicts that continue to this day. In their haste to delineate their new colonies, the powers arbitrarily drew straight lines on a map, ignoring any linguistic groups or existing tribal loyalties. It would take half a century or so before the African countries felt confident enough to rise up against their colonial masters and demand their independence.