Grade 8 Term 3

History
Study Notes
 THE SCRAMBLE FOR
AFRICA

#1
Africa Before European Colonisation
Map of Africa 1800:
• People have lived in Africa for much longer than anywhere else in the world.
• Before European colonisation, the majority of the African continent was under African rule.
• Up until the 19th century Africa was ruled by Africans.

#2
Berlin Conference 1884
• By 1914, seven different European countries had helped themselves to the whole African
continent.
• These countries were Britain, France, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, Italy and Spain.
• At one time 98% of the African continent was owned by different countries in Europe.
• The only places that remained independent were Ethiopia and Liberia.

#3
Who Divided Up Africa?
• By the 1870 European powers were fighting for control over different parts of Africa.
• In 1844 the German Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck invited the European powers to a
Conference in Berlin, the capital city of Germany.
• No Africans were invited.
• The European powers decided how they would divide Africa without fighting each other.
• In what is now known as the ‘Scramble for Africa’ France, Britain, Spain, Germany, Portugal,
Italy and Belgium each claimed a piece of Africa.
• Britain, France and Germany claimed the biggest parts of Africa because they were the
strongest European countries at that time.
• The process of taking over other countries is called ‘Colonisation’.
• The areas that were taken over by the Europeans were called ‘Colonies’. Colonisation
includes taking control of the land and people that live on it, normally by force.
• The colonies became part of European country's empire. As part of this process of
colonisation. Africa was divided up into 46 colonies.

PATTERNS OF
COLONISATION

#1
Which Countries Colonised
Which Parts of Africa
 • The colonisation of the African continent by European powers was a major turning point in
African history.
• The legacy of this colonisation still affect Africa today.

#2
Causes of Colonisation
What Were the Reasons for European Colonisation of Africa
There are Many Reasons Why the Europeans Colonised Africa:

The colonisation of Africa by European powers was driven by a

combination of political, economic, social, and ideological reasons. Here
are some of the key motivations behind the colonisation of Africa:

1. Economic Exploitation (Europeans wanted Africa’s valuable

natural resources)
2. New Markets and Trade Routes (Europeans wanted to expand into new markets and
secure trade routes)
3. Strategic Interests (Coastal territories helped maintain communication and trade routes
and colonies served as naval bases)
4. Competition Among European Powers (Colonising African territories was a way for
European powers to increase their global power and prestige)
5. Missionary and Civilising Ideals (Some Europeans believed they had a moral duty to
bring Christianity to “uncivilised” Africa)
6. Nationalism and Patriotism (Colonising Africa because a matter of national pride and a
symbol of a nation’s strength and superiority)
7. Population Pressure and Land Acquisition (European nations sought new lands for
settlement and agricultural development)
8. Abolition of Slavery (Slave trade had been abolished and European powers wanted a
steady supply of labour)
9. Adventure and Exploration (This was a time of great exploration and adventure which
motivated the European powers)
 #3
Why European Powers Were Able
to Colonise Africa so Quickly

There are many reasons why the Europeans colonised Africa so quickly:

1. Industrial Revolution (Europe had experienced significant advancements in technology,

industry and transportation)
2. Military Superiority (Europe had advanced military technology)
3. Technological Advancement (The Europeans had better medical knowledge that
enabled them to fight tropical diseases)
4. Political Fragmentation (Africa was not a unified continent)
5. Economic Interests (European powers wanted valuable resources and minerals from
Africa as well as cheap labour
6. Ideological and Cultural Beliefs (Europeans believed they were “enlightening” and
“civilising” the Africans)
7. Advances in Communication (Telegraphy and later wireless communication allowed
Europeans to control distant colonies)
8. The Scramble for Africa (There was competition amount European powers to secure
African territories)
Overall, these factors created a perfect storm for rapid European colonisation of Africa, leading to
the establishment of colonial territories that would have far-reaching consequences for the
continent's history and development.
 RESULTS OF
COLONISATION

#1
A Turning Point in
African History
• Things started to change in the relationship that the Africans and the European settlers had
towards each other at the end of the 19th century.
• The change was so big that it became known as a turning point in the history of Africa.
• Even though Africa is an independent continent today, the effects of colonialism are still with
us.
• The Europeans brought things to the Africa continent, which have had a long-lasting effect.
• What they left behind is called the legacy of colonialism.

#2
Loss of Land
Loss of Natural Resources and Working for Wages
• Africa is a continent that is rich in raw materials and minerals. Europeans wanted to control
things like, wood, sugar, ivory, tea, rubber, gold, diamonds, vegetable oils and wood
directly.
• These materials were not available in Europe.
• The colonisers made laws in colonies that would force the Africans to work for extremely
low wages.
• Raw materials were railed and shipped to European factories where it would be made into
commercial products and then sold back to Africa to make a huge profit.
•

#3
Artificial Borders

1. If we look at a map of Africa, we are able to see that there are large
countries like Belgian Congo and small countries like Uganda.
2. All the borderlines came about because of the Colonisation of Africa.

• Today, African countries are independent.

• There were 47 countries in Africa in 2012.
• Many of the African states have more than one neighbour.
• These boundaries were inherited from the colonial era and caused economic and political
instability.
• Many wars have been fought in Africa as a result of these unnatural borders and borders
often shift and change.
 #4
Resistance
• The African people did not give up their land without resistance.
• The indigenous people of Africa resisted being colonised and this made the colonisation
process long, slow and very cruel.

An Example of African Resistance - The Maji- Maji Rebellion

• German East Africa was colonised by Germany.
• In 1902, Karl Peters, the governor of German East Africa, decided to introduce a cotton
plantation in the South- east.
• This was a bad idea as the soil was not right to grow cotton.
• Local people were forced to do hard work on the cotton plantation for what they earned a
very small amount of money.
• In 1905, the Maji-Maji rebellion broke out. Every Tanzanian child today learns about the
story of the Maji-Maji rebellion of 1905.
• It was the biggest rebellion against colonialism throughout the African continent at that time.
• In 1905, a prophet by the name of Kinjikitile said he had discovered a spring that made
magical water.
• He said that bullets would not have an effect on you as long as you were sprinkled with this
water.
• His messengers transported the water to the people in the region.
• All the people that were in the south - east were ready to revolt against the Germans.
• The Maji-Maji (water- water) rebellion started in Kinjikitile village, German troops captured
and hung Kinjikitile, but the news of his magic water had spread all across the region.
• People attacked and killed the German missionaries and burnt down the trading post and
killed the people that ran the trading post.
 #5
Christianity, Customs and Culture
Missionaries
• Missionaries aided in the colonising process by converting the indigenous people to
Christianity.
• Most missionaries did not know anything about the history and richness if the culture,
knowledge and experience of the indigenous people.
• Most of them made no effort to understand Africans.
• Christian missionaries thought that to become a Christian, people had to be taken away
from their indigenous culture.
• African religions were considered to be inferior.
• Traditional costumes had to be forgotten before the acceptance of Christianity.
• The missionaries were part of the colonial structure and brought with them beliefs, practices
and religions that were not native to Africa.
• Missionaries brought the Christian message and European values and way of life with them.
• They brought European languages, music and food.
• They taught the indigenous people who they converted to be Christians, they also had to
take on the customs and culture of Europeans.
• To colonise effectively and take control properly, the colonisers also forced their way of life
onto the people that they colonised.

#6
Racism
• The colonisation of Africa led the Europeans to believe that they were better that the
Africans.
• This was not necessarily because of the colour of their skin but that because they were not
of Christian faith and did not follow the European way of doing things.
• With colonisation, Africans were forced to do all the hard and heavy work.
• The settlers got used to thinking that the people with white skin were better that the people
with dark skin.
• They began to regard people who were not ‘white’ as servants.
 • This attitude of judging a person by their skin colour is called racism or racial prejudice.

Review the Case Study:

The Ashanti Kingdom

#1
The Coast of West Africa Before the
Arrival of Europeans
Before Europeans colonisation the West African region was part of a very profitable trade network.
West Africans produced and traded millet, sorghum, wheat, kola nuts, livestock, ivory, ostrich
feathers, cloth and gold.
West Africans exchanged their goods for other goods from trades in the Sahara Desert, Europe
and the Middle East. They imported goods such as salt, brass, copper, silver, tin, books, paper,
tea, sugar, coffee, spices, jewellery, and many other items.

#2
Gold in West Africa
Africa has produced almost all the gold that was ever mined since the beginning of time, between
the 11th and 17th centuries; West Africa was the leading supplier of gold in the whole world.
 #3
The Ashanti and Their Contact With
European Traders and Explorers

Gold and the Ashanti Kingdom of West Africa

• By the 16th and 17th centuries, Akan territories were split into individual independent
kingdoms.
• By the 18th century one of the Akan kingdoms, the Ashanti (also known as the Asante)
controlled many of the other kingdoms in the surrounding area. It also controlled the trade
routes towards the coast and some of the richest gold mines in Africa.
• The early European explorers and traders were so amazed by the richness of gold in the
area, that they gave it the name of the Gold coast.
• The King of the Ashanti is called ‘Asantehene’.
• The Queen mother, the ‘Asantewaa” is a symbol of wealth that is in the region.
• The queen mother has so much gold on, that she needs two people to lift and carry her
hands.
• Before the Europeans arrived with spectacles, the queen mother would wear a headpiece
with beads that covered her eyes.
• To stop her subjects from looking into them.
• Akan gold smiths made glasses to do the same job as the headpiece but also to show the
Europeans that she was powerful because her glasses were made from gold not metal and
glass.

#4
Slaves and the Akan States
• The early Portuguese traders and explorers were very interested in the gold in the Akan
state.
• Their interest in the area later expanded to include thousands of slaves.
• Portuguese slave traders set up a base at Elmina on the coast of the Akan states.
• Africans were kidnapped by other Africans who would march their captives to the coast
where they would sell them to the European slave traders at Elmina.
 • The slaves were kept in a prison called barracoons at Elmina Castle. Until they were
transported by ship across the Atlantic Ocean.
• Unsurprising, African traders and leaders took part in the supply of slaves, as humans they
were easily motivated by greed and the promise of wealth.
• In the earlier years, Ashanti traders got horses and guns in exchange for slaves.
• Later they began to exchange cloth, metal items, copperware and brassware.
• Manufactured goods like bracelets, water jugs, shaving bowls, barber’s basins, chamber
pots, urinals and kettles were in high demand.

#5
The British and the Colonisation
of the Gold Coast
The Myth of the Golden Stool

• The Golden stool is a sacred symbol of Ashanti unity and nationhood.

• The following story is important because it helps to explain the myth around the golden stool.
The Golden Stool help to motivate the Ashanti during their resistance against the British
colonialism.
• In the 1701 during the reign of Asantehene Osei Tutu, a priest told the king, Supreme God
had told him to call an object from heaven that helped the spirit of the nation.
• According to this Ashanti myth, a Golden Stool came from the heavens and contained the
souls of the Ashanti people.
• No one could be a legitimate leader without the stool.
• When a new King was crowned, the king would be raised over the Golden Stool without
touching it.
• Not even the Asantehene could sit on the Golden Stool.
• The stool was not allowed to touch the ground.
• It was placed on its own chair.
• According to the legend, the Ashanti were ordinary people until their king, Osei Tutu, turned
them into a great nation.
• The story that an ordinary clansman, Anochi, stayed near a neighbouring kingdom.
 • He was very experienced in medicine and magic that when he fled to the Ashanti, he said
that Nyame, the Supreme god had sent him to make the Ashanti a great people.

The British Colonisers and the War for the Golden Stool
• Between 1824 and 1901, the British took part in four wars against the Ashanti.
• The Ashanti beat the British Empire in the first three wars but in the end, the Ashanti kingdom
became part of the British colony called the Golden Coast.
• In 1869, the British held the Ashanti capital, Kumasi.
• They sent the King Prempeh the first and many chiefs and elders into exile. Permpeh’s
followers hid the golden stool in a special place to stop it from falling into the British hands.
• In 1898, Major Hodgson was made the British Governor.
• He wanted to defeat the Ashanti for good. At a meeting in 1900, he demanded that the
Ashanti leaders give him the Golden Stool so that he can sit on it.
• The Ashanti leaders listened in silence and did not give the Golden Stool to him.
• The request led to a secret meeting with the last members of the Ashanti government at
Kumasi, to talk about organising the return of their king, there was a disagreement on how
they should do it.
• Yaa Asantewaa, the Queen Mother convinced the Ashanti to fight back, the Ashanti and the
British fought in a battle that became known as the ‘War of the Golden Stool’.
• The British recruited some locals that did not like the Ashanti to fight by their side.
• The British managed to defeat the Ashanti in 1902.
• Asantewaa and other leaders were sent to exile to join Prempeh the first.
• The British then took control of the Ashanti Kingdom and it became part of the British colony
of the golden Coast.

#6
Result of Colonisation for the
Ashanti Kingdom and Britain

Ashanti Lost Many Golden Treasures

• After the British defeated the Ashanti, the British soldiers collected all the gold treasures
from the palace.
• In addition, of these items are now on display in the British museums today.
The Ashanti People Lost Their Independence
● The Ashanti people had no rights in the Gold Coast.
● Powers were taken away from the Ashanti leaders.
● People were forced off their land and forced to work on farms and factories for low amounts
of money to make the British richer.
● The Ashanti were forced to work for wages, and they had to pay taxes to the British colonial
government.
● A very small amount of money was spent on things such as healthcare and education.

The British Grew Richer

• The British took as much as they could from the Gold coast with almost no cost to
themselves.
• They spent their money on thing that would improve their ability to remove natural resources
from the Gold Coast.
• They build roads and railways only to transport resources that they wanted as quickly as
possible to the harbours where they were shipped to Europe.

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