Africa is a large continent home to immense culture and history surrounded
by the Mediterranean Sea to the north the Indian Ocean to the southeast and
the Atlantic Ocean to the west it is the world's second largest and second most
populous continent it contains 54 countries and is
extremely diverse in terms of ethnicity and language the borders of these
countries were largely decided by European nations during the late 19th
and early 20th century in what is known as the Scramble for Africa
the Sahara is a defining feature of Africa the largest desert in the world
the Sahara sheer size and magnitude actives as a major obstacle for
communication trade an exchange of ideas however there is evidence of Roman
expeditions and explorations who were able to move across the desert and into the
interior of Africa with the aim to secure sources of gold salt and spices
for centuries Arabs also maintained trade relations with the vast empires of
West Africa such as the Ghana and Mali Empire establishing trade routes that
secured gold ivory and slaves the Portuguese began expeditions down the
west coast of Africa in the 15th century and history tells us of the profound
effect that followed during the 1480s the Explorer Deigo Cao was the first to
establish contact with the Kongo Kingdom situated south of the Congo River the
Kongo kingdom was eager to make use of Portuguese teachers and craftsmen and
the Kongo king's allowed Catholic missionaries to work among their people
the Portuguese traded guns cloth and other European luxuries for slaves who
were captured by the Kongo in wars against rival kingdoms by the 17th
century Portugal and other European powers
began to settle on the coast of Africa Europeans would buy slaves in Africa
transport them to the Americas and exchange them for valuable goods like
sugar coffee and tobacco which were then sold premium prices in Europe arguably
between the 16th and 18th century over 12 million Africans were enslaved and
transported in harsh conditions to work on plantations in the Americas in the
south of Africa the first European settlement was established by the Dutch
East India Company where merchants used the location of the way point
for ongoing voyages to the Dutch East Indies they came into contact with a khoikhoi
a nomadic indigenous population of southwestern Africa comprising of
hundreds of clans over time the settlement known as the Cape of Good
Hope grew in size resulting in the Khoikhoi losing land
and cattle to the Dutch who adopted the name Boer meaning farmer to you to a
shortage of labour the Dutch imported slaves from Mozambique Madagascar and
many Indonesian islands the Cape of Good Hope came under the control of the
British during the Napoleonic Wars the abolition of slavery ended slavery in
the Cape in 1834 in 1835 the ball was embarked on the Great Trek as the
abolition of the slave trade resulted in financial catastrophe as a result Dutch
citizens known as vote records moved further inland into Africa they formed
the free orange state and Transvaal which was recognised by the British in the
north France launched a war of conquest against Algeria in 1830 which would last
until 1847 meanwhile in the United States there was a movement to settle
Freeborn blacks and freed slaves and transport them to Africa most whites and
later a small minority of blacks believed that blacks would be better off
in Africa the American Colonisation Society began transporting them to the
closest point of Africa to establish a colony in 1822 by 1847 the settlers
issued a declaration of independence and established the independent republic of
Liberia the construction of the Suez Canal in 1869 verified its importance as
a route for trade with India and China and in 1882 Egypt was occupied by
British forces during the anglo-egyptian war subsequently revealing the potential
riches that Africa offered there were several European explorers who explored
the continent perhaps one of the most famous was David Livingstone a Scottish
missionary who attempted to convert the natives he encountered to Christianity
and strove to find the source of the Nile
Henry malt Stanley was famous for his exploration of Central Africa he worked
for king Leopold ii of Belgium and helped map out the Congo region so
why were the no major explorations into the interior of Africa before this well
there were limited seaworthy rivers tropical diseases hostile natives and
weapons were not as as balanced as they were in the 19th century during the 19th
century most European powers experienced a dramatic growth of productivity
triggered by industrialisation European countries over produce goods and were
consequently searching for new markets interest turn towards the acquisition of
land in order to grow agricultural products for European markets Europeans
moved into the interior of Africa to extract raw materials such as rubber
palm oil gold copper and diamonds these natural resources made Africa a vital
resource for the European economy
between 1884 and 1885 the Berlin conference was called by German
Chancellor Otto von Bismarck 14 representatives of 14 European countries
attended the conference including Britain Belgium France Portugal and
Italy notably no African representatives were invited the aim was to discuss how
European countries would claim colonial and in Africa and avoid war between them
each country affirmed that they would bring civilization in the form of
Christianity and trade to each region they occupied although most of these
African colonies were controlled by nations the Berlin Conference allowed
king Leopold ii of Belgium to become the sole ruler of a vast area that is today
the democratic republic of the Congo the intent was to make it an area of free
trade for all Europeans in Africa however in practice Leopold kept out
most European traders and granted concessions to various corporations to
exploit the region's resources in 1908 it was revealed that under King
Leopold's instructions native people of the Congo were forced to farm wild
rubber as a former tax payment to the colonial government those unable to
carry out these instructions had the hand or foot severed once news of these
atrocities became known King Leopold was stripped of his colony and a vast Congo
region was ruled by the Belgian government understandably Europe held
the technological advantage bands of just a few hundred men and barely a
handful of machine guns proceeded to overwhelm and obliterate thousands of
Africans the machine gun was a revolutionary gun the
five Rapid Shots as an unparalleled speed the effectiveness of the weapon
was obvious in Sudan where a British force armed with roughly 20 machine guns
and a small number of Gumbo's overpowered Sudanese forces and
effectively opened the door for colonization but the Europeans in their
quest to carve up the continent would encounter resistance by the early 1880s
Abyssinia or modern-day Ethiopia was in danger of invasion from the British
French and Italians Abyssinian Emperor made a decision to exploit European
rivalries after mining concessions to France in return for weapons Italy grew
nervous of the growing French interests in the country and offered the Emperor
Italian weapons throughout the 1880s Abyssinia grew stronger and stronger
securing more modern weapons from the British and Russians in 1889 Italy
claimed Abyssinia as an Italian Protectorate the Emperor rejected this
Italy craving the glory of victory ordered its troops into battle in 1894
outnumbered the Italians were defeated in 1896 Abyssinia remained independent
the British encountered resistance in South Africa against the Boers they had
previously recognised the independence of the borough of Republic's but the
discovery of diamonds and the potential of a German Boer Lions led to war the
Boers use guerrilla warfare and utilise their skills of marksmanship to hinder
British advancement but in the end which his forces prevailed Great Britain
dominated the African continent with the control of Egypt South Africa Nigeria
and the Gold Coast the French occupied vast expanses of West Africa
the Germans controlled modern-day Tanzania as well as Namibia the Italians
controlled Somalia and Libya while the Portuguese exerted full control
of Angola and Mozambique by 1914 90% of Africa had been divided between
seven European countries with only Ethiopia and the African-american state
of Liberia remaining independent nations this video has been a collaboration with
26 other history channels on the history of Africa check out the previous video
by history and headlines with his video on Timbuktu and check out the next video
on French Algeria by this is Barris thank you all for watching this video and a
special thanks to my patron Jimmy Alexander for supporting the creation of
this video see you next time