Menelik ii of ethiopia on imperialism worksheet answers

WORKING WITH EVIDENCE Colonial Conquest: The Scramble for Africa The centerpiece of Europe’s global expansion during the nineteenth century occurred in the so-called scramble for Africa, during which a half dozen or so European countries divided up almost the entire continent into colonial territories (see Map 18.2). The “scramble” took place very quickly (between roughly 1875 and 1900), surprising even the European leaders who initiated it, as well as the many African societies that suddenly found themselves confronting highly aggressive and well-armed foreign forces. It is remarkable that the entire partition of Africa took place without any direct military conflict between the competing imperial countries. But in establishing their control on the ground, Europeans faced widespread African resistance, making the scramble an extremely bloody process of military conquest. The sources that follow illustrate some of the distinctive features of the scramble for Africa as well as the differing ways in which it was perceived and represented. Source 18.1 Competition and Conquest As the scramble for Africa got under way in earnest in the 1880s and 1890s, it became a highly competitive process. French designs on Africa, for example, focused on obtaining an uninterrupted east-west link from the Red Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. But the British, entrenched in Egypt and in control of the Suez Canal, were determined that no major European power should be allowed to control the headwaters of the Nile on which Egypt depended. Those conflicting goals came to a head in 1898, when British forces moving south from Egypt met a French expedition moving northeast from the Atlantic coast of what is now Gabon. That encounter took place along the Nile River at Fashoda in present-day Sudan, threatening war between France and Great Britain. In the end, negotiations persuaded the French to withdraw. Source 18.1, the cover of a French publication, shows the commander of the French expedition, Jean-Baptiste Marchand, who gained heroic stature by leading his troops on an epic journey across much of Africa for more than eighteen months. ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ How did the artist portray Marchand? How might a British artist have portrayed him? What does this source suggest about the role of violence in the scramble for Africa? Notice the large number of African troops among Marchand’s forces. What does that suggest about the process of colonial conquest? Why might Africans have agreed to fight on behalf of a European colonial power? How do you understand the fallen soldier lying between Marchand’s legs? CHARLES TICHON Commandant Marchand across Africa 1900 Source 18.2 “Pacification” In East Africa In European eyes, conquest was frequently termed “pacification,” with the goal of ending all active resistance to colonial authorities. For African communities, it often meant devastating violence. Source 18.2 provides a vivid example of what the scramble for Africa meant at the level of a single village. It comes from the diary of a young British soldier who took part in the takeover of what is now Kenya. ▪ ▪ ▪ What posture did this soldier take toward this military action? How might this experience be described from the viewpoint of one of the surviving young women? How does the violence depicted in this account differ from that shown in Source 18.1? RICHARD MEINERTZHAGEN A Small Slaughter 1902 I have performed a most unpleasant duty today. I made a night march to the village at the edge of the forest where the white settler had been so brutally murdered the day before yesterday. Though the war drums were sounding throughout the night, we reached the village without incident and surrounded it. By the light of the fires, we could see savages dancing in the village, and our guides assured me that they were dancing around the mutilated body of the white man. I gave orders that every living thing except children should be killed without mercy. I hated the work and was anxious to get through with it. So soon as we could see to shoot we closed in. Several of the men tried to break out but were immediately shot. I then assaulted the place before any defense could be prepared. Every soul was either shot or bayoneted, and I am happy to say that there were no children in the village.