Scramble for Africa Facts for Kids

Areas of Africa controlled by European colonial powers (Belgian, British, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish Empires)

The Scramble for Africa (or the Race for Africa), from the 1880s until the start of World War I, was a time of much colonial expansion in Africa. Many European countries started colonies in Africa during this time. This is an example of New Imperialism.

The last half of the 19th century saw a change in the way countries controlled their colonies. They changed from economic control through mass settlement, to political and military control of the colony's resources, especially in the 1870s. This was seen in the fight for the areas that were controlled by European nations.

Some famous people who helped European countries find more land in Africa included the explorers David Livingston, Henry Morton Stanley, and Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, and the French politician Jules Ferry.

The Berlin Conference (1884 - 1885) tried to end disputes between the United Kingdom, France's Third Republic, the German Empire, and other European countries. They agreed that "effective occupation" would be the rule for colonial claims. Laws were made for using direct rule on a colony, backed up by military power.

Many of the indigenous populations dropped dramatically in Africa at this time. Some were put into slavery or died though "indiscriminate war", starvation and diseases brought by the Europeans.

Images for kids

Comparison of Africa in the years 1880 and 1913
Contemporary French propaganda poster hailing Major Marchand's trek across Africa toward Fashoda in 1898
The Askari colonial troops in German East Africa, c. 1906
Italian aircraft in action against Ottoman forces during the Italian invasion of Libya in the Italo-Turkish War
Henry Morton Stanley
Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza in his version of "native" dress, photographed by Félix Nadar
Port Said entrance to Suez Canal, showing De Lesseps' statue
Otto von Bismarck at the Berlin Conference, 1884
Muhammad Ahmad, leader of the Mahdists. This fundamentalist group of Muslim dervishes overran much of Sudan and fought British forces.
Map depicting the staged pacification of Morocco through to 1934
Pygmies and a European. Some pygmies would be exposed in human zoos, such as Ota Benga displayed by eugenicist Madison Grant in the Bronx Zoo.
Poster for the 1906 Colonial Exhibition in Marseilles (France)
Poster for the 1897 Brussels International Exposition.
German Cameroon, painting by R. Hellgrewe, 1908
Equestrian statue of Leopold II of Belgium, the Sovereign of the Congo Free State from 1885 to 1908, Regent Place in Brussels, Belgium
The Foureau-Lamy military expedition sent out from Algiers in 1898 to conquer the Chad Basin and unify all French territories in West Africa.
The Senegalese Tirailleurs, led by Colonel Alfred-Amédée Dodds, conquered Dahomey (present-day Benin) in 1892
Italian settlers in Massawa
Marracuene in Portuguese Mozambique was the site of a decisive battle between Portuguese and Gaza king Gungunhana in 1895
Opening of the railway in Rhodesia, 1899
Following the Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War in 1896, the British proclaimed a protectorate over the Ashanti Kingdom.
Oil and gas concessions in the Sudan – 2004

Scramble for Africa facts for kids

Images for kids

See also