Scramble for Africa facts for kids

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
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Contemporary French propaganda poster hailing Major Marchand's trek across Africa toward Fashoda in 1898
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Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza in his version of "native" dress, photographed by Félix Nadar
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Port Said entrance to Suez Canal, showing De Lesseps' statue
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Muhammad Ahmad, leader of the Mahdists. This fundamentalist group of Muslim dervishes overran much of Sudan and fought British forces.
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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.
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Poster for the 1906 Colonial Exhibition in Marseilles (France)
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Equestrian statue of Leopold II of Belgium, the Sovereign of the Congo Free State from 1885 to 1908, Regent Place in Brussels, Belgium
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The Foureau-Lamy military expedition sent out from Algiers in 1898 to conquer the Chad Basin and unify all French territories in West Africa.
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The Senegalese Tirailleurs, led by Colonel Alfred-Amédée Dodds, conquered Dahomey (present-day Benin) in 1892
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Opening of the railway in Rhodesia, 1899
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Following the Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War in 1896, the British proclaimed a protectorate over the Ashanti Kingdom.
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Oil and gas concessions in the Sudan – 2004
See also
In Spanish: Reparto de África para niños