EAST AFRICA: AN INTRODUCTORY HISTORY

Chapter 7 THE SCRAMBLE FOR EAST AFRICA

Chapter 7 Between 1880 and 1895 Britain and Germany divided up East Africa between them. Although their authority had yet to be made effective in the territories they claimed, this “scramble for East Africa” involved a distinct change in policy for the European powers. Thus, these years were crucial in determining the fate of East Africa from a European perspective. britain and zanzibar: “informal empire” By the end of the 1870s Britain had achieved considerable dominance in Zanzibar affairs. Economic ties as well as connections established during Britain’s anti-slavery campaign gave her great influence. Although nominally independent, Zanzibar was in many respects within the British sphere of influence. Moreover, Britain was not loath to press the claims of Zanzibar over the East coast and the interior in the face of threats from other European powers, notably France, to make inroads into the region. By the late 1870s, moreover, Zanzibar’s armed forces were under the command of a British officer. Added to her paramountcy over Zanzibar were Britain’s missionaries and adventurers, certainly outnumbering those of any other European country. For many reasons, therefore, Britain could get what she wanted in East Africa (e.g., trade, mission stations, and anti-slavery decrees) without The Scramble for East Africa 130 | CHAPTER SEVEN having to formally annex it. Indeed, the feeling that colonial expansion was unprofitable and unnecessary was quite widespread among political leaders in mid-century Britain. Britain had sea power and a dominant position economically so there seemed no need to worry about potential colonies in East Africa. As already noted, the British government had opposed plans of British commercial interests to obtain a sphere of influence in East Africa through a concession from the Sultan of Zanzibar in the 1870s. Prior to the 1870s potential rivals such as France were kept too busy by events in Europe, such as the revolutions of 1848 and the FrancoPrussian War, to seriously challenge the British position; Germany had yet to be united in a single state. The circumstances in which British influence had reigned supreme in Zanzibar and East Africa did not endure, however. By the end of the 1870s, strong, stable regimes had emerged in France and Germany with the capability of challenging the position of Britain. Before the end of the century , indeed, Germany would surpass Britain as the continent’s leading industrial power. These countries would increasingly look to Africa for “a place in the sun.” So too would the ruler of Belgium, King Leopold. Faced with new challenges from these quarters, Britain would be forced to alter her policy of dominating East Africa through Zanzibar. egypt and the scramble for east africa The earliest attempts at imperial expansion at the expense of Zanzibar (and indirectly Britain) came not from a European power but from Egypt. Egypt’s ruler, Khedive Ismail, planned, among other schemes for modernizing and expanding his domain, to extend his control south down the Nile Valley into the southern Sudan and Uganda and along the coast of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. These were most ambitious undertakings for such states as Bunyoro, Buganda, and Zanzibar, among others, stood in the way. To further these ambitions the khedive appointed an Englishman who had previously traveled down the Nile to the lakes region, Sir Samuel Baker, to be governor-general of Equatoria Province in 1869. It was intended that Baker would work to stamp out the slave trade, which was bringing considerable instability to the Nile Valley, and also to extend the province’s boundaries southward. Baker attempted to move into Bunyoro THE SCRAMBLE FOR EAST AFRICA | 131 in 1872, but he found Mukama Kabarega determined to resist. Unable to bring Bunyoro into Egypt’s sphere of influence, Baker soon left the khedive ’s service. He was succeeded by the more able and ambitious General Charles Gordon, who had made a reputation for bravery and determination in China. Gordon took up the governor-generalship of Equatroia Province, resolved to wipe out the slave trade and expand the boundaries of Egypt southward. Indeed, he came to the conclusion that for the trade to be successfully attacked, Egyptian control must be extended right up to Lake Victoria. Gordon further envisioned a chain of Egyptian stations stretching from the lake to the east coast. While he attempted to push down the Nile Valley, the khedive in 1875 ordered Egyptian occupation of the port of...