Central and east Africa, 1898, during the Fashoda Incident .

Further information: French colonial empire
As a part of the Scramble for Africa, France had the establishment of a continuous west-east axis of the continent as an objective, in contrast with
the British north-south axis. Tensions between Britain and France reached tinder stage in Africa. At several points war was possible, but never happened. [224] The most serious episode was the Fashoda Incident of 1898. French troops tried to claim an area in the Southern Sudan, and a much more powerful British force purporting to be acting in the interests of the Khedive of Egypt arrived to confront them. Under heavy pressure the French withdrew securing British control over the area. The status quo was recognised by an agreement between the two states acknowledging British control over Egypt, while France became the dominant power in Morocco, but France suffered a humiliating defeat overall.[225][226]
European colonial territories
Belgium
Areas controlled by European colonial powers on the African continent in 1914; modern-day borders are shown
Congo Free State and Belgian Congo (today's Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Ruanda-Urundi (comprising modern
Rwanda and Burundi , between 1916 and 1960)
France
French West Africa:
Mauritania
Senegal
French Sudan
(now Mali )
French Guinea
(now
Guinea )
Ivory Coast
Niger
French Upper Volta
(now
Burkina Faso)
French Dahomey
(now Benin ) French Equatorial Africa:
Gabon
Middle Congo
(now the
Republic of the Congo )
Oubangi-Chari
(now the
Central African Republic )
Chad French Algeria
(now Algeria)
Tunisia
French Morocco
French Somaliland
(now
Djibouti )
Madagascar
Comoros
Germany
German Kamerun (now Cameroon and part of Nigeria )
German East Africa (now Rwanda,
Burundi and most of Tanzania )
German South West Africa (now Namibia)
German Togoland (now Togo and eastern part of Ghana )
Italy
Italian North Africa (now Libya)
Eritrea
Italian Somaliland (now part of Somalia )
Portugal
Portuguese West Africa
(now Angola)
Mainland Angola
Portuguese Congo
(now Cabinda Province of Angola)
Portuguese East Africa
(now Mozambique )
Portuguese Guinea
(now Guinea-Bissau ) Cape Verde Islands
São Tomé e Príncipe
São Tomé Island
Príncipe Island
Fort of São João Baptista de Ajudá
(now Ouidah , in
Benin )
Spain
Spanish Sahara
(now Western Sahara )
Río de Oro
Saguia el-Hamra Spanish Morocco
Tarfaya Strip
Ifni Spanish Guinea
(now Equatorial Guinea )
Fernando Po
Río Muni
Annobon
United Kingdom
Egypt
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (now Sudan)
British Somaliland (now part of
Somalia )
British East Africa:
Kenya
Uganda Protectorate (now Uganda )
Tanganyika (1919–1961, now part of
Tanzania)
Zanzibar (now part of Tanzania ) Bechuanaland (now Botswana )
Southern Rhodesia (now
Zimbabwe )
Northern Rhodesia (now
Zambia)
British South Africa (now
South Africa)
Transvaal (now part of
South Africa)
Cape Colony (now part of South Africa)
Colony of Natal (now part of South Africa)
Orange Free State (now part of South Africa) The Gambia
Sierra Leone
Nigeria
Cameroons (now parts of
Cameroon and Nigeria )
British Gold Coast (now
Ghana )
Nyasaland (now Malawi )
Basutoland (now Lesotho )
Swaziland
Independent states
Liberia, founded by the American Colonization Society of the United States in 1821; declared independence in 1847
Ethiopian Empire (Abyssinia) had its borders re-drawn with Italian Eritrea and
French Somaliland (modern Djibouti ), briefly occupied by Italy from 1936 to 1941 during the Abyssinia Crisis ;
Sudan, independent under Mahdi rule between 1885 and 1899. It was then under British rule from 1899 to 1956. [227]
20th century
In the 1880s the European powers had divided up almost all of Africa (only Ethiopia and Liberia were independent). They ruled until after World War II when forces of nationalism grew much stronger. In the 1950s and 1960s the colonial holdings became independent states. The process was usually peaceful but there were several long bitter bloody civil wars, as in Algeria, [228] Kenya [229] and elsewhere. Across Africa the powerful new force of nationalism drew upon the organizational skills that natives learned in the British and French and other armies in the world wars. It led to organizations that were not controlled by or endorsed by either the colonial powers not the traditional local power structures that were collaborating with the colonial powers. Nationalistic organizations began to challenge both the traditional and the new colonial structures and finally displaced them. Leaders of nationalist movements took control when the European authorities exited; many ruled for decades or until they died off. These structures included political, educational, religious, and other social organizations. In recent decades, many African countries have undergone the triumph and defeat of nationalistic fervor, changing in the process the loci of the centralizing state power and patrimonial state. [230][231][232]
World War I
With the vast majority of the continent under the colonial control of European governments, the World Wars were significant events in the geopolitical history of Africa. Africa was a theater of war and saw fighting in both wars. More important in most regions, the total war footing of colonial powers impacted the governance of African colonies, through resource allocation, conscription, and taxation. In World War I there were several campaigns in Africa, including the
Togoland Campaign , the Kamerun Campaign , the South West Africa campaign , and the East African campaign . In each, Allied forces, primarily British, but also French, Belgian, South African, and Portuguese, sought to force the Germans out of their African colonies. In each, German forces were badly outnumbered and, due to Allied naval superiority, were cut off from reinforcement or resupply. The Allies eventually conquered all German colonies; German forces in East Africa managed to avoid surrender thorughout the war, though they could not hold any territory after 1917. After World War I,
former German colonies in Africa were taken over by France, Belgium, and the British Empire.
After World War I, colonial powers continued to consolidate their control over their African territories. In some areas, particularly in Southern and East Africa, large settler populations were successful in pressing for additional devolution of administration, so-called "home rule" by the white settlers. In many cases, settler regimes were harsher on African populations, tending to see them more as a threat to political power, as opposed to colonial regimes which had generally endeavored to coopt local populations into economic production. The Great Depression strongly affected Africa's non-subsistence economy, much of which was based on commodity production for Western markets. As demand increased in the late 1930s, Africa's economy rebounded as well.
Africa was the site of one of the first instances of fascist territorial expansions in the 1930s. Italy had attempted to conquer Ethiopia in the 1890s but had been rebuffed in the First Italo-Ethiopian War . Ethiopia lay between two Italian colonies, Italian Somaliland and Eritrea and was invaded in October 1935. With an overwhelming advantage in armor and aircraft, by May 1936, Italian forces had occupied the capital of Addis Ababa and effectively declared victory. Ethiopia and their other colonies were consolidated into Italian East Africa.
World War II: Political
Areas controlled by European powers in 1939. British (red) and Belgian (Orange) colonies fought with the Allies. Italian (green) with the Axis. French colonies (dark blue) fought alongside the Allies until the Fall of France in June 1940. Vichy was in control until the Free French prevailed in late 1942. Portuguese (brown) and Spanish (teal) colonies remained neutral.
Africa was a large continent whose geography gave it strategic importance during the war. North Africa was the scene of major British and American campaigns against Italy and Germany; East Africa was the scene of a major British campaign against Italy. The vast geography provided major transportation routes linking the United States to the Middle East and Mediterranean regions. The sea route around South Africa was heavily used even though it added 40 days to voyages that had to avoid the dangerous Suez region. Lend Lease supplies to Russia often came this way. Internally, long-distance road and railroad connections facilitated the British war effort. The Union of Africa had dominion status and was largely self-governing, the other British possessions were ruled by the colonial office, usually with close ties to local chiefs and kings. Italian holdings were the target of successful British military campaigns. The Belgian Congo, and two other Belgian colonies, were major exporters. In terms of numbers and wealth, the British -controlled the richest portions of Africa, and made extensive use not only of the geography, but the manpower, and the natural resources. Civilian colonial officials made a special effort to upgrade the African infrastructure, promote agriculture, integrate colonial Africa with the world economy, and recruit over a half million soldiers. [233][234]
Before the war, Britain had made few plans for the utilization of Africa, but it quickly set up command structures. The Army set up the West Africa Command, which recruited 200,000 soldiers. The East Africa Command was created in September 1941 to support the overstretched Middle East Command. It provided the largest number of men, over 320,000, chiefly from Kenya, Tanganyika, and Uganda. The Southern Command was the domain of South Africa. The Royal Navy set up the South Atlantic Command based in Sierra Leone, that became one of the main convoy assembly points. The RAF Coastal Command had major submarine-hunting operations based in West Africa, while a smaller RAF command Dealt with submarines in the Indian Ocean. Ferrying aircraft from North America and Britain was the major mission of the Western Desert Air Force. In addition smaller more localized commands were set up throughout the war. [235]
Before 1939, the military establishments were very small throughout British Africa, and largely consisted of whites, who comprised under two percent of the population outside South Africa. As soon as the war began, newly created African units were set up, primarily by the Army. The new recruits were almost always volunteers, usually provided in close cooperation with local tribal leaders. During the war, military pay scales far exceeded what civilians natives could earn, especially when food, housing and clothing allowances are included. The largest numbers were in construction units, called Pioneer units, with over 82,000 soldiers.. The RAF and Navy also did some recruiting. The volunteers did some fighting, a great deal of guard duty, and construction work. 80,000 served in the Middle East. A special effort was made not to challenge white supremacy, certainly before the war, and to a large extent during the war itself. Nevertheless, the soldiers were drilled and train to European standards, given strong doses of propaganda, and learn leadership and organizational skills that proved essential to the formation of nationalistic and independence movements after 1945. There were minor episodes of discontent, but nothing serious, among the natives. [236] Afrikaner nationalism was a factor in South Africa, But the proto-German Afrikaner prime minister was replaced in 1939 by Jan Smuts, an Afrikaner who was an enthusiastic supporter of the British Empire. His government closely cooperated with London and raised 340,000 volunteers (190,000 were white, or about one-third of the eligible white men). [237]
French Africa
As early as 1857, the French established volunteer units of black soldiers in sub- Sahara Africa, termed the tirailleurs senegalais. They served in military operations throughout the Empire, including 171,000 soldiers in World War I and 160,000 in World War II. [238] About 90,000 became POWs in Germany. The veterans played a central role in the postwar independence movement in French Africa. [239][240]
authorities in West Africa declared allegiance to the Vichy regime , as did the colony of French Gabon Vichy forces defeated an Free French Forces invasion of French West Africa in the two battles of Dakar in July and September 1940. Gabon fell to Free France after the Battle of Gabon in November 1940, but West Africa remained under Vichy control until November 1942. Vichy forces tried to resist the overwhelming Allied landings in North Africa (operation Torch) in November 1942. Vichy Admiral François Darlan suddenly switched sides and the fighting ended.[241] The Allies gave Darlan control of North African French forces in exchange for support from both
French North Africa as well as French West Africa. Vichy was now eliminated as a factor in Africa. Darlan was assassinated in December, and the two factions of Free French, led by Charles de Gaulle and Henri Giraud , jockeyed for power. De Gaulle finally won out.[242]
World War II: Military
Since Germany had lost its African colonies following World War I, World War II did not reach Africa until Italy joined the war on June 10, 1940, controlling Libya and Italian East Africa. With the fall of France on June 25, most of France's colonies in North and West Africa were controlled by the Vichy government, though much of Central Africa fell under Free French control after some fighting between Vichy and Free French forces at the Battle of Dakar and the Battle of Gabon . After the fall of France, Africa was the only active theater for ground combat until the Italian invasion of Greece in October. In the
Western Desert campaign Italian forces from Libya sought to overrun Egypt, controlled by the British. Simultaneously, in the East African campaign, Italian East African forces overran British Somaliland and some British outposts in Kenya and
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan . When Italy's efforts to conquer Egypt (including the crucial Suez Canal ) and Sudan fell short, they were unable to reestablish supply to Italian East Africa. Without the ability to reinforce or resupply and surrounded by Allied possessions, Italian East Africa was conquered by mainly British and South African forces in 1941. In North Africa, the Italians soon requested help from the Germans who sent a substantial force under General Rommel . With German help, the Axis forces regained the upper hand but were unable to break through British defenses in two tries at El Alamein. In late 1942, Allied forces, mainly Americans and Canadians, invaded French North Africa in Operation Torch , where Vichy French forces initially surprised them with their resistance but were convinced to stop fighting after three days. The second front relieved pressure on the British in Egypt who began pushing west to meet up with the Torch forces, eventually pinning German and Italian forces in Tunisia , which was conquered by May 1943 in the Tunisia campaign , ending the war in Africa. The only other significant operations occurred in the French colony of Madagascar, which was invaded by the British in May 1942 to deny its ports to the Axis (potentially the Japanese who had reached the eastern Indian Ocean). The French garrisons in Madagascar surrendered in November 1942.
Post-war Africa: decolonization
Further information: Historical African place names
Dates of independence of African countries
The decolonization of Africa started with
Libya in 1951, although Liberia, South Africa, Egypt and Ethiopia were already independent. Many countries followed in the 1950s and 1960s, with a peak in 1960 with the Year of Africa, which saw 17 African nations declare independence, including a large part of French West Africa. Most of the remaining countries gained independence throughout the 1960s, although some colonizers (Portugal in particular) were reluctant to relinquish sovereignty, resulting in bitter wars of independence which lasted for a decade or more. The last African countries to gain formal independence were Guinea-Bissau (1974), Mozambique (1975) and Angola (1975) from Portugal;
Djibouti from France in 1977; Zimbabwe from the United Kingdom in 1980; and
Namibia from South Africa in 1990. Eritrea later split off from Ethiopia in 1993. [243]
East Africa
Main article: East Africa
The Mau Mau Uprising took place in
Kenya from 1952 until 1956 but was put down by British and local forces. A state of emergency remained in place until 1960. Kenya became independent in 1963, and Jomo Kenyatta served as its first president .[244]
The early 1960s also signaled the start of major clashes between the Hutus and the
Tutsis in Rwanda and Burundi . In 1994 this culminated in the Rwandan Genocide, a conflict in which over 800,000 people were murdered. [245]
North Africa
Main article: North Africa
Moroccan nationalism developed during the 1930s; the Istiqlal Party was formed, pushing for independence. In 1953 sultan
Mohammed V of Morocco called for independence. On March 2, 1956, Morocco became independent of France. Mohammed V became ruler of independent Morocco. [246]
In 1954, Algeria formed the National Liberation Front (FLN) as it split from France. This resulted in the Algerian War , which lasted until independence negotiations in 1962. Muhammad Ahmed Ben Bella was elected President of Algeria. Over a million French nationals, predominantly Pied-Noirs , left the country, crippling the economy. [247]
In 1934, the "Neo Destour " (New Constitution) party was founded by Habib Bourguiba pushing for independence in
Tunisia . Tunisia became independent in 1955. Its bey was deposed and Habib Bourguiba elected as President of Tunisia .[248]
In 1954, Gamal Abdel Nasser deposed the monarchy of Egypt in the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 and came to power as
Prime Minister of Egypt.[249] Muammar Gaddafi led the 1969 Libyan coup d'état which deposed Idris of Libya. Gaddafi remained in power until his death in the
Libyan Civil War of 2011 .[250]
Egypt was involved in several wars against Israel and was allied with other
Arab countries . The first was the 1948 Arab–Israeli War , right after the state of Israel was founded. Egypt went to war again in the Six-Day War of 1967 and lost the Sinai Peninsula to Israel. They went to war yet again in the Yom Kippur War of 1973. In 1979, President of Egypt Anwar Sadat and Prime Minister of Israel
Menachem Begin signed the Camp David Accords , which gave back the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in exchange for the recognition of Israel. The accords are still in effect today. In 1981, Sadat was assassinated by members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad under Khalid Islambouli . The assassins were Islamists who targeted Sadat for his signing of the Accords. [251]
Southern Africa
Main article: Southern Africa
In 1948 the apartheid laws were started in
South Africa by the dominant National Party . These were largely a continuation of existing policies; the difference was the policy of "separate development " (Apartheid). Where previous policies had only been disparate efforts to economically exploit the African majority, Apartheid represented an entire philosophy of separate racial goals, leading to both the divisive laws of 'petty apartheid,' and the grander scheme of African homelands. [252]
In 1994, the South African government abolished Apartheid. South Africans elected Nelson Mandela of the African National Congress in the South African general election, 1994 , the country's first multiracial presidential election. [253]
West Africa
Main article: History of West Africa
Following World War II, nationalist movements arose across West Africa, most notably in Ghana under Kwame Nkrumah .[254] In 1957, Ghana became the first sub-Saharan colony to achieve its independence, followed the next year by France's colonies; by 1974, West Africa's nations were entirely autonomous. Since independence, many West African nations have been plagued by corruption and instability, with notable civil wars in
Nigeria , Sierra Leone , Liberia, and Ivory Coast , and a succession of military coups in Ghana and Burkina Faso . Many states have failed to develop their economies despite enviable natural resources, and political instability is often accompanied by undemocratic government. [255][256]
See also 2014 Ebola virus epidemic in Sierra Leone , 2014 Ebola virus epidemic in Guinea , and 2014 Ebola virus epidemic in Liberia[citation needed]
Historiography of British Africa
The first historical studies in English appeared in the 1890s, and followed one of four approaches. 1) The territorial narrative was typically written by a veteran soldier or civil servant who gave heavy emphasis to what he had seen. 2) The "apologia" were essays designed to justify British policies. 3) Popularizers tried to reach a large audience. 4) Compendia appeared designed to combine academic and official credentials. Professional scholarship appeared around 1900, and began with the study of business operations, typically using government documents and unpublished archives. [citation needed]
The economic approach was widely practiced in the 1930s, primarily to provide descriptions of the changes underway in the previous half-century. In 1935, American historian William L. Langer published The Diplomacy of Imperialism: 1890–1902 , a book that is still widely cited. In 1939, Oxford professor Reginald Copeland published
The Exploitation of East Africa, 1856–1890: The Slave Trade and the Scramble, another popular treatment. [ citation needed]
World War II diverted most scholars to wartime projects and accounted for a pause in scholarship during the 1940s. [257]
By the 1950s many African students were studying in British universities, and they produced a demand for new scholarship, and started themselves to supply it as well. Oxford University became the main center for African studies, with activity as well at Cambridge University and the
London School of Economics. The perspective of British government policymakers or international business operations slowly gave way to a new interest in the activities of the natives, especially nationalistic movements and the growing demand for independence. [258] The major breakthrough came from Ronald Robinson and John Andrew Gallagher , especially with their studies of the impact of free trade on Africa. [259] In 1985 The Oxford History of South Africa (2 vols.) was published, [260] attempting to synthesize the available materials. In 2013, The Oxford Handbook of Modern African History was published, [261] bringing the scholarship up to date. citatio