Colonisation of Africa - Misplaced Pages

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Ancient colonization

North Africa in particular experienced colonization from Europe and Asia Minor in the early historical period.

The city of Carthage was established in what is now Tunisia by Phoenician colonists, becoming a major power in the Mediterranean by the 4th century BC. Over time the city changed hands, falling to the Romans after the Third Punic War, where it served as the capital city of the Roman's African province. Gothic Vandals briefly established a kingdom there in the 5th century, which shortly thereafter fell to the Romans again, this time the Byzantines. The Ancient Egyptian civilization also fell under the sway of the Greeks, later passing to the Romans. The whole of Roman/Byzantine North Africa eventually fell to the Arabs in the 7th century, who brought the Islamic religion and Arabic language (see History of Islam).

Early modern period

(Insert post-7th century, pre-1880 information here.)

"New Imperialism" (1880-1900)

During the period before World War I, European nations were scrambling to gain more power and more money through the use of colonies. Most of these were in Africa and Asia, but a few colonies were in South American and the Pacific.

Until 1885, most European colonization of Africa had been limited to coastal regions due to the prevalence of disease and the harsh terrain of the interior. In 1885, the European powers met at the Conference of Berlin, although the conference did not directly partition Africa, it set up the ground rules by which European powers could set up claims to the interior.

Here is a list of the partition of Africa from the years 1885 to 1914; it shows the colonies as they were known then and who ruled them:

British

The British were primarily interested in maintaining secure communication lines to India, which led to initial interest in Egypt and South Africa. Once these two areas were secure, it was the intent of British colonialists such as Cecil Rhodes to establish a Cape to Cairo railway.