Africa

Question 1

What were the 3 C’s?

Answer 1

• Commerce (trade)
• Christianity
• Civilisation

Question 2

What were British attitudes towards Africa?

Answer 2

They believed that their civilisation was superior and that it was their duty to bring African countries to civilisation and sophistication.

Question 3

Why did the palm oil trade boom during the early 1800’s?

Answer 3

Palm oil was used as a lubricant for the machines during the Industrial Revolution.

Question 4

Why did many Christian missionaries travel to Africa?

Answer 4

• They hoped to convert the natives to Christianity.

- They also hoped to earn profits from the trades in palm oil, gold, and diamonds.

Question 5

What were the aims of the missionaries?

Answer 5

• They wanted to ensure that slavery was completely abolished.
• They wanted to bring the word of God to African tribes.

Question 6

What was the Church Missionary Society (CMS) and when was it established?

Answer 6

The Church Missionary Society was established in 1827 in Sierra Leone.
The CMS would train Africans in the Gospel, and how to preach the word of God to their own people.

Question 7

Who was Mary Slessor?

Answer 7

• She was brought up in Scotland and she was a devout Christian.
• She wanted to improve the lives of African people.
• She trained as a missionary, migrated to Nigeria, and not only did she convert the Africans to Christianity, she also worked to improve their lives.

Question 8

What did Marry Slessor’s work consist of?

Answer 8

• She adopted several Nigerian children who she had found abandoned.
• She worked as a judge in the local courts, administrating justice and making sure people had fair trials.
• She set up the Hope Waddell Training Institution in 1895 which gave local people vocational training, in hopes it would help them find work.

Question 9

How much palm oil did Britain import in 1807?

Answer 9

About 100 tonnes.

Question 10

How much palm oil did Britain import by the 1840s?

Answer 10

About 216’000 tonnes.

Question 11

How much palm oil did Britain import by 1895?

Answer 11

About 635’000 tonnes.

Question 12

Other than palm oil, what else did British entrepreneurs find possible profitable trading in?

Answer 12

Gold and diamond mining.

Question 13

What was the ‘Scramble for Africa’?

Answer 13

Where Britain and other European powers rushed to gain control over particular parts of Africa to make profits and money.

Question 14

What was the Berlin West Africa Conference and when did it happen?

Answer 14

The Berlin West Africa Conference occurred in 1884.
European powers met there and it was stated that if any country had an interest in a part of Africa, then they had to make a claim for it and defend their claim.

Question 15

Why was the Suez Canal built?

Answer 15

To improve trade between Europe and Asia.

- Britain benefitted with a quicker route to India.

Question 16

When did the Suez Canal open?

Answer 16

1869.

Question 17

Who had shares in the canal?

Answer 17

• Britain
• Egypt
• But France had a majority because they were the ones that suggested to build the canal.

Question 18

What did the rule of Egypt, Khedive Pasha, do in 1875?

Answer 18

He was in financial trouble so he sold his shares of the canal; Britain bought these shares.
- This meant that Britain controlled the most amount of shares in the canal.

Question 19

What was the significance of Britain owning most of the shares in the canal?

Answer 19

• It allowed Britain to transport goods to India faster, which vastly improved its trading position with India.
• It allowed Britain to have influence over Egypt, without it being a colony.

Question 20

When did Britain invade Egypt?

Answer 20

1882.

Question 21

When did Britain gain control of the Southern point of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope?

Answer 21

In 1814.

- They took it from Dutch settlers.

Question 22

Who was Cecil Rhodes and what did he do in South Africa?

Answer 22

Cecil Rhodes moved to South Africa when he was 17, and he started a diamond mining company with his brother in 1888.

Question 23

What did Cecil Rhodes believe in?

Answer 23

• He believed in white supremacy
• He believed that the British Empire should unite all English-Speaking people across the world so that they could civilise other nations that were inferior and not as advanced.

Question 24

What did Cecil become in 1890?

Answer 24

He became the Prime Minister of Cape Colony.

Question 25

What did Cecil do while he was Prime Minister?

Answer 25

• He used his power to limit the land rights of black citizens and gave greater land to white settlers.
• Many black citizens also lost the right to vote.
• He laid the foundation for the Apartheid which divided the country years later.

Question 26

What were men who invested in the diamond and gold industry known as?

Answer 26

Randlords.

Question 27

Who were the uitlanders?

Answer 27

British mine workers that worked in the diamond and gold mines.

Question 28

What was Witwatersrand?

Answer 28

It was in the Transvaal Republic which, at the time, was controlled by Boers (Dutch settlers).
- They allowed British miners to work there but they taxed them heavily and treated them as inferiors.

Question 29

What did Rhodes and other randlords plan to do in 1895?

Answer 29

They planned to raid the Transvaal to try and rouse the uitlanders into causing an uprising because they wanted greater control over their mining business, and to do that they wanted to pay lower taxes.

Question 30

What was the raid of 1895 called and who led it?

Answer 30

It was called the Jameson Raid and it was led by Leander Jameson.

Question 31

What happened in the Jameson Raid?

Answer 31

The raid had failed and was a huge embarrassment for the randlords.
- Many were imprisoned in Britain.
It also made the relationship between the randlords and the Boers very tense and contributed to war the began years later.

Question 32

When did the Boers declare war on the British?

Answer 32

In 1899.

Question 33

Did Britain achieve in the war?

Answer 33

Yes, however, initially, they struggled and were only saved by reinforcements that were sent from Britain.
These reinforcements allowed them to capture the Transvaal’s capital, Pretoria.

Question 34

The war dragged on for two years and became a guerrilla war. What does ‘guerrilla war’ mean?

Answer 34

It means that the two sides rarely met face to face, and instead planned secret and sudden attacks on each other.

Question 35

What was the ‘scorched earth’ policy?

Answer 35

It was a British policy that they used to destroy Boer farmland.
- They also established concentration camps for women and children whose houses were destroyed so they didn’t help the Boer men in the war.

Question 36

How many Boers died in the concentration camps?

Answer 36

Around 25’000 Boers.

Question 37

Who lost the war and how/why?

Answer 37

The Boers lost the war in 1902 because they surrendered.

Question 38

How did the end of the war affect Britain?

Answer 38

Even though they won, their reputation was severely damaged due to controversial tactics (concentration camps) and they were also humiliated by the Boers strong fight.