The African Continent In The 19th Century

The scramble for the African colonies was essentially like Kennedy said, “a championship chess match between the British grand master and its brash European challengers. Nationalist rivalries certainly played an important part in the drive to acquire colonial territory…” Evidently when Britain went into upper Burma in 1885 they prevented possible French invasion and the occupation of Egypt in 1882 secured Britain the Suez Canal, which gave faster passage into Asia. However, it is not certain that the outcomes of the examples happened as phrased. The undertakings in Africa cannot be stated as definitive facts rather reasonable assumptions based on facts .

Africa had gained Britain’s attention in the previous centuries which was the reason

However, it was also met with opposition from reluctant imperialists, and forced the Victorians to invent a reason or justification for the Empire’s growth. It was as Brantlinger stated, “The Dark Continent was thus a Victorian invention. As part of a larger discourse about empire, it was shaped by political and economic pressure and also by a psychology of blaming the victim through which Europeans projected many of their own darkest impulses onto Africans” This notion can be seen in Cecil Rhodes appendix to John Flint from 1877, where he wrote “I contend that we are the finest race in the world and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race. Just fancy those parts that are at present inhabited by the most despicable specimen of human beings…Africa is still lying ready for us it is our duty to take it. ” His positive rhetoric about himself and those of his class against the negative towards the people in the either colonised or yet to be colonised areas, depicts superiority against inferiority based on race typical for the Victorians. Rhodes had acquired successful diamond fields in South Africa at the time, generating comprehension to his positive inclination to promote imperialism. Imperialism had given him profit and by furthering or even maintaining it

This belief enabled the Victorians to expand the British empire profoundly during the course of the century, especially in Africa. The outcome of it initiated by the anti-slavery programs in Africa during the early decades. These programs led to expeditions in Africa and literature of it, hence having an entire genre in the Victorian literature about exploration of Africa, invoking a growing interest in the public. This made it easier for the British government and companies to implement imperialism on the British public who were pressured by the growing power in the other European countries. However, there were consequences as Brantlinger denotes, “The Dark Continent turned into a mirror, on one level reflecting what the Victorians wanted to see -heroic and saintly self-images- but on another, casting the ghostly shadows of guilt and