Colonizing Africa

Although Europeans had been trading with Africa since the 16^th century, they knew very little about the interior of the continent. They hardly ever ventured beyond the trading posts on the coast.

In Britain, curiosity about the interior of Africa grew, and, in 1788, an association was formed to encourage exploration and trade there. At the same time, many Europeans started to campaign against slavery. The British slave trade was abolished in 1807, with slavery finally ending throughout the British Empire in 1833. In 1822, Liberia was founded in West Africa as a home for free American slaves.

Christian missionaries travelled from Europe to Africa to set up churches and schools. Settlers also went to Africa, with most of them making for Cape Colony (South Africa), which the British captured from the Dutch in 1806. This was the largest European settlement in Africa.

Most of the colonists were Dutch farmers, known as Boers. In 1835, many of them were unhappy living under British rule, and they set off on the Great Trek into the interior. After much hardship they formed two new republics, the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. But when they reached the Zulu lands they came into conflict with the Zulus. Eventually the Zulus were defeated by the British in 1879.

Many British expeditions explored Africa’s interior along its great rivers. From 1768 to 1773, James Bruce explored Ethiopia, and, it two expeditions from 1795 to 1806, Mungo Park explored the Niger river. From 1852 to 1856, David Livingstone crossed the continent following the Zambezi river. In 1866,he set out to look for the source of the Nile, but lost contact with Britain for almost three years. An expedition led by Henry Stanley found him on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. Stanley went on to explore his own African empire. This was start of Europe’s scramble to control the entire continent.