The Scramble for Africa – Thomas Pakenham

Part of the ‘Into and out of Africa’ reading journey.

In the decades prior to the 1870s the only European interest in and knowledge of the African continent was some coastal areas and the banks of a few navigable rivers, with contact limited to minimal trade (once that in slaves was outlawed) and staging posts on the way to India and the East.

Then David Livingstone, emerging from years in the interior, reported that although the Europeans weren’t taking slaves, the Arabs were, and slavery within the continent was rife. In his view Africa needed three things – Christianity, commerce and civilization – and many in positions of influence agreed with at least one of those.

As the missionaries and explorers heeded his call and pushed inland, European traders followed uncovering new potential, and as the value of their business grew so did their demands for governments back home to protect their interests.

Treaties and alliances proliferated; soldiers and guns followed to enforce them; spheres of influence developed; and once one power claimed territory as their own the others followed suit in order not to miss out. And the undignified, unwarranted, scramble unfolded to the bitter end of an almost total carve-up of the continent.

The above is of course a vast over-simplification of fifty years of tumultuous upheaval across a vast area, and even Pakenham’s 700 pages do not claim to be the full story. But his account comprehensively builds up the big picture from a myriad of detailed incidents that bring the human element into the tortuous march of history, and say much about the motives and methods of those involved.

The trials and tribulations of the explorers, the missionaries, the natives, the traders and the soldiers are recounted alongside the strategic aims and machinations of the politicians and the lobbyists in the capitals of England, France, Germany, Italy and, more sinisterly, in the court of Leopold II, King of the Belgians.

I am not qualified to comment on the historical accuracy or interpretations put forward, but as a general reader I found the book excellent; clearly written, informative, interesting, at times fascinating, with perhaps the biggest achievement being able to focus on one theatre of operations at a time while linking it to the wider continental, European and global context.