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“A Mutiny resulted. I never shall forget the way That Blood upon this awful day

How significant was technology in determining the course of the colonisation of Africa? Standard – to explain how technology contributed to the colonisation of Africa Super – to assess how far technology caused and accelerated the colonisation of Africa. “A Mutiny resulted.

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“A Mutiny resulted. I never shall forget the way That Blood upon this awful day

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  1. How significant was technology in determining the course of the colonisation of Africa?Standard – to explain how technology contributed to the colonisation of AfricaSuper – to assess how far technology caused and accelerated the colonisation of Africa “A Mutiny resulted. I never shall forget the way That Blood upon this awful day Preserved us all from death. He stood upon a little mound, Cast his lethargic eyes around, And said beneath his breath : Whatever happens we have got The Maxim Gun, and they have not.” Hilaire Belloc, The Traveller 1898 What does this poem suggest to you about colonisation? What does this poem suggest to you about the causes of colonisation?

  2. Colour 1 – write down information about the technology Colour 2 – explain how this impacted colonisation Colour 3 – explain how this caused and/or accelerated colonisation Significance of technology in the colonisation of Africa.

  3. In 1881 the American inventor, Hiram Maxim, visited the Paris Electrical Exhibition. While he was at the exhibition he met a man who told him: "If you wanted to make a lot of money, invent something that will enable these Europeans to cut each other's throats with greater facility." Maxim moved to London and over the next few years worked on producing an effective machine-gun. In 1885 he demonstrated the world's first automatic portable machine-gun to the British Army. Maxim used the energy of each bullet's recoil force to eject the spent cartridge and insert the next bullet. The Maxim Machine-Gun would therefore fire until the entire belt of bullets was used up. Trials showed that the machine-gun could fire 500 rounds per minute and therefore had the firepower of about 100 rifles. The Maxim Machine-Gun was adopted by the British Army in 1889. The following year the Austrian, German, Italian, Swiss and Russian armies also purchased Maxim's gun. The gun was first used by Britain`s colonial forces in the Matabele war in 1893-94. This was fought in modern day Zimbabwe between the British South Africa Company and the Matabele Kingdom. In one engagement, fifty soldiers fought off 5,000 Matabele warriors with just four Maxim guns. The success of the Maxim Machine-Gun inspired other inventors. The German Army's Maschinengewehr and the Russian Pulemyot Maxima were both based on Maxim's invention. In 1912 the British Army transferred its loyalties to the Vickers Gun and lighter Lewis Gun. However, in the First World War, several of the minor European armies continued to use the Maxim Gun.

  4. The telegraph invented by Baron Schilling von Canstatt in 1832 had a transmitting device which consisted of a keyboard with 16 black-and-white keys. These served for switching the electric current. In Europe telegraph wires increased from 2,000 miles in 1849 to 110,000 miles n 1869. The cost of sending 10 words was $1.55 in 1850, $1 in 1870, and 40¢ in 1890. Within 29 years of its first installation at Euston Station in 1850, the telegraph network crossed the oceans to every continent but Antarctica, making instant global communication possible for the first time.The telegraph's greatest accomplishment was to expand information boundaries, allowing data to reach its destination before its usefulness expired to a decisively higher degree than before, particularly in trade.Regarding information about events at significant distances, the telegraph for the first time allowed one to be informed about what had happened before this sank down into the realm of the historic. Thus the telegraph liberated information transfer from transportation. The impetus of this was war, which created the need of expanding the telegraph's service. Its effects were immediate, reducing more than a day off delivery time. News through newspapers also evolved due to the telegraph's inception. The telegraph could carry information, but there was a need for someone to obtain information to begin with at the distant source of the news and to deliver it to the telegraph office.Newspapers could not use their own reporters as they would obstruct other reporters, jamming the telegraph line. The solution was co-operation. In New York, the six major newspapers established an association for foreign news and a separate one for other sources - the first wire service. Ultimately this resulted in the proliferation of news with competition breaking out between the original six papers and other rivals. Thus the telegraph did not only transport news but also played a dominant role in establishing the industry and the profession of journalism.

  5. A steamship (often referred to as a steamer) is an ocean faring seaworthy vessel that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically drive (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships came into practical usage during the early 1800s. It meant ships could sail for longer and more reliably as they were no longer powered by wind. They could also be sailed up main rivers – as they were on the Niger in 1854. They also led to the use of gunboat diplomacy – where Europeans would send military steam ships to dock near coastal towns and cities to use the threat of violence until they received the conditions they wished. One of the most famous uses of this was to colonise Egypt, when gunboat diplomacy was used on Alexandria in 1885. It was also used on South Africa.

  6. As the development of steam engines progressed through the 18th century, various attempts were made to apply them to road and railway use.In 1784, William Murdoch, a Scottish inventor, built a prototype steam road locomotive. The first full-scale working railway steam locomotive was built by Richard Trevithick in the United Kingdom and, on 21 February 1804, the world's first railway journey took place as Trevithick's unnamed steam locomotive hauled a train along the tramway from the Pen-y-darren ironworks, near Merthyr Tydfil to Abercynon in south Wales. In some colonies, railways were used more as the initial spur to encourage colonisation of an area. In Africa, railways were built to provide an infrastructure that would lure white colonists into an area in order to farm it and turn it into a profitable colony. South Africa, Rhodesia and Kenya all wanted to increase their white population and increase the economic activity of their lands and all spent copious amounts of money and effort into building railways in what were very often inhospitable areas to European settlers. They all had varying degrees of success, but they were built nonetheless. Indeed, one of the burning issues of late nineteenth century was Cecil Rhodes' ambition to build a Cape to Cairo railway line that passed through British territory all the way through the continent. And this dream, although not realised by a train network, certainly influenced a great deal of Central African colonisation during the period. Another spur to the railway building in the nineteenth century was the British army. They too, quickly identified the advantages in being able to move troops and supplies around in a quick and efficient manner. The army would often try to influence local colonial administrators and get them to build railway lines to places which had little business or economic rationale. Alternatively, the army would build its own railway lines in areas they felt were necessary. In the case of Kitchener's Sudan campaign in the late 1890's, the army travelled down the Nile slowly but surely, not just out of tactical considerations, but because they were building a railway line as they travelled. In fact, this railway line is still in use as Sudan's major railway line over a hundred years after it was built by the British army. Likewise in the Boer war, the British army came to depend on the strategic advantages of the railway network, but would also be exposed to the vulnerability of this network as the Boers transformed themselves into a guerilla army and destroyed bridges and lines at will. Despite this costly lesson, the British army maintained its respect and use of trains for many more years to come. Railways transformed the Empire in many ways, it increased business activity and allowed businesses to flourish in areas that previously would have been impossible to make a living in. It allowed officials to move rapidly over the areas that they governed. It allowed troops to be dispatched over great distances in short periods of time, indeed this speed of response removed much of the burden of having to station so many troops in a colony in the first place. Populations could benefit from access to cheaper goods as the factories of Europe could unleash their products to the far flung corners of the empire: tinned goods, newspapers, boot polish and toys could all be moved at a fraction of the cost from previous days. The people themselves could move around the empire whether for business or for pleasure; families could be reunited more regularly, farmers could travel longer distances to get their products to market, businessmen could entertain clients from further afield. Even within relatively short distances and in crowded areas people wanted to enjoy the benefits of the train system.

  7. What does this picture suggest about the colonisation of Africa? The Cape to Cairo railway and telegraph line were never completed – despite Rhodes drive to complete it. There was a gap between Northern Sudan and Uganda as Germany was in control of this area before WWI, and after WWI when Britain was in control of it it decided to spend it’s money elsewhere.

  8. ‘New technology allowed the Europeans to ‘think big’ in Africa’. Do you agree and why? Use historical facts in your answer.

  9. How significant was technology in determining the course of the colonisation of Africa?Standard – to explain how technology contributed to the colonisation of AfricaSuper – to assess how far technology caused and accelerated the colonisation of Africa • 2 minute speech preparation on... • Explain how it contributed to the colonisation of Africa • Or.... How far technology caused and accelerated the colonisation of Africa. Compare it to other factors (like trade and Science).

  10. Recap – how far was the economy responsible for the colonisation of Africa?

  11. Add three detailed key facts from today’s lesson to your yellow sheet.

  12. Homework – Due Monday 23rd September • Use the handouts, pp.25-29 and your own research to prepare a short presentation on the following. You need to produce a short student-friendly handout in your own words. Try to include how this contributed to the colonisation of Africa. • A short biography of Livingstone • Exploring the Zambezi and the Congo • Exploring the Shire and discovering Lake Nyasa • Search for the source of the Nile • Meeting Stanley at Lake Tanganyika • Impact on the public

  13. Card 1: Missionaries and early anthropology What impact? Missionaries always had to justify why they were there and raise funds. This strengthened racist stereotypes and the belief that white Europeans should ‘advance’ Africans. They were also early anthropologists – who studied the local people, and usually reached biased and racist conclusions. Some missionaries were not racist though. Interest in visiting ‘ethnological villages’ led to indigenous Afircans being captured and displayed, such as in the Bronx Zoo who showed Congolese Pygmies. Did it accelerate it? It accelerated it as it populisedthe idea that indigenous Africans needed to be ‘saved’ by white men and legitimised colonisation. Card 2: The ‘Scientific Approach’ driven by the Enlightenment What impact? This heightened curiosity, which included curisoity in Africa. In 1788 there was an association or the promoting the interior parts of Afric.a. They wanted to find Timbuktu and diversify trade. Did it accelerate it? It led to exploration and the building of trade links which led to the colonisation of Africa. Card 5: Discovery What impact? Livingstone crossed from Luanda to the mouth of the Zambezi. Stanley was funded by King Leopold to explore the Congo. Explorations were driven by gathering data on commercial opportunities, population groups, resources, states and societies. Black Africans were part of the landscape – it didn’t occur to white Europeans they had discovered it before them. Explorers carried their countries flags, like Stanley carrying the British and American flags. There was a flurry of discovery. Did it accelerate it? Discovery became a self-perpetuating cycle and usually led to stronger trade links. Card 4: Malaria What impact? 50 Britons died in 1841 trying to explore the Nige, mainly from malaria. In the early 1850s Quinine appeared to protest against it. In 1854 Dr Wiliam Balfour Baikie explored the Niger funded by the government, and within a few years British steamers operated on the river. Did it accelerate it? It made colonisation feasibly possible. Card 3: Geography What impact? The Age of Enlightenment and knowledge about the human body led intellectuals to consider continenst as organisms – they wanted to find the ‘veins’ (rivers) and it’s heart. They wanted to solve it’s supposed ‘riddlement’ with disease. There was a drive to examine, diagnose and cure Africa. The Royal Geographic Society was founded to explore Africa. Sir Roderick Murchison funded much of the early exploration. Did it accelerate it? This drive to explore the geography of Africa, led to the discovery of resources and trade, and further colonisation.

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