| By the second half of the 19th century, the trans-Atlantic slave trade had come to an end, although it continued
in some parts of Africa for many years. In West Africa, European powers had established footholds along the coast, the French in Dakar, and the British in Sierra Leone and Lagos. Various minor treaties were concluded with local chieftains by the Europeans, but very little territory had been formally claimed.
By 1870, the Portuguese and the Spanish still held onto small enclaves in West africa, but the Dutch had moved on, some of their trading stations going bankrupt, others -especially along the Gold Coast, the British had bought
or had become a part trade-off with the promise of a British hands-off in what was to become the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia).
After the 1870s, political events in Europe led to increasing rivalry between France, Britain, Spain,
tiny Belgium and Portugal, and the new united German states.
This rivalry, and the battle for dominance was played out intitially in the drawing rooms and palaces of Europe where politicians and kings carved up the 'empty' African continent. This was to become known as the "Scramble
for Africa". |
