Europe: The Scramble for Africa Quiz

Answer: Portugal

Despite their later irrelevance in the struggle, the Portugese were the first, beginning in the 15th century, to construct fortresses, ports, and trade outposts on the west coast of Africa. However, no European attempt was made to penetrate the interior of the continent for three centuries.

Answer: To civilize its populace

The so called "civilizing mission" Europe embarked on, beginning around 1871, was a thinly veiled disguise for the empires' true goals, which included around the attainment of wealth, land, and power.

Answer: Belgium

Leopold II of Belgium requested that the Congo be given to him, after the discovery of rich minerals in the Congo Basin. At the Berlin conference of 1884, this request was granted, and Leopold assumed control of the expansive region. The land totaled 2,344,858 square kilometers. It was called the 'Congo Free State' but was ruled with appalling brutality.

Answer: Henry Stanley

David Livingstone was a Scottish missionary and explorer who searched for the source of the Nile River. He was so obsessed with his quest that he would go missing for months, causing much consternation among the public. Henry Morten Stanley was a Welsh journalist tasked with finding the elusive Livingstone. Stanley eventually located and met the wanderer, and the rest is history.

Answer: Zimbabwe

Rhodesia was the name originally given to the territory by the South Africa Company, with the permission of the British government. In 1922 the then British colony opted for self-government by the white population. The black majority of the population was forbidden to vote until 1980, when Zimbabwe was officially independent, and the year when current president Robert Mugabe was elected.
Northern Rhodesia became Zambia.

Answer: Triple Entente

"Entente" translates literally to "understanding", and indeed these three nations shared such an "understanding" that they fought together in the Great War, against Germany, Austria-Hungary. Nominally, this latter alliance included Italy but in 1914 the country refused to go to war. The following year Italy entered the war on the side of the Entente.

These blocs developed as the result of general rivalries, espeically in Europe and not because of the Scramble for Africa.

Answer: Britain

By 1902, Britain controlled these states, and many others, including Lagos and Egypt, and there was much talk of a 'Cape to Cairo' railway (though it would have had to run through German East Africa) and also talk of 'Controlling the Nile'.

Answer: Ethiopia and Liberia

Between them, Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, and Spain, controlled the whole of Africa except for Liberia and Ethiopia, which remained independent throughout the Scramble. (An Italian attempt to invade Ethiopia in 1895-96 was defeated).

Answer: Recognize Britain's control over the Suez Canal

Initiated by Bismarck, the 1884 Conference was vital for maintaining the delicate peace between the European nations, and setting the ground rules for discourse in Africa. The humanitarian claims were simply a facade to appease the public's growing concern for human rights.

At the time the British government owned just under half the shares in the Suez Canal Company, most of the rest being owned by the French government. Despite this, Britain established a military presence in Egypt in 1882 and made the country a British protectorate. Although Egypt became nominally independent (with British adverisers) in 1922, the British military presence lasted till 1952.

Answer: 54

Despite several territorial disputes which arguably make the actual number higher, 54 is a widely accepted figure.