The Scramble for Africa: White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876 to 1912

Extremely ambitious read covering many regions of African continent in last 30 years of 19th century, focusing on European imperialism; what is commonly known as THE SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA. This book has become one of the standard-bearers for historians and casual readers interested in that period. When I wrote BEFORE THE SCRAMBLE: A SCOTTISH MISSIONARY'S STORY I very much relied on several key chapters in this book. The book's design is as follows: the chapters are independent from each other, each chapter covering a separate region of the continent, separate European powers and their respective military and political personalities involved in those respective areas. The research is impeccable, the detail of personalities and incidents are clear and richly portrayed. This book is one of those seminal documents that will withstand the test of the time. It will be an excellent source for researchers, teachers, and students. Again, I found it extremely useful when it came time for me to write about my distant relative who was a missionary in British Central Africa in the 1880s. What was really compelling was reading about individuals James Sutherland (my relative) met, who appear in THE SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA. It helped me gain tremendous perspective on the personalities, historical forces, and individual events that molded African imperialism. I will always treasure this book.

This classic recounts the European rush for power in Africa, which took place over a remarkably short period of time. It is a highly detailed account of European actions in Africa and of the European politics around the rush. This creates a point of view that is strongly European. That has a lot to do with the passing of time, and a lot (I would assume) about the paucity of African source material. The book is a tough read -- the amount of detail can be overwhelming -- but well worth while.

I read this good book, here in Brazil.This book has many excellent parts, such as:1-Page 433:"Their dominant themes were the threat to the lives of the Christian missionaries, the need to maintain the supression of the slave trade, and the damage to Britain's honour if the country reneged on her pledges.It was an old familiar crusade, the one for wich Livingstone and Gordon and Bishop Hannington had died - the crusade against Mulslim slave traders."2-Page 439:"Impressed by his exploits in battle, Tippu Tip gave him back his freedom.Then for several years he served as Tippu's lieutenant in the upper Lomani, hunting slaves and ivory, like others loyal to the Arabs, with a pack of obedient cannibals.(Troublemakers were distributed as rations)".Such as another reviewer wrote, the big problem of this book is to be very biased.It is very biased and focused in England's imperialism.About Portugal and Spain imperialism in Africa, there's almost nothing.As I show above, this book writes the true about XIX Century's african slavery:an islamic business.At the same time, in one page, this book when talking about blacks in South Africa, describe they as "servants", not slaves, the real condition of them.Even with these failures, this book is a good choice to learn, about the Scramble for Africa.

I lent my old copy so many times and lost track of it, so bought another. I miss the old cover, but the content is the same - a thick read but riveting stiff, and an important reminder of how European colonial powers ravaged and exploited the entire continent.

Glad I purchased this book for my collection. Great information. Knowledge is power.

This book fills in the foundations of what we are seeing being acted out in such places as Rwanda and the Sudan. These are results of European powers rolling into ancient lands, and grouping their peoples all together to form Western style entities in the form of colonies. Ancient tribal rivalries were damped down by European military power. With the independence movements which began between the World Wars, along with the inability of the Western countries to be able to commit the necessary manpower to hold command, the colonies were disbanded. The tribes are fighting each other again. However, this time they are armed with half learned lessons in finance, manipulated demoncracy and other unfortunate examples such as genocide. This book will show the reader how it all began and why it could never last. There is no way to know how the atrocities being committed in Africa will end, if the people of the former colonies will ever know ongoing peace or what direction the resolution of the bloodshed will finally take. However, at least after finishing this book, the reader will understand from whence the anger came.

Book arrived as described. An exceptional addition to my library.Thanks.

A must read book if you want to attempt to understand why Africa is where it is today. The effects of colonialism are still being felt today but the players are locked in a power and money game they don't fully understand. Coming to grips with the past will help with finding new and better solutions to the future of a still underdeveloped powerhouse. This book shows the foibles and short sighted policies of the world powers a hundred and fifty years ago which set the pace for Africa today.