4 Europeans in East Africa

EUROPEAN COLONIAL EXPANSION

European political control of Africa was of very brief duration in terms

of the entire history of the continent, though it could easily span a
person’s whole lifetime: and its impact was in any case very considerable.
In 1880 about ninety per cent of African territory was under indigenous
government; by 1914, only Liberia and Ethiopia had not been colonised
by European powers. But in 1957 the Gold Coast became independent
as Ghana; Tanganyika became independent in 1961; and in 1994 the
end of apartheid in South Africa brought to a close all White minority
rule throughout the whole continent. Table 4.1 shows the date of formal
annexation, and the date of lawful independence, for all the East
African territories.
Burundi, Rwanda and Tanganyika were initially colonized as German
East Africa. However, Germany lost her colonies after the First World
War, and the European powers which took over were doing so under a
‘League of Nations Mandate’. The aim in such cases was to promote
indigenous African interests as ‘paramount’, though in practice govern-
ment was just like any other colony. Rwanda and Burundi were for
most purposes integrated with the Belgian Congo (subsequently Zaïre,
now the Congo Democratic Republic). Britain took the view that there
was no real difference between League of Nations policy and that
which she already operated in her colonies.
The whole of East Africa saw the end of colonialism in the 1960s.
This did not of course mean the end of European (or Western) influ-
ence. Moreover, there was often some measure of European contact
Table 4.1 Duration and type of colonial government in East Africa

Date of first Colonial power Date of full

annexation independence

Burundi 1899 Germany, Belgium 1962

Kenya 1895 United Kingdom 1964
Rwanda 1899 Germany, Belgium 1962
Tanganyika 1885 Germany, United Kingdom 1961
Uganda 1896 United Kingdom 1963
Zanzibar 1890 United Kingdom 1963

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P. G. Forster et al., Race and Ethnicity in East Africa
© Peter G. Forster, Michael Hitchcock and Francis F. Lyimo 2000
58 Race and Ethnicity in East Africa

before European government became formally established. Different

colonial powers had their own distinctive kinds of impact; and this had
its effects upon the culture which continued after colonialism had gone.
Trading links were the main form of pre-colonial European contact,
and as this was based on sea transport the coastal regions of East Africa
were the ones particularly affected. The Portuguese had by the end of
the fifteenth century developed some coastal contacts, but by the late
seventeenth century these had been eliminated by Arabs. Portuguese
expansion began again in the mid-eighteenth century, but colonial
interests were eventually consolidated only further south in Mozambique
(Alpers 1975: 39–171). The slave trade based on Zanzibar grew in
importance throughout the nineteenth century,1 and was especially
associated with Zanzibar and the Sultan of Oman, who moved his capital
there. British policy, however, was to oppose traffic in slaves, and the
Sultan had to end the trade in return for British protection (a process
that was completed in 1890). Missionaries, both Catholic and Protestant,
began work in various parts of East Africa from the middle of the nine-
teenth century (Oliver 1952). Their work was initially concentrated on
Zanzibar and the coast, because of the difficulty of penetrating the
interior. Hence Uganda was not reached till the 1870s. In support of their
claims, advocates of colonialism could now argue that European citizens
in Africa were in need of political protection. The aim of abolishing the
slave trade also gave Britain an apparently humanitarian justification
for colonialist policies.
The situation became more complex in the 1880s, when all the major
European powers,together with Belgium and Portugal, began to show
interest in colonial activity. Such developments led to the 1884–5 Berlin
Conference, which though particularly concerned with West Africa and
the Congo, had implications for the division of European interest
throughout Africa. The particular concern was to avoid the danger that
conflicts over African interests might have repercussions in Europe.
The Conference did not settle all the issues concerned, and further
Anglo-German agreements concerning East Africa were signed in 1886
and 1890. But eventually Britain gained control of Kenya, Uganda, and
Zanzibar, while Germany took charge of Tanganyika (mainland Tan-
zania), Rwanda (Ruanda) and Burundi (Urundi) – the whole being
known as German East Africa. As already noted, this situation lasted
until the First World War.
Outside East Africa, Britain became the colonial power in Botswana,
the Gambia, Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, the Sudan,
Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, also in the islands of Mauritius and