Britain And Imprialism
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The British had three major areas of interest in Africa that led to their colonization of it ; strategic ports and routes to their Asian colonies, trade interests, and political objectives such as beating the French in the Scramble , and Christianizing the natives . The British had already made significant imperial actions in Africa by 1870, including capturing the Cape of South Africa in 1875, and controlling various ports along the west African coast. It was only after the French completed the Suez Canal in 1869 ;though, that British began to take notice of other parts of the continent, especially Egypt.
Britain immediately realized that the Suez Canal Would make travel to India faster and less expensive. Instead of traveling all the way around the Cape, British merchant ships would only have to cross the Mediterranean and go through the Suez and then go on to India. The only problem the British had with the Suez Canal was that it was controlled by the French , who were not exactly friendly with the British. In 1875 when France offered stock in the Suez Canal on the open Market, Britain seized the opportunity to secretly buy a majority share. France was furious that they had been tricked, but there was nothing they could do about the fact that the canal they had built was now property of the British. This is the beginning of France and Britains dual control of Egypt.The British gained complete control in Egypt following the Egyptian Crisis in 1882. Arabi and the Egyptian Nationalists deposed the Khedive and then proceeded to attempted to remove Britain and France from Egypt. The British were furious not only because of the revolt, but because the Khedive owed large sums of money on outstanding loans to the British. The French Government would not allow their troops to fight, so the British had to put down the rebellion alone. After defeating Arabi in the Battle of Tel El Kabir and the Battle of the Nile, the British became the most powerful force in Egypt and France lost their claim for not helping put down the rebellion.
There were also several financial motivations that led Britain to claim various colonies and protectorates in Africa; the Suez Canal in Egypt, the palm-olive trade in Lagos, the ivory in Sierra Leone, and diamonds in South Africa. Though these all appeared to be profitable enterprises to become involved in, the fact was most of them ended up costing more money to maintain than they were worth. South Africa was an exception to this rule, but even South Africa came at a heavy cost . When gold was discovered in South Africa in 1886, the temptation of a far off place filled with diamonds and gold was too great a temptation for many British fortune seekers. Thousands of British people made the trip to South Africa to work in the gold and diamond fields, and began crossing into the Orange Free State and Transvaal. When the British Government tried to expand and include the two Afrikaner Colonies, the Boers were angry and in 1899 the Boer War began. The Boer War was the most expensive war fought by Great Britain between the Napoleonic Wars and World War I. The war was longer and more difficult than the British had anticipated, Black Week brought the defeat of all major British forces in South Africa,