British colonialism in East-Africa during nineteenth century

Abstract

Colonialism prevailed in Asia and Africa; in America there was colonialism. It was Great Britain which championed colonialism to an intense degree. Other European countries too had their colonies. After each colony attained independence, it so happened that colonialism was not rooted out, but a new type of colonialism persisted and manifested its primordial characteristics. My main objective is that British colonialism in East-Africa during 19 th century's; which was very much important for the economical causes like slave trade, various spices trade, etc. There are only few studies on the colonial history of British-east Africa. This article contains-how and why British interested there and its effect. It has also described their administrative system at that time. Colonialism is the establishment, exploitation, maintenance, and expansion of colonies in the territory by people from another territory. It is a set of unequal relationships between the colonial power and the colony and often between the colonists and the indigenous population. This idea, mainly, came from the west. Marx said about it-"Colonialism presented capitalism in naked form, stripped of decorous, clothing of European bourgeois society (Marx 1973; 324)". Colonialism ,Sartre was to add ,also operates in a different temporality from Western capitalism ,in the time of its secondary system ,Fanon in turn would point to differs of temporality within the colonial domain , "a time lag" between the cosmopolitan modernity of the nationalists leader and peasantry. However, "British Colonialism in east Africa during nineteenth century" is our main topic, which I have described in short briefing. At present time, territorial East-Africa means Kenya, Tanzania, (Tanganyika, and Zaire) and Uganda-these three countries. There were few and famous islands like Zanzibar, Mozambique, Mafia, Kilwa, Mombasa, Malindi, and Pemba etc. in East-African region. Analyses the East-Africa in geographically ,Somali desert and Ethiopian mountain range in its northern side, large lakes in its western side(Albert, Kivu, Tanganyika Nyasa etc.); Zambezi in south and Indian Ocean in east. This territory is about one million square mile .It is a densely populated area and apparently it looks like a plateau. This area was very important for European countries during nineteenth century especially Britain. So they colonized East-Africa and many other parts of Africa .During the eighteenth century European empires in America reached their peak, and the foundations of European power were laid in the east. But in Africa there was little evidence of European activities. This is at first sight surprising, for the earliest European overseas expansion took place in northwest and West-Africa .During the fifteenth century the Portuguese established on the west coast at Arguin , Elmina ,Sao Tome ,and San Salvador ;their discovery of the cape of good hope in 1487 ked to occupation of main existing ports of east Africa-Sofala ,Mozambique ,and others ,extending as far as Red sea and Ormuz .During the sixteenth century it seemed possible that Portugal might establish territorial colonies in the Congo region ,Angola and the Zambezi ,where adventurers and missionaries were following the same paths as conquistadores and religious orders in Spanish America. But gradually these enterprises withered. The Portuguese Crown lost interests in exploration and conversion; India and the east monopolized its energies; Africa was seen either as an obstacle on the route to the Indies or as a source of gold dust and ivory and to slaves for the American plantations. Portugal showed no desire or capacity to develop its coastal bases into colonies .In due course other European countries adopted Portuguese attitudes and practices. The Portuguese and Arabs controlled all the ports of east Africa. The trade was run by Portuguese firms which bought a monopoly of rights for defined periods and paid a duty on slaves brought some wealth to Angolan ports ,but slaving was incompatible with territorial empire and created an wilderness in east African ports specially Tanganyika, Zanzibar etc. During the seventeenth century, the Dutch attacked shipping and seized the Indian and eastern bases whose trade had previously brought wealth to Portuguese East Africa. Arabs were expanding from the north and captured all ports north of Zanzibar. Inland the empire had broken the power of the Monomatapas, the allies of Portugal, and weakened her influence south of the Zambezi. Mozambique remained the Portuguese capital. Portuguese power in Africa was waning during the eighteenth century: that of Britain was surprisingly increasing. From the start the British thought of Africa as a source of slaves for America and an obstacle on the route of India. They established no proper colonies, and left private companies to run the slave trade. Rent had to be paid to local African rulers .The supply of slaves was irregular ,and African middlemen, who had a monopoly of supplying a fixed market, used it to force up the price. It is necessary to say that company servants