MC_A Concise History of Africa

A Concise History of Africa

Cape to Alexandria, his British South Africa Company pressing north. There was a desire for a Cape–Cairo railway, which sounded like a good idea but has yet to reach completion. In 1879–1890, the British partitioned West and East Africa. In the Scramble for Africa they eventually ended up with the largest share of empire, with nearly 30 percent of Africans coming under British control, compared with 15 percent under the French. Today, ex-British colonies (and one former Portuguese) remain members of the Commonwealth, with many having English as a useful international lingua franca. It was Britain’s intention to leave

behind democratic parliaments, modeled on Westminster; a legal system; and military, police, civil and educational services based along British lines. Citizens may drive on the left and enormous numbers of them still enjoy a game of cricket. The problem for all empire- builders was that colonies needed to be self-financing: a centralized bureaucracy and an army cost money and the European taxpayer was neither keen on meeting the expense, nor were African taxpayers in a position to finance such institutions; had they been forced to pay up, they might have rebelled and a rebellion was far too serious to contemplate.

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