Customer Reviews

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

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"Scramble for Africa" is a military and diplomatic history of Victorian African exploration.

As a whole, the book is very good. The events are presented in a chronological order, cutting back and forth between the actions and maneuvers of the Great (Britain, France, and Germany) and Minor Powers (primarily Belgium) in different parts of the continent. One very import item making this book so informative is the use of maps. Parkenham has included enough maps to place all the actions. Frequently, histories need a period atlas in hand for reference. This one doesn't.

"Scramble" is about politicians, soldiers, merchants, missionaries, and explorers. Readers interested in the personalities (King Leopold of Begium, Gladstone, Livingston, Ali Pasha, etc.) who shaped the events in the European conquest of Africa and the early Imperialist era will get the most from the book. I personally found King Leopold to be like a spider in the web as he plotted to found the Belgian Congo. In general, Britains and Anglo-Saxons come out rather well in this history and Europeans and Middle Easterners less well.

If I can find fault in "Scramble" its because it is too Anglo-centric. The British historical contribution to the period and events is very detailed. The French less so. The Portogeuse, Spanish, and Italian is almost absent or incidental. For example, British Imperial expeditions are described right down to the participating units (Guards Grenadiers, etc.); while French expeditionary missions described confuse Colonial Marines with Legion units.

Even though this is a military and diplomatic history, the economic aspect of the story is missing. The search for gold I can understand. Buried in the narrative is the importance of the African export of Palm Oil. However, I don't understand the price of or use of the ivory they (Europeans and native Africans) were slaughtering elephants for and hauling out of Africa.

Parkenham's narrative is excellent and highly readable. This book is recommend more as a peek into the personalities of the movers and shakers of Victorian times then as a history of African development.

It would be an understatement to write that Thomas Pakenham embraced an ambitious project in crafting a comprehensive, single-volume history of the European colonization of Africa over the course of some four decades a century ago. Few authors could have succeeded after having bitten off so much. Fewer still could have made it accessible to the layman and an immensely enjoyable read at that. Pakenham is the rare talent able to pull off such a feat.

The story Pakenham tells involves countless actors, but at the center of the great conquest from beginning to end is the Belgian King Leopold, whose imperial actions, clothed in the righteous language of development and humanitarianism, did more than anyone else to spur on the exploration and exploitation of Africa. As Pakenham describes him, "Leopold was a Coburg millionaire, a constitutional monarch malgre lui, a throwback from the age of absolutism, with the brain of a Wall Street financier and the hide of an African rhinoceros." From his ostentatious palace at Laeken, Leopold kept a close eye on developments in the exploration of Africa and saw in it his great opportunity to make a fortune, all in the name of the "3 Cs": Christianity, Commerce, and Civilization.

The "3 Cs" served as the foundation for most European imperialist of the time - Henry Stanley, his rival Pierre Brazza, Sir George Goldie, Frederick Lugard and others. A twenty-first century cynic could argue that the European intervention in Africa was motivated by capitalist greed, pure and simple. But Pakenham argues that a genuine desire to help the continent develop through the guiding light of Christianity was a central and perhaps the most important motivating factor in the decision to engage in African adventures by key elements in London, Paris and elsewhere. That said, commerce provided the extra pull that made large-scale action inevitable. After the early reports from Livingstone, himself a genuine and sincere Christian humanitarian, Africa captured the fascination of Europe with the potential of untold riches in this last unexplored frontier on earth. Indeed, the early years of "the Scramble" resembled a stock market bubble as investors rushed in motivated primarily by the fear of losing out by dithering on the sidelines.

One of the more surprising aspects of European colonialism in Africa, especially the British in the early years of the Scramble, is how much they conquered with such little direct government investment. London frequently leveraged private enterprise to do the heavy lifting on the ground and direct foreign investment to develop the local infrastructure. Companies were given charters by London and had the exclusive right to make their fortunes under the protective flag of the British Empire. The most notable examples were Sir George Goldie's Royal Niger Company that exploited the trade in modern day Nigeria and Cecil Rhodes' various enterprises mining diamonds and gold in the republics of South Africa.

The difficult part about Pakenham's "Scramble" is that there are so many actors over so many decades operating on so many fronts that it is a challenge to keep everything straight - Isandlwana, Adowa, Majuba, Khartoum, Fashoda, Omdurman, etc. But Pakenham's prose is so engaging that the reader becomes absorbed and presses on.

In sum, "The Scramble for Africa" is a delightful read and a great overview of an unprecedented exercise in foreign domination and exploitation, the legacy of which we very much live with today. Much of the material is presented at a high level. For instance, Pakenham has also authored an authoritative 500-page history of the Boer War, an event that is covered in "The Scramble" in a mere 25-page chapter late in the book. So those with an interest in specific episodes of African colonialism will be better served with more focused works, but no other book will piece all the parts together so well.

Thomas Pakenham's sprawling story of the slicing up of a continent by European powers is fascinating, well-written, well worth your time. It's interesting that surprisingly little of the colonization of Africa between 1876 and 1912 came by direct military conquest. No, England, France and Germany (principally) sank their teeth into the continent mostly in less direct ways that were just as dismaying. "The Scramble for Africa" presents a panorama of villains and heroes, both white and black, but paints it with sufficient shades of gray. Much of what happens is despicable to us today, but Pakenham helps us understand the whys. The book is not perfect. For American eyes, Pakenham assumes too much knowledge of British history and its political system. There are a lot of names to keep track of, and there is an occasional lack of clarity as to what precisely is going on. Pakenham also has a curious habit of not always making clear who is being quoted. Still, this is a strong, well-written, fascinating account of a strange, exciting period in world history.

When I study an atlas and look at the borders of any European Country, I see few straight lines. When I turn to the page on Africa, there are many straight lines. The story behind these lines is one of greed, cruelty, heroism, misguided pride and sadness.

Thomas Pakenham has written more than a book. He has written a history lesson. I came away from this beginning to know and understand present day problems in Africa - by looking at the universal starting point for society's problems, history.

All the major players are here. France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Holland, Arabia and last, but not least, my own country - Great Britain.

The colonial cake was originally fought over the Far East, The Americas, The Indian Subcontinent - until the European, a little late (1870), and, reluctantly at first, found the great prize of Africa.

Gold, Diamonds, Game, Land, Copper...

Then the scramble, the squabling, the division.

An adventure built on the heroics of early explorers ended up in tears.. on all sides. George Pakenham tells you how, in a sweeping, impartial account. He lets the reader decide.

I guarantee that if you read this book, your views on Africa will be changed for ever.

The axiom, you can know a little about a lot or a lot about a little, illustrates the problem of generalized histories. This book takes a big bite and is thus limited in how much it tells about any given event or personality. Given this fact it still manages to deliver an extraordinary amount of information to the reader. At the same time, if you want a large road map, this book fulfills that mandate splendidly. One of the Amazon reviews apparently thought the book had a British bias. Perhaps, but then England was a major player in the scramble for Africa. To be fair, the book spends much time on Bismark (German), and King Leopold (Belgium) as well as various African rulers and explorers. The book is about remarkable personalities woven into a tapestry that depicts the acculturation process of two civilizations, at very different levels of achievement, bumping into each other. Africa has yet to recover from this epic collision. An excellent book.

This massive book (738 pages plus photos & maps) offers the reader an interesting and enjoyable account of the European powers race to 'civilize' the African continent. The book covers the great explorers, the numerous battles and conflicts (between the European powers and the natives and between the European powers) and many other interesting items during this 'scramble for Africa'. I found this book to be a great read, very enjoyable and although the size may be daunting it never got boring. The author covers the period from 1876 through to 1912 in 37 chapters of interesting reading. "Whatever happens, we have got the Maxium gun, and they have not!" about covers it!

Really a remarkable book in that it covers so much goings-on, countries, kingdoms, people, etc but does so in an enjoyable way. Very thorough and explicit in details and a great reference book- and also is a joy to read. Sometimes, I admit, the chapters can jump from subject to subject but I think this is more due to the scope of the work and not the author's fault. It covers so much information that I couldn't imagine trying to organize such a book. Also, satisifying, the work is honest and not as 'politically correct' as most modern books written about the colonialism in Africa. It tells the good, the bad, and the ugly of both the European elements and native elements in the tragic tale. It also fascinatingly details the politics in Europe and American with regard to the 'scramble'. Highly recommended.

I found this to be a fascinating and readable account of how European countries descended upon the African continent at the same time and proceeded colonize it. One major sin of most history books is that the authors are brilliant researchers, but dull, dull writers. Pakenham, however, writes with flare, and brings the personalities involved in this part of history to life. It's a thick volume, but it didn't seem thick to me once I began reading it.

'We are now very sorry indeed, particularly in the killing and eating of the parts of its employees.' - King Koko and chiefs of the Brassmen to the Prince of Wales, 1895

Humanity laid bare. Pakenham tells us the story of two worlds in collision, the story of ourselves, treachery and slaughter, exploitation, slavery, and cannibalism, vanity and greed, and, of course, unfaithful wives. Kings, bureaucrats, missionaries, humanitarians, merchants, and soldiers populate his tale, sometimes far too many to keep track of. Pages flash by in an instant as the anxious reader awaits the inevitable. This book rivals any work of fiction, and Pakenham writes it with a great wit and enormous skill. Most importantly, he leaves moralistic preaching behind and focuses on the story, albeit with a special taste for its ironies and tragedies. Unfortunately, the reader will have to look elsewhere for a history of Africa and its indigenous peoples. Pakenham crams so much information in that the background story can't possibly fit.

I have read much about Africa. As for the colonial period, this book pulls it all together. The author does an excellent job of covering a wide span of history, including military campaigns, political strategy and intrigue and a host of contributing factors to provide a detail review of how colonialism occured and what drove it across the face of Africa. I would love to see another installment by Pakenhan of the subsequent period, addressing the drive for independence and its resulting successes and unfortunate failures.