“Traders rather than explorers played the dominant role in promoting European interest in Africa in the period from 1850 to 1900.” Discuss.

Candidates are required to offer a considered and balanced review of the role played by both traders and explorers in creating European interest in Africa before reaching a conclusion as to which of the two played the more prominent role in the period from 1850 to 1900.

Indicative content

Traders

• The industrial revolution meant that raw materials had to be found and markets for finished products established. Traders had a role in identifying areas that supported their interests and the interests of the colonial countries.
• Candidates may refer to the activities of traders in the early period of the Scramble in extending colonial jurisdiction along the coast, in West Africa in particular. They would typically extend the area in which they operated and then ask their government to offer them protection from their rivals.
• Traders gradually moved into the interior from the coast, revealing the economic potential of Africa and thus furthering European interest there.
• Some of the traders set up trading companies that increased awareness of Africa’s trading potential. Some of these, such as the Imperial British East Africa Company (William Mackinnon) and the German East Africa Company (Karl Peters), played a key role in the partition of Africa. Many of these companies were established by explorers, and candidates may well stress the strong link between exploration and commercial interests.
• Many traders were also involved in local politics and in identifying potential collaborators, for example Goldie, as the head of the Royal Niger Company in West Africa.

Explorers

• The main aim of the explorers was to discover those places in Africa unknown to Europeans. This in itself stimulated interest.
• Many explorers became national heroes. The public followed their exploits in the press and it has been argued that this put popular pressure on governments to partake in the Scramble.
• Candidates may suggest that many explorers favoured colonialism and that some, including Livingstone, suggested that their governments establish colonies in Africa.
• Many explorers, for example Stanley and Peters, used their activities as a means of opening the continent to colonization and would typically persuade the rulers they encountered to sign treaty forms that conceded territorial rights to European powers or chartered companies.

The above material is an indication of what candidates may elect to write about in their responses. However, the list is not exhaustive and no set answer is required.

Examiners and moderators are reminded of the need to apply the markbands that provide the “best fit” to the responses given by candidates and to award credit wherever it is possible to do so.

[20 marks]