“Khama chose to collaborate with the British because of internal weaknesses.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?

Candidates are required to focus their responses on the period between Khama’s accession to the kingship of the Bamangwato (a branch of the Tswana) in 1875 and the confirmation of Bechuanaland as a British Crown Protectorate in 1895. They should consider whether or not his collaboration was mainly due to internal weaknesses or a range of other external factors.

Indicative content

Internal weaknesses

• Like many other African rulers, Khama realized that his armies could not resist the superior firepower of European troops. He therefore collaborated with them in order to avoid military defeat and the destruction of his state, which would have been the likely result of any resistance.
• Political divisions among his people meant that Khama was unable to reach lasting agreements with other Tswana chiefs. This weakened his ability to oppose the British.
• Khama knew that the Boers and Germans had designs on his territory and these were factors in his decision to agree to a British declaration in 1885, the terms of which meant that his territories north of the Malopo River became part of Bechuanaland Protectorate. His acceptance of a British protectorate was designed to pre-empt the annexation of his territory by
  others.
• Khama’s decision to travel with two other Tswana chiefs to London in 1895 and successfully argue in favour of the continued protection of the British crown was motivated by his fear of annexation by Rhodes’s British South Africa Company.

Other factors

• It could be argued that Khama was able to collaborate because he was a relatively strong and capable leader. European powers tended to collaborate with willing African leaders, but also with those who may have been able to offer resistance to any effort to colonize them using force.
• Khama had a particular affinity with the British because of his Protestantism and his strong encouragement of missionary activity. This increased the likelihood that he would enjoy good relations with the British and may explain why he ultimately chose to collaborate with them.
• Khama used a collaborationist strategy to his own advantage; he became the dominant political figure in colonial Bechuanaland, and used his close relations with the British officials to defeat his internal rivals and exercise a sort of sub-imperialism within the colonial state.
• He also used his closeness to the British as a means of negating the threat posed by the Ndebele to the north. Candidates may conclude that his decision to collaborate was less the result of weakness than of careful political calculation.

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]