Britain’s colonial presence in Africa became more and more established from 1880. With the occupation of Gambia, Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast already, Britain’s interest moved towards Nigeria and their palm oil trade. Palm oil was used as an industrial lubricant and as the base for making soap and candles. This economic enterprise was based on trade networks characteristic of ‘informal empire’. It was dominated by the Royal Niger Company, a mercantile company chartered by the British government founded by George Goldie. In 1886, a charter was granted the company the right to trade in all the territory in the basin of the river Niger. The intention being that this would freeze French and German trading interests in the region, thereby securing British influence. The danger was that the important trade along the river Niger would be under threat from French expansionism developing from their existing colony at Senegal.
European powers began rushing to obtain unclaimed territories within areas of interest in Africa. British economic interests were being threatened with the issue of international rivalry as Belgium set up the Congo Free State to exploit the thriving rubber trade there and, in 1884, Germany seizing the Togoland and the Cameroons. The sultanate of Zanzibar and the interior of Eastern Africa also caught the attention of both Germany and Britain. Hoping to resolve this common interest in a peaceful manner, Germany and Britain signed a treaty in 1886 in which they agreed on what lands they would exclusively pursue; Britain would retain access to the area in which Kenya and Uganda lie. In 1888, Sir William Mackinnon launched the Imperial British East Africa Company, backed by investors, to administer and develop the eastern territory. The British expanded into Uganda, Kenya, Zanzibar and Somaliland. The island of Zanzibar’s total import and export trade was measured at about £2 million. It was a major trading point for the East African interior, from which came ivory and leather goods. Britain’s occupation of areas of such economic interest, such as Zanzibar and Egypt, meant that Britain’s need to exploit Africa’s raw materials was being fulfilled.
With great influence from Livingstone, another main reason for British obtaining influence in Africa was to bring Christianity to African countries. The Uganda railway built by the British government mainly for strategic reasons, opened up the interior to European farmers, missionaries and administrates. In Uganda, King Mutesa had feared attacks from Egypt and agreed to a British proposal to allow Christian missionaries believing they would provide him with military assistance. In 1879, British missionaries were followed by French Roman-Catholic missionaries.
Britain consolidated its power over most of the colonies of South Africa in 1879, after the Anglo- Zulu war. The development of British imperialism in Southern Africa was immediately bound up with the Boer settlers in the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. Relations between the British and the Boers had never been good but, in 1877, the Boers turned to Britain for help against an uprising by the Zulu tribes in the Transvaal. In attempt to restore their independence, the Boers successfully attacked British forces at Majuba Hill in 1881. The Boers were farmers not miners, but they wanted to exploit this new-found wealth. In 1886, gold was discovered in Boer territories and minors and traders flooded into the Transvaal from abroad. This opened up opportunities for one of the most influential figures in British colonial expansion in Africa from the 1880’s. Britain’s Cecil Rhodes provided finance for the gold mining operations and acquired control over much of the mining. Rhodes had been a success in diamond mining in southern Africa and was owner of the De Beers Company which dominated all others in the diamond business by 1889. The possibility of a German-Transvaal alliance at this time was of a great concern to Britain as it could have led to the isolation of British controlled Southern Africa from the supposedly mineral rich Zambesia to the north. Bechuanaland was crucial for the opportunities Rhodes saw in colonial expansion and the expansion of his own personal wealth. The only barrier to Rhodes’s dream of British supremacy in Southern Africa was the Transvaal. The Boers were interested in the creation of a federation of South African states, of which the Transvaal would become a leading power. For Britain, a major strategic issue was emerging; Britain needed a reason to Transvaal. The Jameson Raid in 1895 put the Transvaal and Britain on a collision course because one of them now had to establish its superiority in South Africa. The Transvaal had huge economic recourses in the form of diamonds and gold but the primary concern for Britain was one of strategic importance. The cape needed to be free from Boer threats as it was a vital strategic factor in Britain’s security that controlled a route to India. Chamberlain was fundamentally in favour of expanding Britain’s empire and believed Britain must have complete control in order to protect its interests. In October 1899 war broke out and lasted until May 1902. The war ended with the Peace of Vergeeniging that meant the Boer republics of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State were annexed and became part of the British Empire.
There were many factors that contributed towards reasons for Britain’s involvement in obtaining influence and possessions in Africa. The motives for Britain’s imperialist activities in Africa, such as to colonise, search for new markets and materials and to convert natives to Christianity, were both strategic and defensive. Britain’s action in South Africa also helped to protect their connection to the Indian Empire. Robison and Gallagher say that Britain’s economic development was ‘more a consequence than a motive for the scramble’ for Africa. As French and German forces threatened economic aims for Britain, it set up protectorates and colonies and as British holdings in Egypt and East Africa were threatened, Britain fought to maintain its power.