Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Maps
- ONE AFRICA NORTH OF THE EQUATOR
- TWO AFRICA SOUTH OF THE EQUATOR
- THREE THE OPENING UP OF AFRICA: (1) FROM THE NORTH-EAST
- FOUR THE OPENING UP OF AFRICA: (2) FROM THE MAGHRIB
- FIVE WEST AFRICA BEFORE THE COLONIAL PERIOD, 1800–1875
- SIX WESTERN CENTRAL AFRICA, 1800–1880
- SEVEN EASTERN CENTRAL AFRICA, 1800–1884
- EIGHT SOUTHERN AFRICA, 1800–1885
- NINE THE PARTITION OF AFRICA ON PAPER, 1879–1891
- TEN THE PARTITION OF AFRICA ON THE GROUND, 1891–1901
- ELEVEN COLONIAL RULE IN TROPICAL AFRICA: (1) POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS, 1885–1914
- TWELVE COLONIAL RULE IN TROPICAL AFRICA: (2) SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENTS
- THIRTEEN THE INTER-WAR PERIOD, 1918–1938
- FOURTEEN NORTH AND NORTH-EAST AFRICA, 1900–1939
- FIFTEEN SOUTH AFRICA, 1902–1939
- SIXTEEN THE LAST YEARS OF COLONIAL RULE
- SEVENTEEN THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE: (1) NORTH AND NORTH-EAST AFRICA
- EIGHTEEN THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE: (2) AFRICA FROM THE SAHARA TO THE ZAMBEZI
- NINETEEN THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE: (3) CENTRAL AFRICA
- TWENTY THE LONG ROAD TO DEMOCRACY IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
- TWENTY ONE THE POLITICS OF INDEPENDENT AFRICA
- TWENTY TWO ECONOMICS AND SOCIETY IN INDEPENDENT AFRICA
- TWENTY THREE INTO THE THIRD MILLENNIUM
- EPILOGUE
- Suggestions for Further Reading
- Index
THREE - THE OPENING UP OF AFRICA: (1) FROM THE NORTH-EAST
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Maps
- ONE AFRICA NORTH OF THE EQUATOR
- TWO AFRICA SOUTH OF THE EQUATOR
- THREE THE OPENING UP OF AFRICA: (1) FROM THE NORTH-EAST
- FOUR THE OPENING UP OF AFRICA: (2) FROM THE MAGHRIB
- FIVE WEST AFRICA BEFORE THE COLONIAL PERIOD, 1800–1875
- SIX WESTERN CENTRAL AFRICA, 1800–1880
- SEVEN EASTERN CENTRAL AFRICA, 1800–1884
- EIGHT SOUTHERN AFRICA, 1800–1885
- NINE THE PARTITION OF AFRICA ON PAPER, 1879–1891
- TEN THE PARTITION OF AFRICA ON THE GROUND, 1891–1901
- ELEVEN COLONIAL RULE IN TROPICAL AFRICA: (1) POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS, 1885–1914
- TWELVE COLONIAL RULE IN TROPICAL AFRICA: (2) SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENTS
- THIRTEEN THE INTER-WAR PERIOD, 1918–1938
- FOURTEEN NORTH AND NORTH-EAST AFRICA, 1900–1939
- FIFTEEN SOUTH AFRICA, 1902–1939
- SIXTEEN THE LAST YEARS OF COLONIAL RULE
- SEVENTEEN THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE: (1) NORTH AND NORTH-EAST AFRICA
- EIGHTEEN THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE: (2) AFRICA FROM THE SAHARA TO THE ZAMBEZI
- NINETEEN THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE: (3) CENTRAL AFRICA
- TWENTY THE LONG ROAD TO DEMOCRACY IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
- TWENTY ONE THE POLITICS OF INDEPENDENT AFRICA
- TWENTY TWO ECONOMICS AND SOCIETY IN INDEPENDENT AFRICA
- TWENTY THREE INTO THE THIRD MILLENNIUM
- EPILOGUE
- Suggestions for Further Reading
- Index
Summary
Historians have often written of the nineteenth century in Africa mainly as a period when Europeans were increasing their influence and power in preparation for later conquest. It should rather be seen as a period when, with the aid of a greatly increased supply of firearms from the new coal-fired furnaces and of cheap textile manufactures from the steam-driven factories of the industrialising countries, world trade was pressing remorselessly into Africa in search of whatever might be exportable with the limited means of transport available. For most of the nineteenth century, the agents of this pressure were the rulers and traders of the coastal regions, including, first and foremost, those of the predominantly Muslim countries bordering on the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.
Muhammad Ali (1805–1849): The Revival of Red Sea Trade
In all this part of the world, the French conquest and occupation of Egypt between 1798 and 1800 had marked a turning point. Napoleon's decisive victory at the battle of the Pyramids had revealed the weakness and technical military inferiority of the whole of the Ottoman empire, and, like many other such victories in history, it provoked a compelling desire in the conquered to learn the skills of the victors. Soon after the end of the Napoleonic wars, French military instructors were to be found throughout the Ottoman lands, and in addition to their military manuals, the intelligent and ambitious among the Turkish officer class were reading widely in European history and political philosophy.
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- Africa since 1800 , pp. 35 - 51Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005