Colonialism as an institution has been blamed for almost every ill affecting the developing world, particularly Africa, which has limped along with the aid of this crutch for two generations. Africa’s imperial history is as varied as every other aspect of its history, and the colonial experience itself varied from territory to territory. The Germans
This entry is part 3 of 4 in the series Naval Africa Expedition Naval Africa Expedition In researching this concluding chapter of the Mimi and Toutou saga, I waited until I was able to source a book written in the early 1960s by British author Peter Shankland, The Phantom Flotilla. This is an excellent book
The best source currently available for the journey of the Mimi and Toutou from Furungume to the Lake is the October 1922 National Geographic article written by Frank Magee. Spicer-Simpson himself submitted a series of notes and a lecture on the Expedition, but this has generally been agreed to be so filled with hyperbole and
Fungurume, lying some 100 miles further up the line from the Katanganese capital of Elizabethville (Lubumbashi), was the final railhead of the great Cape to Cairo rail project, a concept that had been the visionary quest of Cecil John Rhodes, master empire builder, and one of the greatest Sons of England. Despite these august credentials,
This entry is part 1 of 4 in the series Naval Africa Expedition dmiral Sir Henry Jackson, in charge of Royal Naval operations against Germany’s overseas empire during the Naval Africa ExpeditionThe Battle of Lake Tanganyika, how the war on the lake was won…Part 1 The Battle of Lake Tanganyika, how the war on the
African Imperial history has in recent years become something of a discredited subject. The basic reason for this, I suppose, is that the political and social landscape of Africa has been so radically altered by independence that very little tangible trace of the period remains. It is also true that all the many failings of
Frederick Courtney Selous was one of the more interesting characters of Imperial Africa and one of the great white sons of Africa. Probably the most potent illustration of how Selous impacted the popular British consciousness at the time is the fact that he is the recognised prototype of Ryder Haggard’s popular character Allan Quartermaine of
