Empires in the sun : the struggle for the mastery of Africa / Lawrence James.
James, Lawrence, 1943- author.
2017
DT31 .J37 2017 (Mapit)
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Title
Empires in the sun : the struggle for the mastery of Africa / Lawrence James.
Author
James, Lawrence, 1943- author.
Edition
First Pegasus books hardcover edition.
ISBN
9781681774633 (hardcover)
1681774631 (hardcover)
Published
New York : Pegasus Books, 2017.
Language
English
Description
xvii, 391 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps ; 24 cm
Call Number
DT31 .J37 2017
Dewey Decimal Classification
960/.23
Summary
In this compelling history of the men and ideas that radically changed the course of world history, Lawrence James investigates and analyzes how, within a hundred years, Europeans persuaded and coerced Africa into becoming a subordinate part of the modern world. His narrative is laced with the experiences of participants and onlookers and introduces the men and women who, for better or worse, stamped their wills on Africa. The continent was a magnet for the high-minded, the philanthropic, the unscrupulous and the insane. Visionary pro-consuls rubbed shoulders with missionaries, explorers, soldiers, adventurers, engineers, big-game hunters, entrepreneurs and physicians. Between 1830 and 1945, Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, Italy and the United States exported their languages, laws, culture, religions, scientific and technical knowledge and economic systems to Africa. The colonial powers imposed administrations designed to bring stability and peace to a continent that seemed to lack both. The justification for occupation was emancipation from slavery - and the common assumption that late nineteenth-century Europe was the summit of civilization. By 1945 a transformed continent was preparing to take charge of its own affairs, a process of decolonization that took a mere twenty or so years. There remained areas where European influence was limited (Liberia, Abyssinia) - through inertia and a desire for a quiet time, Africa's new masters left much undisturbed. This magnificent history also pauses to ask: what did not happen and why?
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 346-364) and index.
Record Appears in
On-Campus Resources > Books
All Resources
Part one: 1830-1881
Mission civilisatrice: Europe and Africa in 1830
ʻSold just like chickensʼ: slavery and the slave trade
ʻEthiopia shall soon stretch out her hands to Godʼ: missionaries
White Man's countries I: Razzia: the conquest of Algeria
White Man's countries II: ʻI am a chief and masterʼ: South Africa
ʻUn vaste plan d'occupationʼ: exploitation and exploration
Part two: 1882-1918
ʻBring on a fightʼ: regime change in Egypt and the Sudan 1882-1889
ʻWill and forceʼ: partition 1882-1914
ʻIt'll all be pink soonʼ: the struggle for southern Africa 1882-1914
ʻIf you strike, strike hardʼ: pacification 1885-1914
ʻWhite savagesʼ: hearts of darkness
ʻWe go where we are ledʼ: missions and their enemies
ʻToxic is the gift of Christiansʼ: Islam and empires
ʻPalm trees, enormous flowers, Negroes, animals and adventuresʼ: the impact of Africa on Europe
ʻThe honour of the ruling raceʼ: racial attitudes, sexual encounters and Africa's future
ʻLloyd Georgeʼ, ʻKitchenerʼ, ʻSamboʼ and ʻCoolieʼ: Africa at war 1914-1918
Part three: 1919-1945
ʻContagious excitementʼ: the rise of nationalism
ʻForce to the uttermostʼ: more wars 1919-1939
ʻUnable to stand aloneʼ: Africa on the eve of war
ʻWait and seeʼ: Italian disasters and French traumas 1940-1945
ʻBlack tarantulasʼ: Africans at war
Part four: 1945-1990
ʻCan Russians speak Swahili?ʼ: nationalist agitation and Cold War phantoms in British Africa 1945-1957
ʻComrade Nasser, don't worry!ʼ: Egypt and the Cold War 1945-1980
A ʻhorde of ratsʼ: the Algerian War and its memories
ʻInsatiable greedʼ: decolonisation and the Cold War
ʻMaelstromʼ: the Congo and Rhodesia
ʻThey have left us in the lurchʼ: the last days of White Africa.

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