The Cape to Cairo Railway was one of the most ambitious dreams of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Africa had been a target of the Europeans since as early as the seventeenth century, but the impermeable borders made it almost impossible for them to get inland. The discovery of quinine aided the Europeans in this effort, but not completely (Strage 24). Cecil Rhodes, an Englishman who lived in South Africa for most of his life, had earned all of his wealth on the treasure of South Africa. This made him question: “If South Africa has such treasures, how much money can fifty three other countries amount to?”. Rhodes was an extremely ambitious man whose dream was to gain control of Africa’s two most successful cities of the North and the South. Afterwards, he would build a railway connecting the two. The Cape to Cairo Railway was built to tighten British control over the entire continent, and rape the country of all of its treasures. “Despite its failure, the Cape to Cairo idea left a legacy of a string of railways throughout the continent. Many of which would never have been built without the grandiose plan to cross Africa” (Wolmar 173).
Until the late fifteenth century, Africa was basically left untouched. Many times, it was referred to as “The Dark Continent” (Wolmer 173). Contrary to the popular misconception that the nickname came from the color its inhabitants, “It was referred to as the dark continent because of the mysteries that surrounded it” (Wolmer 173). Nobody was sure of what the continent held, but what they were sure of was the potential that a great piece of land such as this had. By the mid nineteenth century, the rest of the globe “including the great landlocked mass of Asia, hidden corners of the ...
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... in the field, Her heart is sick with lust. The gold she wins is red with blood, norean it shield. Her name from tainted league with men of broken trust”(Carter 476). ;
Works Cited
Bigland, Alfred. "The Cape-to-Cairo Railway and Train Ferries: Discussion." The Geographical Journal. 2nd ed. Vol. 55. N.p.: Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), 1950. 101-08. Print.
Cain, Peter, and Tony Hopkins. British Imperialism, 1688-2001. Harlow: Longman, 2001. Print.
Carter, Mia, and Barbara Harlow. Archives of Empire. Durham: Duke UP, 2003. Print.
Strage, Mark. Cape to Cairo. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1973. Print.
Williams, Robert. The Cape to Cairo Railway. London: Macmillan and, 1921. 241-58. Print.
Wolmar, Christian. Blood, Iron, & Gold: How the Railroads Transformed the World. New York: PublicAffairs, 2010. Print.
To urban middle-class Americans of the late 19th century, nothing symbolized the progress of the American civilization quite as much as the railroad. Not only had the great surge in railroad construction after the Civil War helped to create a modern market economy, but the iron horse itself seemed to embody the energy, force, and technology of the new order. In fact, the fanning out of railroads from urban centers was an integral part of the modernizing process, tying the natural and human resources of rural areas to the industrializing core.
Ophem, Marieke Van. "The Iron Horse: the impact of the railroads on 19th century American society."
During the 1800’s, America was going through a time of invention and discovery known as the Industrial Revolution. America was in its first century of being an independent nation and was beginning to make the transition from a “home producing” nation to a technological one. The biggest contribution to this major technological advancement was the establishment of the Transcontinental Railroad because it provided a faster way to transport goods, which ultimately boosted the economy and catapulted America to the Super Power it is today.
Throughout the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century, the United States economy changed dramatically as the country transformed from a rural agricultural nation to an urban industrial gian, becoming the leading manufacturing country in the world. The vast expansion of the railroads in the late 1800s’ changed the early American economy by tying the country together into one national market. The railroads provided tremendous economic growth because it provided a massive market for transporting goods such as steel, lumber, and oil. Although the first railroads were extremely successful, the attempt to finance new railroads originally failed. Perhaps the greatest physical feat late 19th century America was the creation of the transcontinental railroad. The Central Pacific Company, starting in San Francisco, and the new competitor, Union Pacific, starting in Omaha. The two companies slaved away crossing mountains, digging tunnels, and laying track the entire way. Both railroads met at Promontory, Utah on May 10, 1869, and drove one last golden spike into the completed railway. Of course the expansion of railroads wasn’t the only change being made. Another change in the economy was immigration.
Seavoy, Ronald E. "Railroads." An Economic History of the United States: From 1607 to the Present. New York: Routledge, 2006. 188-200. Print.
Sembene Ousmane’s novel, “Gods Bits of Wood,” gives a highly detailed story of the railway strike of 1947-48 in French West Africa. It contains conflicts of political, emotional and moral nature. Ultimately, Sembene’s novel is one of empowerment. It brings to light the tension between colonial officials and the African community among the railway men as well as the struggle of the African community to free itself from being subjected to colonial power. Frederick Cooper’s article, “Our Strike: Equality, Anticolonial politics and the 1947-48 Railway Strike in French West Africa,” helps reveal the strike’s true meaning and agenda by analyzing the conflicts present in Sembene’s novel. In fact, it paints a very different picture of the railway strike than Sembene’s novel.
The British had a triangle of trade with Africa. They would go to Africa trade finished goods and bring them to
Great Britain and South Saharan Africa Imports and Exports, 1854 and 1900. " Chart. The. The British Empire: 1558-1995.
During Imperialistic times South Africa was a region of great resources that was greatly disputed over (Ellis). Europe’s main goal during these times was to compete against each other and played a “game” of which country can imperialize more African countries than the other. Imperialism was a curse to South Africa, because many wars, laws, and deaths were not necessary and would not have happened if South Africa were not imperialized.
The unbalanced relationship between Africa’s resources and European and American financial interest can first be analyzed from 1600 to 1860 leading up to the emancipation proclamation. This era was characterized by Africans giving up their human capital, or human resources in the form of slaves to European’s to trade over to the Americas to support the plantation economy. This was the largest loss of humans for Africa as they sent millions through the slave trade. Many Europeans, such as the Dutch West Indian Company and the Royal African Company, made an enormous amount of money running the slave trade while African’s got little to nothing in return. American’s profited by having free labor for a one time fixed payment to acquire the slaves. This fueled the plantation economy in which Americans deepened their pockets leading up to the civil war. Overall, this relationship heavily favored the westerners and caused Africa to lose a great deal of human resources.
At the beginning of the industrial revolution in England during the mid-nineteenth century, the railroad was the most innovative mode of transportation known. The British Rail system was a forerunner in railroad technology, uses, and underground engineering. Though the rail system was extremely slow at first and prohibitively expensive to build and run, the British were not to be dissuaded in their pursuit of non-animal driven transportation. The most advanced mode of transportation prior to the introduction of the rail system was the horse drawn omnibus on a track, called a tram. This paper will examine the rail system from a cultural perspective, presenting the impact the railway had on everyday lives in Victorian London and its surrounding communities.
"Africa Before Transatlantic Slavery: The Abolition of Slavery Project." Africa Before Transatlantic Slavery: The Abolition of Slavery Project. E2BN, 2009. Web. 08 Apr. 2014. .
There are a lot of causes of the scramble for Africa, and one of them was to ‘liberate’ the slaves in Africa after the slave trade ended. The slave trade was a time during the age of colonization when the Europeans, American and African traded with each oth...
There is no doubt that European colonialism has left a grave impact on Africa. Many of Africa’s current and recent issues can trace their roots back to the poor decisions made during the European colonial era. Some good has resulted however, like modern medicine, education, and infrastructure. Africa’s history and culture have also been transformed. It will take many years for the scars left by colonization to fade, but some things may never truly disappear. The fate of the continent may be unclear, but its past provides us with information on why the present is the way it is.
The Europeans saw Africa as being a great place to obtain all types of resources from labor to natural materials. Items such as cotton, coal, rubber, copper, tin, gold, and other metals were considered very valuable and readily available in Africa (Nardo). The industrial revolution had already become a strong influence on the countries that attended the Conference. They had spent the past...