Thomas Pakenham’s sprawling 700-page history, The Scramble for Africa, which chronicles European colonialism in Africa, took up the better half of my April, so I thought I would share a few thoughts about the book.
From 1876 to 1912 – roughly half a generation – the Scramble for Africa gave Europe “virtually the whole continent: including thirty new colonies and protectorates, 10 million square miles of new territory and 110 million dazed new subjects, acquired by one method or another.” Pakenham unpacks this story through meticulous research, rich prose, and a heavy hand of Irish wit. At times his anecdotes overwhelm the chronology of events, but in the end, he manages to thread a history that stretched from the Cape-to-Cairo, Nile-to-the-Niger and everywhere in-between.
Starting with the explorations of David Livingstone (think “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”) and his call for the “3 C’s” (Commerce, Christianity and Civilization) to liberate Africa, the book then follows the Great Powers’ conquest – the 4th “C” – of the Dark Continent. Yet, the strength of the book does not merely lie with the facts and untold history it presents, even when considering that Pakenham’s use of primary sources may be unrivaled. No, the true strength of this work is the author’s ability to bring characters to life and recreate the tensions that existed between those characters. His retelling of the Mahdi’s discomfort with the beheading of Colonel Charles Gordon reveals the respect and bonds of fellow warriors in battle; analyzing the long saga of the diamond-and-gold tycoon Cecil Rhodes’s schemes to take the land of the Shona and Ndebele peoples brings modern tensions in Zimbabwe into sharper focus.
Although the book is a library of African and Arab cultures, Kings and place-names, it is essentially a book of European history. And what a history it is. Granted, you must relish in the diplomatic wrangling of the times in order to enjoy the history; but with giants like Bismarck, King Leopold II and Queen Victoria, Great Power intrigue can become a guilty pleasure. Besides, who doesn’t like a good Anglo-French rivalry?
On a more analytical note, I think that Pakenham raises an interesting counter argument against the perception – and “myths” – that the Berlin Conference of 1884 (General Act of Berlin signed in 1885) had established the rules and regulations for “carving” up Africa. He writes:
“It was really the other way around. The Scramble had precipitated Berlin. The race to grab a slice of the African cake had started long before the first day of the conference. And none of the thirty-eight clauses of the General Act had any teeth. It had set no rules for dividing, let alone eating, the cake.”
But again, for me, I am sold on Pakenham’s ability to build characters. Take for instance his descriptions of Pierre de Brazza, the saintly French explorer: “Brazza was a coltish, awkward, taciturn boy of twenty-three, with a long aristocratic nose and large brown eyes. His resourcefulness did him credit and so did his idealism, naïve as it often was.” Years later, when Brazza emerges from two and half years of tramping through the bush of Gabon and the northern Congo, Pakenham describes him as “hollow-cheeked and wild-eyed.” Great writing, I must say.
I must also say that Pakenham has got me back in touch with my inner-historian. In other words, the great works of history keep giving me, in Kipling’s famous phrase, “no end of a lesson.” So, for the month of May I am tackling Pakenham’s other masterpiece, The Boer War. Until then.
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