����ý

Expansion and empire

The 19th century witnessed increases in Britain’s industry and trade which had never been seen before. This led to increased activity by British businesses and governments in overseas territories.

In territories where white British people had migrated, such as Canada and New Zealand, farming developed as a source of exports to Britain, helping to feed a rapidly increasing population that no longer worked on the land. Canada exported wheat and other grains to Britain, and New Zealand exported wool and then lambs meat after 1881 when refrigerated ships were in operation.

Suez Canal

The desire to speed up trade between Britain and Asia, especially India, led to the British becoming interested in the new Suez Canal in Egypt. It opened in 1869 and provided a direct route by water from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean. This greatly sped up the traffic in the tea, cotton and spice trades from India and the export of manufactured goods from Britain to Asia.

The British government bought Suez Canal shares off the Khedive of Egypt in 1875 and then developed a clear interest in the way that Egypt was governed. Britain held indirect rule in Egypt until the 1950s.

West African trade in palm oil

The British merchants who had operated the Transatlantic Slave Trade until the early 19th century wanted to find other lucrative trades to become involved in. They started to import palm oil from West Africa in the mid-19th century because this was good for manufacturing soap as well as lubricants for machinery. Towns, such as Old Calabar in south-eastern Nigeria, that used to be major slave ports, became palm oil export sites. Africans controlled the access to the products and made sure the British could not make direct contact with the suppliers.

In the late 19th century the price of palm oil was falling and the British wanted to get as much revenue as they could from its trade. Britain opposed local rulers, like JaJa of Opobo, who wanted to control trade. In 1887 the local British ruler tricked JaJa onto a boat that took him to the Gold Coast to face trial for ‘blocking the highways of trade’. Britain absorbed the Opobo territory and united the area in a new Nigerian colony.

Rhodes and the Scramble for Africa

Rhodes deceived King Lobengula of the Matabele and took over Matabeleland in 1891. He dreamed of a British territory which stretched from 'Cape to Cairo’ and of a railway that would greatly enhance transport for British trade. The railways was never built but by 1900, there was indeed a long span of British territory running from the Mediterranean to the Cape, with only a few interruptions.