Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Cecil John Rhodes
British expansion in Southern Africa came in the form of a private venture under the aus-
pices of the British South Africa Company (BSAC), owned by millionaire businessman
Cecil John Rhodes.
By 1889 Rhodes already had a hand in the diamond-mining industry in Kimberley
(South Africa), and he was convinced that other African countries had similar mineral de-
posits just waiting to be exploited. He aimed to do this through the land concessions that
companies could obtain privately in order to colonise new land for the Crown. The system
was easily exploited by Rhodes, who fraudulently obtained large tracts of land from local
chiefs by passing off contracts as treaties. The British turned a blind eye, as they eventu-
ally hoped to transfer the entire Bechuanaland protectorate to the BSAC and relieve them-
selves of the expense of colonial administration.
Realising the implications of Rhodes' aspirations, three Batswana chiefs - Bathoen,
Khama III and Sebele - accompanied by a sympathetic missionary, WC Willoughby,
sailed to England to appeal directly to the British parliament for continued government
control of Bechuanaland. Instead of taking action, the colonial minister, Joseph Chamber-
lain, advised them to contact Rhodes directly and work things out among themselves.
Naturally, Rhodes was immovable, so the delegation approached the London Mission-
ary Society (LMS), which in turn took the matter to the British public. Fearing that the
BSAC would allow alcohol in Bechuanaland, the LMS and other Christian groups backed
the devoutly Christian Khama and his entourage. The British public in general felt that the
Crown should be administering the empire, rather than the controversial Rhodes. Public
pressure rose to such a level that the government was forced to concede to the chiefs.
Chamberlain agreed to continue British administration of Bechuanaland, ceding only a
small strip of the southeast (now known as the Tuli Block) to the BSAC for the construc-
tion of a railway line to Rhodesia.
Colonial Years
By 1899 Britain had decided it was time to consolidate the southern African states, and it
declared war on the Transvaal. The Boers were overcome in 1902, and in 1910 the Union
of South Africa was created.
By selling cattle, draught oxen and grain to the Europeans streaming north in search of
farming land and minerals, Bechuanaland enjoyed an initial degree of economic inde-
pendence. However, the construction of the railway through Bechuanaland to Rhodesia
and a serious outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the 1890s destroyed the transit trade.
This new economic vulnerability, combined with a series of droughts and the need to raise
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