The Scramble for Africa (1862–1912)

Thomas Pakenham

Random House, 1991

Compilation of Reviews

German Schutztruppe Patrolling Near Kilimanjaro 

The Scramble for Africa (1876–1912) is a comprehensive history of the colonisation of African territory by European powers between 1876 and 1912. The book was written by historian and arborist Thomas Pakenham and published in 1991, by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in the United Kingdom and Random House in the United States.

The book juxtaposes the motives of missionary David Livingstone, King Leopold II, and other leading figures in the southern African land-grab of the late 19th and early 20th century. Pakenham details the famous battles and short wars, such as the battles of Rorke's Drift and Isandlwana of the Anglo-Zulu war. The author explores how the different powerful figures dealt with the conflict and its ultimate consequences on the region.

Winner WH Smith Literary Award and the Alan Paton Award, 1992
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Reviewers mostly thought highly of The Scramble for Africa:

The “Scramble for Africa” began, according to Thomas Pakenham, in 1876. The Germans had a handy word that summed it up more succinctly--the Torschlusspanik-- the “door-closing panic.”

There the continent lay, ripe for exploitation, and nobody wanted to miss out. Europeans had been there for many years, of course, but only on the fringes--in Lagos, Zanzibar and Alexandria, for instance--where trade and climate had made a settlement necessary and possible. As the last quarter of the 19th Century approached, however, they queued up, in an unseemly turmoil, like avid shoppers on the opening day of a sale, to see what they could lay their hands on. .  . There was land to be grabbed, vast tracts of it, and, so they believed, unimaginably large amounts of money to be made. In their train came the added bonuses of strategic and political influence, of setting the agenda for the power struggles of the new century. And so they moved in on Africa: Britain, France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Germany all at once found themselves involved in an extraordinary “Sale of the Century.” A whole continent was available, and surely everyone would be able to claim a piece of the action. . . Thomas Pakenham’s fine book tells the story of this particular gold rush with admirable and judicious poise. These four decades of European colonization contain some of the best-known episodes of 19th-Century history as well as some of the most mythologized and colorful characters the world has ever seen. . . It was all about the greater greed and glory of Britain and France, Germany and Belgium and the other Europeans participating in the carve-up. The Africans did not feature in the equation at all.

William Boyd, Los Angeles Times, 1991 

If ever there was an over-used phrase, it is "Tour de Force". I've probably over-used it myself over the years, along with everybody else. However, if any book truly deserved to have  that phrase applied to it, it is surely this one.

A View Over the Bell, 2026

Not everyone agreed, of course:

Pakenham has written a book that contributes nothing of significance to our understanding of the scramble. More damagingly, the work perpetuates and popularizes an outdated view of both African and imperial history.

Tony Hopkins, 1993