14 Africa, Portuguese colonies in War did break out between the British and Boers over control of South Africa in 1899 By 1902 the British had emerged victorious, and South Africa was added to their empire In West Africa, European powers carved out long narrow states running north to south in order that each would have access to maritime trade routes and a port city Since most Europeans knew little or nothing about the local geography or demographics of the region, these new states often separated similar ethnic groups or put traditional enemies together under one administration The difficulties posed by these differences continue to plague present-day West African nations such as Nigeria FRENCH AND BRITISH RULE The French and British adopted very different approaches to governance in their empires The French believed in their “civilizing mission” and sought to assimilate the peoples of their empire by implanting French culture and language The British adopted a policy of “indirect rule.” They made no attempt to assimilate the peoples of their empire and educated only a small number of Africans to become civil servants A relatively small number of British soldiers and bureaucrats ruled Ghana and Nigeria in West Africa In East Africa, the British brought in Indians to take jobs as government clerks and in commerce Otherwise, the British tried to avoid interfering with local rulers or ways of life Although the British and French policies were radically different, both were based on the belief in the superiority of Western civilization European colonists also settled in areas where the climate was favorable and the land was suitable for agriculture Substantial numbers of French colons settled in the coastal areas of North Africa, especially in Algeria and Tunisia, while Italians settled in Tunisia and Libya British settlers moved into what they named Rhodesia and Kenya In Kenya, British farmers and ranchers moved into the highlands, supplanting Kenyan farmers and taking much of the best land The Boers, Dutch farmers, fought the Zulus for control of rich agricultural land in South Africa The Boers took part in a mass migration, or Great Trek, into the interior of South Africa from 1835–41 and established two independent republics, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal Dutch farmers clashed with the British for control of South Africa in the Boer War In Mozambique and Angola, Portuguese settlers (prazeros) established large feudal estates (prazos) Throughout Africa, European colonists held privileged positions politically, culturally, and economically They opposed extending rights to native African populations A few groups, such as the Igbos in Nigeria and the Baganda in Uganda, allied with the British and received favored positions in the colonial administrations However, most Africans resisted European takeovers Muslim leaders, such as Abdul Kader in Algeria and the Mahdi in Sudan, mounted long and effective armed opposition to French and British domination But both were ultimately defeated by superior Western military strength The Ashante in Ghana and the Hereros in SouthWest Africa fought against European domination but were crushed in bloody confrontations The Zulus led by Shaka Zulu used guerrilla warfare tactics to halt the expansion of the Boers into their territories, but after initial defeats the Boers triumphed The Boers then used the hit-and-run tactics they had learned from the Zulus in their war against the British The British defeated the Matabele and Mashona tribes in northern and southern Rhodesia In the 20th century, a new generation of nationalist African leaders adopted a wide variety of political and economic means to oppose the occupation of their lands by European nations and settlers See also Congo Free State; Social Darwinism and Herbert Spencer (1820–1903); South Africa, Boers and Bantu in Further reading: Hobsbaum, Eric The Age of Empire, 1875–1914 London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1987, 1996; Nederveen, Jan White on Black: Images of Africa and Blacks in Western Popular Culture New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1991; Pakenham, Thomas The Scramble for Africa: White Man’s Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876 to 1912 London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1990; Robinson, Ronald, John Gallagher, and Alice Denny Africa and the Victorians New York: St Martin’s Press, 1961 Janice J Terry Africa, Portuguese colonies in Before the 1880s most African societies were independent of European rule With particular reference to Africa south of the Sahara, colonial rule was confined to coastal patches and the Cape region, the latter being home to Anglo-Boer political rivalry As regards the Portuguese, their colonial interest was restricted to their colonies of Angola, Mozambique, and the tiny area of Portuguese Guinea Interestingly, Portuguese rule in these areas was not strong The reason was that trade,