Why Is Cecil Rhodes Important To South Africa?
Cecil Rhodes acted in his own self-interest and claimed he was doing it for Britain's gain. During the 19th century, South Africa was having great success and profiting greatly. The first diamond was discovered by the Europeans in southern Africa and it was known as the Eureka Diamond. It was found near Hopetown on the Orange River. People soon began to see the real wealth in owning a mine in that region during the time. It became a diamond rush and people from all around the world came to find the luscious, remarkable, and
Cecil Rhodes highly valuable resource known to man. By the 1870’s http://www.historycentral.com/WH1400-1900/Biographies/Rhodes.jpg several hundred people made their down to the Vaal River in search of diamonds. Among …show more content…
those were the Boers who were descendants of the Dutch and the British as well as among Americans, Australians, and Germans. Kimberly Mine came to be created when prospects found a large diamond in Colesberg, Kopje. This diamond rush attracted many and one of them was a young Englishman named Cecil Rhodes. He was born to a British vicar and was educated in a local grammar school. Throughout his child years, he suffered from a respiratory illness. When he became seventeen he moved to Africa in hopes that the warm air could aid his illness. When he arrived he began to work on growing cotton with his brother in Natal. Soon the lure of the diamond fields became too irresistible and he succumbed to it. Rhodes left Natal in 1871 and moved to a newly founded city known as Kimberly. He began his journey in the mining industry as a speculative digger which means he was buying up diamond claims and hoping he would be lucky to find diamonds. Later he made advances to the pumping techniques and changed the political economy of the region and became the largest export of Cape Colony in 1875. Cecil Rhodes goal he realized was to unite the South African Federation under the British flag. Rhodes lived from 1853 to 1902 when he died of a whole in his heart. His significance has impacted many lives especially the indigenous Africans and his company owned 90 percent of the mines in the world at the time. British imperialism was a the policy of extending the rule or authority of an empire or nation over foreign countries, or of acquiring and holding colonies and dependencies, advocacy of imperial or sovereign interests over the interests of the dependent states, and imperial government; rule by an emperor or empress. Rhodes in 1888 established the De Beers Consolidated Mines by merging companies with Barney Barnato who also had many diamond interests. De Beers had a trust deed that included the power to acquire lands, rule over, and extend the British Empire. At the same time, Rhodes brother saw the success he was having so he began to control goldfields in the Transvaal which is a region in northeastern South Africa lying between he Limpopo and the Vaal rivers. This was a great place for mines because previous prospectors had great success in that area. Also, this was the land which was home to the Boer Republic called the South African Republic.
Although Cecil had extreme success with the diamonds he wanted to capitalize on the gold rush. He was a British http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/south_africa_1988.jpg imperialist who was only looking to make a fortune and drive over anybody he needed to who was in his way. Rhodes invested in gold operations in Rand, however, he was too late and the claims he had bought were did not supply. This led him to focus on mineral rights acquisition outside the colonial area and politics. British Imperialism at the time was very high in South Africa. It was not just the British who saw Africa as a treasure chest. The Boers who were Dutch also known as Afrikaners came to settle in the Cape region and claimed that they were the natives of the region. British and the Boers were not friendly and the discovery of gold did not cure their tensions. The slave trade brought many people to the Southern Coasts of Africa also in search of control of the ocean port to easily import and export goods. It was ironic because Native Africans who lived there for so long were not outnumbered the whites, but the whites still managed to have control over the people in the end. I theorize that when the immigrants came they were already well armed had a better lifestyle and were very educated, whereas the natives were not. Rhodes concession from Lobengula who was the king of the Ndebele in the North of the Transvaal region wanted to be used by the Ndebele. However, the concession allowed Rhodes to obtain a royal charter to create the British South Africa Company in 1889. This gave him the ability to sell shares and extend administrative control over south-central Zambia and Zimbabwe. Ironically, many of the gold mines they desired did not produce what they had expected. This led to quick war and a defeat of the Ndebele in 1893. Cecil Rhodes began running for a position in the government. He was first elected to the Cape Parliament, then a cabinet member and played a gigantic role in ensuring the British took over the Tswana kingdoms. He made Britain feel concerned that the South African Republic and German expansion was taking place that the British took control of Bechuanaland in 1885. Finally, Rhodes became prime minister of Cape Colony in 1890 and his goal during his term was
to add the South African federation onto Britain’s Empire. In a sense, he used realpolitik because https://sites.google.com/site/westmorlandliandmcgee/_/rsrc/1326979185319/about-our-site/economic-exploitation/Screen%20shot%202012-01-19%20at%207.39.33%20AM.png?height=400&width=291 http://image.slidesharecdn.com/imperialistmotives-141103120652-conversion-gate02/95/imperialist-motives-12-638.jpg?cb=1415017003
Open-shaft diamond mining at Kimberley, South Africa, in 1872 he created laws that benefit the Boers and made them trust Rhodes as being a prime minister.
The laws he passed limited the vote of Africans by education and property qualifications in 1892 and established a new system of native administration in 1894. This was known as the Glen Grey Act of 1894 and this led to limited rights for native Africans and restricted them from access to land which forced them to work in the labor market and reduced the voting strength. In the picture above are several Native Africans who did hard labor for little or any money at all. They were used as animals by the whites. While foreigners profited greatly the ones who were doing the dangerous work were not. As they risked their lives in the mines that were nearly about to collapse, others sat back and watched the diamonds and gold come in. White immigrant skilled miners were paid relatively high wages, in contrast, African migrants were unskilled and low-paid, earning about one-ninth the wage of white miners. In 1895, Rhodes was pushing towards his goal and his deteriorating health created someone crucial mistakes. He organized a conspiracy with others to remove the Boer government in the South African Republic so that a more British imperialist and mining-friendly one could be set in its place. This was most crucial because you can see that he was going out of his way to form a British imperialist government would come and replace the South African Republic so he would be able to pass more laws that benefitted him and his industry of mining diamonds and gold. In late 1895, an armed force led by British South Africa Company agent who was aiding Rhodes named Leander Jameson launched an invasion from the north into the area and failed. Rhodes having deceived many people was “compelled” to resign as prime minister and as well from the board of British South Africa Company in 1896. Above is a letter that was written to Cecil and
in it mentions a bribe of securing a seat in the government. Now it is clear to see how the government was rigged because people bribed to have a position. Cecil goal of having mining friendly British imperialist part of the government would have drastically changed Africa because laws could be passed to support their operations. I soon realized Cecil Rhodes did not object to standing down in his position because he was smart and already knew he had just riled up the tensions between Britain and the Boer republics. This eventually led to an outbreak of a war between Britain and the Boer republics, the South African Republic, and the Orange Free State. This is known as the Second Boer War which lasted from 1899-1902. The British in the end had a victory and led to the uniting and formation of South Africa within the British Empire. Finally, Rhodes goal was achieved his goal and his sneaky, deceiving, strategic plans worked in the end. BSAC put oppressive policies toward the Africans in Rhodesia which was later named after Cecil Rhodes and this sent man uprisings. In the end, if Cecil was not so hungry for power and wealth so many innocent Africans would not have lost their lives in the process as well as other countries troops. Rhodes moved to Rhodesia because he had accomplished his plans and moved on to developing the colony in Rhodesia, imposing colonial authority, advancing settlers interests, and lastly using an imperialist vision for Africa that included extending a railway for transportation that would run from Cape Town to Cairo, Egypt. In the image below it shows a political cartoon that has been seen by most people. The length of his arms represent the railroad stretching from the top of http://warriorspulse.org/uploads/3/4/9/0/34906649/9951957_orig.png Africa to the most southern point. Also he is dressed as British imperialist who is going to colonize Africa. Instead of doing what was best for his country he actually did what was best for himself and did not care about domestic threats which many people lost their lives to. Many people think that Rhodes was a greedy capitalist and imperialist force that ravaged much of Africa in the late 19th and 20th centuries and cared very little about others and was wrapped in his large plan of uniting South Africa under Britain’s name. "Being an Englishman is the greatest prize in the lottery of life.” In a quote he even said that life was great if you were born as a white Englishman you would have many rights over many and could rule over others. He acquired a fortune that men could only dream of having. He is one the most successful businessman of all time and the company he founded now has a net worth of 5.1 billion dollars. He controlled much of the vertical monopoly and was a capitalist, a migrant labor, and colonialism and this all embodied British imperialism at the time. While Rhodes was obsessed with his business he was equally loved asserting influence over South Africa’s affairs. He undoubtedly did it for his personal gain and made himself one of the most powerful white men at the time. He helped form and influence governments that took control of resources that did not belong to them and controlled major amounts of land and implemented racist laws of labor. This came to define white rule at the time until the end of the 20th century. "I also desire to encourage and foster an appreciation of the advantages which I implicitly believe will result from the union of the English-speaking peoples throughout the world and to encourage the students from the United States of North America[,] who will benefit from the American Scholarships to be established for the reason above given at the University of Oxford under this my Will[,] an attachment to the country from which they have sprung but without I hope withdrawing them or their sympathies from the land of their adoption or birth.” At the end of his life he decided to give most of his fortune to Oxford University where he set up a scholarship program for only white males. He did this for people to think he was a good person and the actions he made were in his self interest. Ironically this scholarship was used to for people who were curious in study and accomplishing what Cecil Rhodes did. He used it as a way to bring more British imperialist to the world and mine in Africa. This links to many modern events such as imperialist going to places to chop wood and cut down rain forests to profit from. They destroy indigenous peoples’ homes and habitats for animals. The government is not very concerned because they are deriving wealth from the companies who come in their country to do these destructive actions.
Cecil Rhodes highly valuable resource known to man. By the 1870’s http://www.historycentral.com/WH1400-1900/Biographies/Rhodes.jpg several hundred people made their down to the Vaal River in search of diamonds. Among …show more content…
those were the Boers who were descendants of the Dutch and the British as well as among Americans, Australians, and Germans. Kimberly Mine came to be created when prospects found a large diamond in Colesberg, Kopje. This diamond rush attracted many and one of them was a young Englishman named Cecil Rhodes. He was born to a British vicar and was educated in a local grammar school. Throughout his child years, he suffered from a respiratory illness. When he became seventeen he moved to Africa in hopes that the warm air could aid his illness. When he arrived he began to work on growing cotton with his brother in Natal. Soon the lure of the diamond fields became too irresistible and he succumbed to it. Rhodes left Natal in 1871 and moved to a newly founded city known as Kimberly. He began his journey in the mining industry as a speculative digger which means he was buying up diamond claims and hoping he would be lucky to find diamonds. Later he made advances to the pumping techniques and changed the political economy of the region and became the largest export of Cape Colony in 1875. Cecil Rhodes goal he realized was to unite the South African Federation under the British flag. Rhodes lived from 1853 to 1902 when he died of a whole in his heart. His significance has impacted many lives especially the indigenous Africans and his company owned 90 percent of the mines in the world at the time. British imperialism was a the policy of extending the rule or authority of an empire or nation over foreign countries, or of acquiring and holding colonies and dependencies, advocacy of imperial or sovereign interests over the interests of the dependent states, and imperial government; rule by an emperor or empress. Rhodes in 1888 established the De Beers Consolidated Mines by merging companies with Barney Barnato who also had many diamond interests. De Beers had a trust deed that included the power to acquire lands, rule over, and extend the British Empire. At the same time, Rhodes brother saw the success he was having so he began to control goldfields in the Transvaal which is a region in northeastern South Africa lying between he Limpopo and the Vaal rivers. This was a great place for mines because previous prospectors had great success in that area. Also, this was the land which was home to the Boer Republic called the South African Republic.
Although Cecil had extreme success with the diamonds he wanted to capitalize on the gold rush. He was a British http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/south_africa_1988.jpg imperialist who was only looking to make a fortune and drive over anybody he needed to who was in his way. Rhodes invested in gold operations in Rand, however, he was too late and the claims he had bought were did not supply. This led him to focus on mineral rights acquisition outside the colonial area and politics. British Imperialism at the time was very high in South Africa. It was not just the British who saw Africa as a treasure chest. The Boers who were Dutch also known as Afrikaners came to settle in the Cape region and claimed that they were the natives of the region. British and the Boers were not friendly and the discovery of gold did not cure their tensions. The slave trade brought many people to the Southern Coasts of Africa also in search of control of the ocean port to easily import and export goods. It was ironic because Native Africans who lived there for so long were not outnumbered the whites, but the whites still managed to have control over the people in the end. I theorize that when the immigrants came they were already well armed had a better lifestyle and were very educated, whereas the natives were not. Rhodes concession from Lobengula who was the king of the Ndebele in the North of the Transvaal region wanted to be used by the Ndebele. However, the concession allowed Rhodes to obtain a royal charter to create the British South Africa Company in 1889. This gave him the ability to sell shares and extend administrative control over south-central Zambia and Zimbabwe. Ironically, many of the gold mines they desired did not produce what they had expected. This led to quick war and a defeat of the Ndebele in 1893. Cecil Rhodes began running for a position in the government. He was first elected to the Cape Parliament, then a cabinet member and played a gigantic role in ensuring the British took over the Tswana kingdoms. He made Britain feel concerned that the South African Republic and German expansion was taking place that the British took control of Bechuanaland in 1885. Finally, Rhodes became prime minister of Cape Colony in 1890 and his goal during his term was
to add the South African federation onto Britain’s Empire. In a sense, he used realpolitik because https://sites.google.com/site/westmorlandliandmcgee/_/rsrc/1326979185319/about-our-site/economic-exploitation/Screen%20shot%202012-01-19%20at%207.39.33%20AM.png?height=400&width=291 http://image.slidesharecdn.com/imperialistmotives-141103120652-conversion-gate02/95/imperialist-motives-12-638.jpg?cb=1415017003
Open-shaft diamond mining at Kimberley, South Africa, in 1872 he created laws that benefit the Boers and made them trust Rhodes as being a prime minister.
The laws he passed limited the vote of Africans by education and property qualifications in 1892 and established a new system of native administration in 1894. This was known as the Glen Grey Act of 1894 and this led to limited rights for native Africans and restricted them from access to land which forced them to work in the labor market and reduced the voting strength. In the picture above are several Native Africans who did hard labor for little or any money at all. They were used as animals by the whites. While foreigners profited greatly the ones who were doing the dangerous work were not. As they risked their lives in the mines that were nearly about to collapse, others sat back and watched the diamonds and gold come in. White immigrant skilled miners were paid relatively high wages, in contrast, African migrants were unskilled and low-paid, earning about one-ninth the wage of white miners. In 1895, Rhodes was pushing towards his goal and his deteriorating health created someone crucial mistakes. He organized a conspiracy with others to remove the Boer government in the South African Republic so that a more British imperialist and mining-friendly one could be set in its place. This was most crucial because you can see that he was going out of his way to form a British imperialist government would come and replace the South African Republic so he would be able to pass more laws that benefitted him and his industry of mining diamonds and gold. In late 1895, an armed force led by British South Africa Company agent who was aiding Rhodes named Leander Jameson launched an invasion from the north into the area and failed. Rhodes having deceived many people was “compelled” to resign as prime minister and as well from the board of British South Africa Company in 1896. Above is a letter that was written to Cecil and
in it mentions a bribe of securing a seat in the government. Now it is clear to see how the government was rigged because people bribed to have a position. Cecil goal of having mining friendly British imperialist part of the government would have drastically changed Africa because laws could be passed to support their operations. I soon realized Cecil Rhodes did not object to standing down in his position because he was smart and already knew he had just riled up the tensions between Britain and the Boer republics. This eventually led to an outbreak of a war between Britain and the Boer republics, the South African Republic, and the Orange Free State. This is known as the Second Boer War which lasted from 1899-1902. The British in the end had a victory and led to the uniting and formation of South Africa within the British Empire. Finally, Rhodes goal was achieved his goal and his sneaky, deceiving, strategic plans worked in the end. BSAC put oppressive policies toward the Africans in Rhodesia which was later named after Cecil Rhodes and this sent man uprisings. In the end, if Cecil was not so hungry for power and wealth so many innocent Africans would not have lost their lives in the process as well as other countries troops. Rhodes moved to Rhodesia because he had accomplished his plans and moved on to developing the colony in Rhodesia, imposing colonial authority, advancing settlers interests, and lastly using an imperialist vision for Africa that included extending a railway for transportation that would run from Cape Town to Cairo, Egypt. In the image below it shows a political cartoon that has been seen by most people. The length of his arms represent the railroad stretching from the top of http://warriorspulse.org/uploads/3/4/9/0/34906649/9951957_orig.png Africa to the most southern point. Also he is dressed as British imperialist who is going to colonize Africa. Instead of doing what was best for his country he actually did what was best for himself and did not care about domestic threats which many people lost their lives to. Many people think that Rhodes was a greedy capitalist and imperialist force that ravaged much of Africa in the late 19th and 20th centuries and cared very little about others and was wrapped in his large plan of uniting South Africa under Britain’s name. "Being an Englishman is the greatest prize in the lottery of life.” In a quote he even said that life was great if you were born as a white Englishman you would have many rights over many and could rule over others. He acquired a fortune that men could only dream of having. He is one the most successful businessman of all time and the company he founded now has a net worth of 5.1 billion dollars. He controlled much of the vertical monopoly and was a capitalist, a migrant labor, and colonialism and this all embodied British imperialism at the time. While Rhodes was obsessed with his business he was equally loved asserting influence over South Africa’s affairs. He undoubtedly did it for his personal gain and made himself one of the most powerful white men at the time. He helped form and influence governments that took control of resources that did not belong to them and controlled major amounts of land and implemented racist laws of labor. This came to define white rule at the time until the end of the 20th century. "I also desire to encourage and foster an appreciation of the advantages which I implicitly believe will result from the union of the English-speaking peoples throughout the world and to encourage the students from the United States of North America[,] who will benefit from the American Scholarships to be established for the reason above given at the University of Oxford under this my Will[,] an attachment to the country from which they have sprung but without I hope withdrawing them or their sympathies from the land of their adoption or birth.” At the end of his life he decided to give most of his fortune to Oxford University where he set up a scholarship program for only white males. He did this for people to think he was a good person and the actions he made were in his self interest. Ironically this scholarship was used to for people who were curious in study and accomplishing what Cecil Rhodes did. He used it as a way to bring more British imperialist to the world and mine in Africa. This links to many modern events such as imperialist going to places to chop wood and cut down rain forests to profit from. They destroy indigenous peoples’ homes and habitats for animals. The government is not very concerned because they are deriving wealth from the companies who come in their country to do these destructive actions.