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Zambia / History CECIL=20 RHODES		Africa Index

	Cecil Rhodes=20 seized control of a major part of the British Empire. His = policies, much=20 more than those of the British government, shaped the context of = much of=20 southern Africa.

	*A = VISION OF=20 EMPIRE*
	Son of a = British=20 clergyman, Rhodes had first come to southern Africa for his health = as a=20 teenager. Here he had a vision of empire to which he dedicated the = rest of=20 his life. Striking it rich in the Kimberly diamond fields of = the=20 Cape Colony launched him on a road to financial success which = would allow=20 him to realize his vision.=20 He became a wheeler-dealer, = manipulating=20 money markets, initiating takeovers, and promoting himself = politically to=20 achieve the goal of British control of southern Africa. By the = closing=20 decade of the 19th century, Cecil Rhodes dominated that area to an = extent=20 without parallel anywhere the world. The United States had its = 'robber barons',=20 but Carnegie, Melon, Rockefeller, and others were in heated=20 competition. No one of them was able to exercise exclusive = control=20 over land, industry, finance, and politics as did Cecil = Rhodes. =20 He had a monopoly on the diamond = mines and=20 effective control of the gold mining industry. Realizing the = importance of=20 the media and transportation, he had bought up newspapers and = railroads.=20 He was Prime Minister of the Cape Colony (South Africa). As head = of the=20 British South Africa Company, Rhodes administered all the lands = held by=20 the company under charter from the British government. In = all, he=20 controlled nearly a half-million square miles of the African = continent.=20
	*APARTHEID*
	In the = mid-1890s,=20 Rhodes was key in drawing up a plan for the Cape Colony which = would=20 forever change the relationship of Africans and whites. Africans = were=20 confined on reserves, eliminating their former ability to be=20 self-sustaining peoples. Hut taxes were imposed. Only by = becoming=20 laborers for British agricultural, mining, and industrial = interests could=20 they sustain themselves. Schools, transportation, hospitals = and all=20 social contexts were segregated. African voters were=20 disenfranchised. It was not that Rhodes despised = Africans=20 but that he maintained a view of native peoples typical of the = social=20 Darwinism of the time. To Rhodes, Africans were as children, = at a=20 stage of development well behind Europeans and especially the = British.=20 Expropriation of African land was a duty. Rhodes contended = that the=20 British were the most superior race in the world. Africa could = only be=20 enhanced by an infusion of British settlers and the exertion of = British=20 control over the continent.
	A DREAM=20 UNREALIZED
	For = Rhodes,=20 'British' did not exclusively mean the British government. = It also=20 meant individual Brits of entrepreneurial skill who could seize = the land=20 and save the Africans from themselves. Rhodes counted = himself as=20 being foremost among these. He saw himself one day as head a = great=20 Dominion of Southern Africa. Although he espoused the idea of = the=20 British Empire, Rhodes was quick to promote his own empire where = the two=20 were in conflict. His agents seized territory in the name of = the=20 British South African Company in advance of British government=20 negotiators. Rhodes threatened to declare Rhodesian = independence in=20 a dispute over his confiscation of Matablele cattle in=20 Rhodesia. At the end of his life, in 1902, = Rhodes=20 dream of uniting the various British holdings in southern Africa = as a=20 single federation was still unrealized. He had been forced = to=20 relinquish from his position in the Cape Colony government six = years=20 earlier. The 'Colossus of Africa' had retreated to his = namesake=20 colony and turned his attention to developing what would become = Zimbabwe=20 and Zambia.
	*SOURCES*
	Thomas,=20 Anthony, Rhodes, The Race for Africa, New York: = St.=20 Martin's Press, 1996

Cecil Rhodes, a financier, statesman, and empire builder of British = South=20 Africa. Borne on July 5, 1853 in Stortford, England. He was prime = minister of=20 Cape Colony (1890-96) and organiser of the giant diamond-mining company = De Beers=20 Consolidated Mines, Ltd. (1888). By his will he established the Rhodes=20 scholarships at Oxford (1902).

Rhodes was the son of the vicar of Bishop's Stortford, and the = family's roots=20 were in the countryside, where Cecil Rhodes always felt at home: tree = planting=20 and agricultural improvement were among his lifelong passions, though = his=20 earliest ambition was to be a barrister or a clergyman. His father was=20 prosperous enough to send one son to Eton College, another to Winchester = College, and three into the army. Cecil, however, was kept at home = because of a=20 weakness of the lungs and was educated at the local grammar school. Poor = health=20 also debarred him from the professional career he planned. Instead of = going to=20 the university, he was sent to South Africa in 1870 to work on a cotton = farm,=20 where his brother Herbert was already established.

The farm in Natal was not a success. On his arrival Rhodes found that = his=20 brother had already left for the diamond fields of Griqualand West. = Although=20 Herbert returned to the farm, and the two brothers continued stubbornly = trying=20 to grow cotton for a year, the "diamond fever" eventually overcame them. = In 1871=20 they moved to Kimberley, the centre of mining, where life was even = harder than=20 in Natal. Herbert was restless and stayed only until 1873, but Cecil's=20 characteristic determination kept him at Kimberley off and on for = years.

For eight years, until he took a belated degree in 1881, he divided = his life=20 between Kimberley and Oxford. Both societies found him odd, though he = did his=20 best to conform outwardly to the conventions. At Oxford his eccentric = habits,=20 falsetto giggle, rambling monologues, and his unusual background = intrigued the=20 younger students around him. So did his philosophy of an almost mystical = imperialism.

He gradually advanced from being a speculative digger to the status = of a man=20 of substance with ambitious ideas on the future of the diamond industry. = His=20 first partnerships were with young men as impoverished as himself, such = as C.D.=20 Rudd, with whom he formed De Beers Consolidated Mines, Ltd. --so called = after=20 the De Beers mining claims, many of which he had acquired. Eventually, = success=20 brought new friends and also rivals. Alfred Beit, a German who knew the = diamond=20 market intimately, was his most valued friend. With Beit's help, Rhodes = expanded=20 his claims until all the De Beers mines were under his control. In 1887 = he set=20 about acquiring the Kimberley mine, which was mainly controlled by = Barney=20 Barnato. A furious competition to buy up shares ended in Rhodes's favour = in=20 1888. He finally paid more than =A35,000,000 ($25,000,000)--a generous=20 settlement--for Barnato's holding and celebrated by making his rival a = member of=20 the Kimberley Club, into which Barnato had never before even been = admitted.

Other lesser mines also fell under Rhodes's control, until by 1891 De = Beers=20 Consolidated Mines, Ltd., owned 90 percent of the world's production of=20 diamonds. He also acquired a large stake in the Transvaal gold mines, = which had=20 been discovered in 1885, and formed the Gold Fields of South Africa = Company in=20 1887. Both Rhodes's major companies had terms in their articles of = association=20 allowing them to finance schemes of northward expansion.

Rhodes never regarded moneymaking as an end in itself. "Painting the = map=20 red," building a railway from the Cape to Cairo, reconciling the Boers = and the=20 British under the British flag, even recovering the American colonies = for the=20 British Empire, were all part of his dream. With these ideas in view, he = first=20 went into politics in 1881, offering himself for election to the = parliament of=20 the Cape Colony in a constituency in which he had to depend on Boer = support. He=20 held it for the rest of his life. Though unimpressive as a speaker and=20 contemptuous of parliamentary procedure, he earned respect by his = original=20 views. He made friends with many Boer politicians, he espoused the cause = of the=20 natives in what were then Basutoland and Bechuanaland (now Lesotho and=20 Botswana), and always he had his eyes fixed on the north.

His first intervention in native policy came in 1882, when he was = appointed=20 to a commission to pacify Basutoland after a minor rebellion. The = rebellion had=20 been put down by the former British governor of the Egyptian Sudan, = General=20 Charles Gordon, acting for the Cape government. Gordon had succeeded not = by=20 force but by organising discussion meetings with the tribal chiefs. = Rhodes was=20 impressed by the man and his methods, though less favourably by the = contempt=20 that Gordon showed for financial reward.

His determination to keep open a road to the north involved him in = many=20 disputes. Other imperial powers--the Germans, Belgians, and = Portuguese--were in=20 competition for the uncharted interior of Africa, as were the Transvaal = Boers.=20 The missionaries were, in Rhodes's view, overly solicitous of native = interests;=20 the Cape government was weak; and the British government, which he = called the=20 "imperial factor," was too distant to understand his ideas. But he = assiduously=20 cultivated the government's representatives in Cape Town--particularly = the high=20 commissioner Sir Hercules Robinson, with profitable results.

The crucial area was Bechuanaland, through which ran the route used = by the=20 missionaries. Rhodes intended to use it to open up the northern = territories of=20 Mashonaland and Matabeleland (both now in Zimbabwe [Rhodesia]). Mineral = wealth,=20 communications, and, eventually, white settlement were his objectives. = All the=20 boundaries were unsettled, however, and many intrusions had to be = frustrated=20 first. Boers from the Transvaal, trying to annex slices of Bechuanaland, = proclaimed two small independent republics in Stellaland and Goshen. In = 1882 a=20 boundary commission, to which Rhodes again secured appointment, was sent = to=20 settle the boundaries of Griqualand West. Rhodes persuaded the = commission to=20 extend its mandate to the two small republics. In 1884, when the Germans = in=20 South West Africa (now Namibia) declared a protectorate over two = territories=20 (which, along with Stellaland and Goshen, would have sealed off the Cape = Colony=20 from the north), he persuaded the high commissioner that the British = government=20 must intervene. By the London Convention of 1884, the two republics were = excluded from the Transvaal, and the Cape government agreed to help = finance a=20 protectorate over Bechuanaland.

His settlement of the Bechuanaland question was also soon threatened, = for the=20 deputy commissioner in the new area antagonised the Boers. Rhodes = insisted on=20 his removal and was appointed in his place. He succeeded in conciliating = the=20 Boers of Stellaland but could not prevent Paul Kruger, president of the=20 Transvaal, from declaring a protectorate over Goshen, from which he = withdrew=20 only after an expeditionary force was sent up from the Cape. A = conference to=20 settle the matter was held in February 1885 on the Vaal River, where = Rhodes and=20 Kruger met for the first time. These two stubborn men, each determined = to=20 dominate Africa, each ever ready to quote Scripture for his purpose, = naturally=20 failed to achieve any meeting of minds.

Although Kruger was forced to give up Goshen, Rhodes did not get = everything=20 his own way. It was decided that southern Bechuanaland should become a = crown=20 colony and northern Bechuanaland a protectorate. Rhodes, who wanted both = annexed=20 by the Cape Colony, resigned in protest in March 1885 and thereafter = devoted=20 strenuous efforts, both in Cape Town and London, to securing the = transfer of the=20 colony to the Cape.

Two men still stood in the way of Rhodes's plans for developing the = north.=20 One was Kruger, with his policy of "Africa for the Afrikaners"--the = Boers. By=20 the Franchise Law of 1890, he denied political rights to the Britons and = other=20 foreigners (Uitlanders) who had come to work the gold mines in the = Transvaal. He=20 also tried to extend Boer control to Mashonaland and Matabeleland. The = ruler of=20 the Matabele was King Lobengula, Rhodes's second obstacle. Kruger had = approached=20 him for a treaty and mining concessions in 1887, and so had many others. = Lobengula, however, though uneducated, knew that once he let the white = men in,=20 he would never see their backs. The only white men he trusted were = missionaries;=20 and Rhodes duly found in John Moffat, the son of a famous missionary, a = man to=20 serve his purpose.

Once Moffat, as assistant commissioner for the crown colony of = Bechuanaland,=20 had, in February 1888, persuaded Lobengula to sign an exclusive treaty = of=20 friendship, Rhodes sent three of his trusted agents to obtain a mining=20 concession based on the treaty. The concession was extracted from the = reluctant=20 Lobengula in October 1888: to the last, he hoped he had only allowed the = white=20 man to dig "a big hole." In fact, however, he had virtually signed away = his=20 kingdom, and Rhodes hastened to press the British government, through = the high=20 commissioner, to grant a charter to a new company, the British South = Africa=20 Company, to develop the new territory. In October 1889 the charter was = granted,=20 and Lobengula allowed the digging to begin.

Queen Victoria found Rhodes's imperialism attractive, no less than = his=20 courtly rebuttal of the accusation of being a woman hater: "How could I = dislike=20 a sex to which your Majesty belongs?" The upshot of his successful = propaganda=20 was that the charter granted by the British government went far beyond = what=20 Lobengula had conceded. There was no northern limit on it; and Rhodes = intended=20 to extend the chartered company's control to Northern Rhodesia (now = Zambia) and=20 Nyasaland (now Malawi), as well as to the Bechuanaland Protectorate (now = in=20 Botswana).

In 1890 Rhodes's Pioneers began their hazardous march into = Matabeleland and=20 thence to Mashonaland, where they established a fort in September, to be = called=20 Salisbury, after the British prime minister. In the following year Harry = Johnston took over the administration of Nyasaland in a dual capacity, = as=20 commissioner of the British government and an employee of the chartered = company.=20 Although eventually the protectorate reverted fully to the British = government,=20 Rhodes's influence was felt both north and south of the Zambezi River, = and soon=20 the new territories were called by his name.

In the meantime, he had returned to office in 1890 in the only post = big=20 enough for him, as prime minister of Cape Colony. For five years he = proved a=20 successful and imaginative prime minister. He acquired a property called = Groote=20 Schuur, which he rebuilt in the Dutch colonial style and bequeathed as = an=20 official residence for future prime ministers of the Union of South = Africa.=20 There he lavishly entertained Dutch and British inhabitants of the Cape = Colony=20 and eminent visitors of all nationalities. Everything he undertook was = on a=20 massive scale.

In parliament he cultivated the support of the Afrikaner Bond without = losing=20 the goodwill of British liberals. His agricultural policies were = sensible and=20 effective. In native policy he had to move cautiously. His Franchise and = Ballot=20 Act (1892) was passed, limiting the native vote by financial and = educational=20 qualifications. The Glen Grey Act (1894), assigning an area for = exclusively=20 African development, was introduced from the highest motives: "a Bill = for=20 Africa," as Rhodes proudly called it. His main aim was to prevent the = Dutch and=20 British quarreling over such policies. To him that involved the risk of = "mixing=20 up the native question with the race question."

He also sought to unite the Boers and the British on his northern = policy. The=20 prospects were good because Kruger's obstinacy alienated the Cape Dutch. = To=20 ensure that commercial traffic did not have to reach the Transvaal = through the=20 Cape Colony, Kruger had built a railway to Delagoa Bay. Then in 1894 he = closed=20 the "drifts," or fords, of the Vaal River to prevent the transport of = goods by=20 wagon, besides imposing heavy duties on Cape produce. Rhodes went to the = Transvaal capital to protest, but in vain. Kruger was compelled to yield = only=20 after a declaration by Rhodes's attorney general that he was in breach = of the=20 London Convention, coupled with a threat by Joseph Chamberlain, who had = become=20 British colonial secretary in 1895, to support a military = expedition.

Rhodes's patience had begun to wear thin even earlier, partly because = he knew=20 his health was precarious, partly because he learned that the gold = deposits of=20 the Transvaal were enormous, whereas those of Mashonaland were proving = poor. His=20 northern policy was encountering unexpected frustrations. The chartered = company=20 was in financial difficulties, its resources being overstretched. = Although=20 Rhodes's agents secured some new territories for the company, elsewhere = he was=20 forestalled. An Anglo-German agreement of 1889 gave a strip of land to = Germany,=20 cutting off Bechuanaland from the north. The Belgian king Leopold = anticipated=20 Rhodes by laying claim to Katanga (1890). The Anglo-Portuguese = Convention of=20 1891 ended his hopes of eliminating Portugal from Africa. Harry Johnston = proved=20 uncooperative in administering Nyasaland. When Rhodes paid his first = visit to=20 Rhodesia in 1891, he found the pioneers in an angry mood; to pacify = them, he=20 helped them generously out of his own pocket.

Serious trouble broke out in 1893, when Lobengula tried to reassert = his=20 control over Mashonaland. A short, sharp war ended in the total defeat = and death=20 of Lobengula. Rhodes was then at the pinnacle of his achievement, but = still the=20 wider union of southern Africa eluded him. He was growing petulant and = impatient=20 and was visibly aging. By 1895 he was determined to settle accounts with = the=20 last obstacle, President Kruger.

There was already talk of using force to remedy the grievances of the = Uitlanders in the Transvaal. The Uitlanders formed a National Union to = support=20 their cause, with Rhodes's brother Frank among its leaders. Kruger = sought the=20 support of Germany, and in 1895 he again closed the "drifts" across the = Vaal.=20 Once more he was forced to withdraw, and by this time a conspiracy = against him=20 was under way. Rhodes knew about it and worked actively to foster = it.

Effects of the Jameson raid on Rhodes's=20 career.

Chamberlain was privy to the plan, but no one = foresaw=20 what actually resulted. The National Union in Johannesburg lost heart = and=20 decided not to act. Rhodes, the high commissioner Sir Herbert Robinson, = and=20 Chamberlain all assumed that the plan had been called off; but Leander = Starr=20 Jameson, Rhodes's personally appointed administrator of Matabele, = recklessly=20 decided to force the hand of the Uitlanders by invading the Transvaal on = his=20 own. He launched the famous raid on Dec. 29, 1895. It was a fiasco, his = whole=20 force being captured apart from a few killed. Rhodes was compelled to = resign all=20 his offices, not only in the Cape government but also in the chartered = company,=20 but he refused to denounce Jameson.

The raid was an almost complete disaster for Rhodes. Jameson and his=20 colleagues were sent to prison; Kruger's power was consolidated; the = Dutch and=20 British colonials were more deeply split than ever; Rhodesia and = Bechuanaland=20 were taken over by the imperial government. Only the charter was = preserved, and=20 Rhodes spent the rest of his life promoting developments in the north. = He even=20 won public sympathy. His last years were full of disappointments, both = personal=20 and political.

Early in 1896, while Rhodes was in England, there was a serious = revolt in=20 Matabeleland. Rhodes returned by way of Egypt and took an active part in = suppressing the revolt. He finally brought it to an end by holding a = peace=20 conference. On this occasion Rhodes found the site in the Matopo Hills = that he=20 called the "View of the World" and chose it for his burial place.

His last years were soured by an unfortunate relationship with an=20 aristocratic adventuress, Princess Radziwill, who sought to manipulate = Rhodes=20 and Milner and even Lord Salisbury, the English prime minister, to = promote her=20 ideas of the British Empire. Rhodes was unused to scheming women, nor = could the=20 young bachelors surrounding him protect him from her. She forged letters = and=20 bills of exchange in his name and was finally sent to prison, but not = before she=20 had caused him much annoyance and scandal. In 1901, while he was in = Europe, he=20 was recalled to Cape Town to give evidence at her trial. His last = political act=20 on his return was to support Milner in suspending the constitution of = the colony=20 until the South African War, which broke out in October 1899, was over. = He was,=20 however, already dying of an incurable heart disease. Before either the = war or=20 even Princess Radziwill's trial was over, he died. His last journey = through=20 Africa in the funeral train to the Matopo Hills was a triumphal = procession.

When his will was read in April 1902, his reputation immediately rose = to new=20 heights. He had devised an imaginative scheme of awarding scholarships = at Oxford=20 to young men from the colonies and from the United States and Germany. = This=20 appealed to the public instinct for a more disinterested kind of = imperialism.=20 Most of his fortune was devoted to the scholarships. As the will forbade = disqualification on grounds of race, many non-white students have = benefited from=20 the scholarships, though it is doubtful that that was Rhodes's = intention. He=20 once defined his policy as "equal rights for every white man south of = the=20 Zambezi" and later, under liberal pressure, amended "white" to = "civilised." But=20 he probably regarded the possibility of native Africans becoming = "civilised" as=20 so remote that the two expressions, in his mind, came to the same=20 thing.

A DREAM=20 UNREALIZED