Britain & its African & Middle Eastern Colonies
History: KS3, topic 14.1.16
Britain and its African & Middle Eastern Colonies, 1914-1947
International relations in the Middle East were strained. By 1947, issues had not been resolved. In the African colonies, nationalism was gaining momentum.
Britain in Egypt after WW1
- After World War One, Egypt expected to be granted sovereign status as a country.
- On the 8th of March 1919, amid protests demanding Egyptian and Sudanese independence, the British exiled the main Egyptian Nationalist leader, Saad Zaghlul.
- There were weeks of strikes, demonstrations, and attacks on British facilities in Egypt and Sudan.
- As a result, in 1922, Britain was forced to give Egypt its independence, as long as 'foreign' (probably read British) interests were protected in Egypt.
- In 1924, Zaghlul became Egypt's first Prime Minister.
- As part of the agreement, Britain retained troops by the Suez Canal, protecting their shipping route to India.
Palestine after WW1
- Arab-Jewish tensions rose over Palestine in the 1930s as Hitler persecuted more Jews in Europe.
- The Jewish population of Palestine rose from 150,000 in 1926 to 400,000 in 1936. The total population of Palestine was 1.2 million.
- In 1937, the Peel Report recommended a partition as a solution to disorder in the region. However, Palestine's mandate status and resistance from the Arab population of Palestine made this impossible.
- Jews formed Haganah (a paramilitary group) to protect themselves.
- In 1947, the British handed Palestine over to the UN, hoping they could resolve the issues in the country.
West Africa
- In 1914, Southern Nigeria and Northern Nigeria were united. This was mainly done for economic reasons - the north was spending too much money & couldn't raise taxes, whilst the south had a budget surplus.
- In 1919, the National Congress of West Africa was created by the black elite in the Gold Coast. It had branches in the Gambia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone.
- In 1925, the West African Students’ Union was founded. This organisation united London-based West Africans and worked towards independence.
East Africa
- Kenya was made a formal colony in 1920.
- In 1920, Harry Thuku's 'Young Kikuyu' group began to campaign against British rule in Kenya.
- In 1922, Thuku led protests against identity cards for African males and tax increases. Thuku was arrested, unlike the Nandi leader, Samoei, who was killed for his resistance in Uganda.
- In 1921, the East African Association was created by Thuku and later joined by Jomo Kenyatta. The East African Association also tried to recover Kikuyu lands.