Why was there a scramble for africa?
Well, it’s a bit like the space race – or Iran wanting nuclear weapons. Just like people, nations can’t stand it when someone else looks like getting their mitts on something they don’t have. One reason why Britain first joined the Common Market (as they called the European Union in those days) was the French President de Gaulle told us we couldn’t! So of course we wanted it then… Back to Africa – my favourite part was when Italy wanted to grab Ethiopia as a colony in 1896. They thought, “oh, they’re only primitive, we’ll only need a couple of thousand men or less.” Then King John of Abyssinnia came over the hill with 100,000 men in full medieval armour! Oh…..dear! Abyssinnia/Ethiopia stayed independent.
