As a Nigerian, I get that we as Africans have shot ourselves in the foot with poor governance and constantly fighting each other, but you seriously can’t argue that Europeans didn’t contribute to the mess we’re in with those horribly drawn borders The fact that there’s actual real human beings in the replies trying to justify and undermine colonialism is unfathomable. I can’t believe it
They did a lot more than just draw bad borders. They exploited our land and people. But they think it’s okay because they built a few railroad tracks and supposedly brought civilisation to us 😂
In fairness, I would say that just about every human civilization throughout history has had plenty of poor governance and wars and violence. In fact, that was the basis of the EU. After two world wars, economic interdependence was considered a more than reasonable alternative to constant violence. Now one big party that helped draw terrible lines on maps was the UK. The idea of divide and conquer. Carve apart populations and then put a minority population in charge. They then need help against the majority population and then in comes the UK to offer... services. Now the UK has been in decline for a long time. Last few decades they were economically propped up by joining the EU. However, they only wanted the economic benefits of the EU and still felt superior. So they did brexit. Have you ever heard of the word schadenfreude?
Map Reading and Topographic Navigation is a lost art only for those who practice it regularly. I'm grateful to be in the Xennial generation growing up in my early teens before the internet. Learning to read maps, navigating by landmarks, topography and even a small part cartography creating maps to reference later.
@@InconsistentManner Yes, and these little maps on our phones drive me nuts! I want to know where I´ve been, where I´m going and what´s around. Street maps are becoming scarce.
Deserves a part 2 just regarding the Portuguese colonies and how Portugal colonised pretty much every coastal region in the Atlantic and Indian oceans.
I should point out that Tanganyika didn't just "change" its name. It combined with Zanzibar, the archipelago off the coast, and both names were combined to create Tanzania.
I was always told that Spain didn't have so many colonies in Africa because of the Treaty of Tordesillas. Which is why Portugal had only Brazil in the Americas.
The simple answer is that in the 19th century spain was in no position to do anything. They fought 5 civil wars: the peninsular war, 3 carlist wars and the glorious revolution. Two years later there was a restoration coup, which was one of the 12 succesful coups in that period. When this map was made in the 1930s, the monarchy was once again ousted and a new civil war was brewing. This is all because spain didn't manage their colonial economy well. They destroyed america for endless silver mining, which only caused inflation in the homeland.
As a Burundian, who grew up in many countries in East and West Africa, and long time subscriber to this channel, you never cease to amaze me with how well researched your videos are and how much you excel at carrying your passion for maps. Thank you very much, I am incredibly thankful to have people like you on UA-cam.
But their past and present combativeness prevent any room for friendship.We got no friends till the hunted tell their story.How we ended up this way...
Thanks for sharing your map of Africa. I was born in the then Southern Rhodesia which was part of the Federation of S.Rhodesia, N.Rhodesia and Nyasaland. After the dissolution of that Federation and emancipation of N.Rhodesia and Nyasaland those two countries were renamed Zambia and Malawi, leaving just Rhodesia where Cecil John Rhodes is buried. Rhodesia finally became Zimbabwe. For those who take pride in “Rhodes Scholar” please bear in mind that Cecil John Rhodes, who made a considerable fortune in Southern Africa, died without heirs and bequeathed his fortune to Oxford University to finance very academically outstanding students. Blood money,eh? I could write a book just on the history of Southern Africa. My maternal grandparents are a small but significant part of that history.
Spanish control of Rio de Oro was less about supporting/protecting the Canary Islands and more about the absolutely vast phosphate reserves in the area. It's why they built the world's longest conveyor belt there
Rio de Oro as well as the plazas of Melilla, Ceuta, and many other small islands as Chaferinas were established in the African coast to prevent the Muslim invasion after the Reconquista in 1492. Las Canarias were part of the kingdom of Castille since the 14th century therefore a small Rio de Oro territory as Melilla would have not been enough to secure it.
One thing you got wrong is that Tanganyika didn't just turn into Tanzania; the modern country is made up of two ex-colonies who unified upon their independence: Tanzania = Tanganyika + Zanzibar (a set of islands off the coast, including the major city of Dar es Salaam). Similar to Senegambia, only it stuck around much more permanently
Your videos about old maps are my favorite! Please make more! Love watching the maps up close and learning about their history and how the world has changed and continues to evolve ❤
Indeed! and yet we repeat our struggles every generation. The older I get, the more I understand that's just how life and humanity exist. We're meant to be happy and threatened and fight and love and do horrible things to various groups at times while bringing new life into the world because it's how each new wave of people learns about our social co-existence, our humanity. It also means we have positive and negative experiences; I'd be bored stiff in a Utopia! Having said that, the decolonisation 'trend' of the last 60+years is probably (?) a good thing, assuming newly independent nations can sort their sh*t out. Can older tribal borders be renegotiated in Africa? Ideally
@@chlorineismyperfume They can't be because rabid nato states defend the 'sanctity' of borders because peaceful negotiation would cause all of their land grabs to leave, starting with Scots, Welsh, Irish, Basques, Bretons, Sardinians, Corsicans, etc, etc, etc. Serbia was willing to let south Kosovo go, nato invaded to steal whole province because old internal borders set hundreds of years ago are holy or something, never mind Serbs are absolute majority in north Kosovo and east Bosnia, west will never let them rejoin Serbia and will instead try to ethnically cleanse them away. Ditto with Crimea, it voted to join Russia dozens of times since 1991, but nato wanted bases there so they started first illegal coup then war, and now are trying to paint Russia's intervention to save Crimeans and Donbass from nato sponsored genocide and ethnic cleansing identical to Gaza one as "invasion"...
If these names are pronounced the same, the modern name should be Botshwana to make it clearer. Until now, I always made the mistake to call it Bots-Wana. Just like I learned only some years ago: that Angola is rather pronounced 'Ngola. And European names don't start with Ng or Nt or Ns, so they added a vocal in front.
That's not strictly true.... Botswana means the land of the Tswana people, or Tswana tribe. The Batswana are the people who inhabit Botswana. The language they speak is simply Tswana. There is no sh sound. And in many southern African black languages, the emphasis on almost always on the second last syllable.
@@handyvickers The language is Setswana if you really want to be correct. It is not really “just Tswana” though in English one can refer to it as such. Similarly, Lesotho is the land of the Basotho, who speak Sesotho. (Sesotho and Setswana are closely related languages, which is why the prefixes are the same). The name of the language used to be spelled Sechuana. There is no “sh” sound but it was the spelling that was used.
"Ivory Coast", "Gold Coast" and "Slave Coast" (I had never heard of "Grain Coast" until this video) were names originally given by Portuguese explorers/merchants. In this way of identifying a territory by its main "commodity", they are the predecessors of the American "Belts".
It annoys me that now we're supposed to say "Cote d'Ivoire" rather than "Ivory Coast". Like, dude, it means the same. But in French. Why should I suddenly start speaking French? Same with Eswatini, which just means Swaziland, but at least that's in the local language, not bloody French. Easier to say, too, actually. And I don't even find French that hard to pronounce.
@@CoolGuy-th7bl I had never seen that phrase either. I looked it up: in Portuguese we just call it "pimenta-da-Guiné" (i.e., "Guinea's pepper") or "malagueta".
@@PiousMoltar What do you mean with 'we are supposed to say'? As a non-native English speaker, most well known geographical locations have different pronunciations in different languages, so does Ivory coast/coté d'Ivoire/Ivoorkust? Same with the US/Etas-Unis/Vereinigte Staaten ect.
@@PiousMoltar We're not "supposed" to say "Côte d'Ivoire". That country's government pushed for that name on all international venues, but foreigners are free to use what they see fit. (No one ever asked the Deutsch is they like that their country is called Germany, Niemcy or Alemanha by foreigners.) Of course, one principle of diplomacy is not annoying your counterpart for no good reason - but I'm a random guy, not a diplomat, so I don't care one second what the government from the Ivory Coast wants... (BTW, the first time I was aware of that Côte d'Ivoire thing was in the early 1990's, when Portugal organised FIFA's under-21 World Cup. All titles for those games appeared in Portuguese (go figure...), so when Ivory Coast played it said "Costa do Marfim". Their team protested and they called a press conference, stating something like, "By decree of our President, "Côte d'Ivoire" is untranslatable in all languages" - to which a Portuguese journalist quipped, "Your President has no authority over the Portuguese language...". I also couldn't care less about that "Türkiye" think. For me, it's Turkey when I'm speaking English, it's "Turquia" when I'm speaking Portuguese. (Fun fact: in Portuguese, the delicious bird know as "turkey" is actually called "peru" - yes, also a misnomer, but related to the South American country of Peru.)
This is fascinating, looking at history through maps of the time. There was so much on this 1936 map, you could make a second video. But, I'm all for you continuing this as a series. 💜🌎🌍🌏✊
I really love your videos, I genuinely think it’s some of the best videos being made on UA-cam. I it’s always a joy to see you have uploaded a new video 😁
28:30. Well, Ivory Coast _does_ appear on maps today, but as "Côte d'Ivoire," which means "Ivory Coast" in French. Although the nation refuses to recognize any translations of its name from French to other languages in its international dealings, some English language entities persist in calling it "(the) Ivory Coast."
I say Ivory Coast, but only because I cannot for the life of me pronounce the French version. I think it would be strange if the USA or UK insisted on the rest of the world saying their name in English when other languages might have a hard time pronouncing it. Note: I used to say the French version but I was very bluntly informed that I was butchering it. So I kind of just admitted defeat.
@@gumloproductionstry this: coat dee var. It's not *quite* correct, but in terms of easily pronounceable for English speakers, it's close enough to be functional. If you want to get even closer, it's a lot more like "vwar" instead of "var," and you want to say "coat" with a softer ending, so just don't emphasize the "t" so much. And then just say it all together, almost like it's one word. "Coa(t)-DEE-vwar"
@@gumloproductions It probably doesn't matter, unless you are speaking to an Ivorian (who would probably appreciate you making your best effort). Following the advice of @natahliazaring5291 (particularly the second paragraph) will serve you well.
I loved this video! I appreciate your hard work put into this and also other your videos. I would love to see a whole series presenting the historical maps you bought.
There was an order from the pope that Spain stayed west of the line of demarcation while the Portuguese stayed to the east. The line went through part of the south American continent and that's why Portugal colonized Brazil and had more African holdings compared to Spain in the Americas.
I'll add that Spain was wrecked by the time the scramble for Africa had started They had minimal political power compared to France and Britain, fought of Napoleon but 20 years prior in a brutal guerilla campaign, then lost Mexico soon after, followed by losing a war to the US Spain was spent!
you mean 55 Years earlier... the Scramble began about 1875 with the conference of Berlin in 1885 or 1888 settling the disputes "finally"... JUST Spain had gone immediately prior through a Rebellion against queen Isabella II and a bloody restoration of King Alfonso XII after 6 years of "republic", it was in no state to lay claim to overseas territories even if after all those wars, losing most its american colonies in the 1820s and still suffering from the backend of tanking their own economy by importing way tooo much gold and silver from the new world in the early 1700s, they could have afforded it.
The scramble for Africa started because of development in medicine made inland Africa survivable. Spain was done as a superpower halfway the 1600's, when inland Africa would shorten the average life span of a European to 11 months.
Treaty of Tordesillas The Treaty of Tordesillas of 7 June 1494 involves agreements between King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile and King John II of Portugal establishing a new demarcation line between the two crowns, running from pole to pole, 370 leagues to the west of Cape Verde islands. The Treaty was finally signed following complex diplomatic negotiations between ambassadors and barristers from both Kingdoms. Modification of a demarcation line dividing the world between Spain and Portugal resulted in the birth of Brazil as its eastern end fell within the Portuguese zone. This document is essential if we are to understand American history and economic and cultural relations between Europe and America. Therefore the treaty became an important reference not only to the Atlantic Ocean history but also to the memory of the world allowing the meeting of continents and civilizations separated by unknown oceans.
I'm a native motswana so I say this with care but it's not 'be-co-wana-land,' it is 'bee-ch-wana-land,'(the ch is the same one as in sandwich) but the rest of the pronunciations are spot on
I really like your videos and as a history teacher this one is really special, because usually students only see a map - but every map produced by humans tells a story. So thank you for that! On another note...it's really hard following you sometimes because the music so much louder than your voice. That puts a little damper on the otherwise enjoyable videos!
Regarding Spain and Africa you need to look to the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. This treaty was an arbitrated agreement between Spain and Portugal modifying a Papal Bull by Pope Alexander VI that basically divided the world between Spain and Portugal. It gave most of the Americas to Spain with the exception of a small piece of what became Brazil and it gave most of Africa to Portugal. Portugal was the first colonial power to claim parts of Africa, other countries came later and Spain would only get a small portion on the northwest coast and a little enclave that is today Equatorial Guinea.
Did he just skip over all the Portuguese colonies or did I miss something? I mean, he mentioned even the former German ones but not the ones Portugal kept until 1975?
Not only that, but Portugal was about the earliest player in the whole "game". Long before Spain, that was what should have been mentioned. That should have been in the script, I guess.
Consider applying wide strips of clear packing tape to the backs of the folds, gently, as the map is opened, in order to support the likeliest places for deterioration to cause tears in old, folded maps.
3 місяці тому+40
At that time, the Spanish colonies also included the territories of Río Muni and the island of Fernando Poo (that they bought to Portugal), present day Equatorial Guinea (in the Gulf of Guinea).
Came here to say this! Yeah, he says at 3:47 that the 2 colonies in the Northwest corner are the only two on the entire continent... Equatorial Guinea is waaay too strange a country to forget about
Spain ended up with few colonies in Africa for a few reasons. First off, by the time Spain unified and started exploring, it was already all-in on the Americas. The gold and silver from places like Mexico and Peru kept Spain focused on the New World, while other European powers like Britain and France jumped on Africa. Plus, Spain wasn’t doing too great economically by the 19th century when the "Scramble for Africa" really kicked off, so it couldn’t compete with stronger nations. Also, Africa just didn’t seem as strategically important to Spain compared to closer areas like the Canary Islands, Ceuta, and Melilla. By then, Spain was already losing most of its colonies, so it didn’t have the resources or motivation to get much land in Africa. Spain didn’t get much of Africa, but it did grab a few key spots. In Morocco, Spain ended up with territories like Ceuta and Melilla, partly because of its proximity to Spain and strategic value across the Strait of Gibraltar. They also took control of the northern Rif region and parts of Western Sahara through treaties with France in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Western Sahara was held until the mid-20th century, but it’s still a contested area today. Spain also colonized Equatorial Guinea, which was one of its few actual colonies in Sub-Saharan Africa. They got it mostly because of treaties with Portugal in the late 1700s and held onto it for the resources like timber and cocoa. So even though Spain didn’t dominate Africa like other European powers, it did hold on to it arguably for longer, with it last possession not being vacated until 1975. For those in the US, this was during the Presidency of Gerald Ford, which means that when Henry Kissinger was Secretary of State, there were still Spanish colonies in the world.
Well there are to this day british, french and US american colonies in the world with arguably NZ and Australia also playing in that game, although more by accident due to the world Wars...
When I was only four-years old, in 1958, my father bought us kids a globe for Christmas that we'd keep for the next fifty-years. I loved that globe. Needless to say, Africa back then looked pretty much the same as Africa in this video's map. I just remember that French West Africa was enormous, and was colored purple, including over half a dozen of today's African nations. British colonies were a red/pink color, and they were extensive, as well.
I love your content and this video!!! You always manage to infuse the educational content with a lot of heart! It's a real joy to learn with you in each of these videos! That shirt looks amazing on you btw!
Its a different era that doesnt fit the video but the main reason why Spain lost its american colonies was because of the brutality of the napoleonic wars and another civil war/rebellion just a few years after the napoleonic wars. Spain resisted and fought agianst Napoleonic rule constantly with portugueze and british support and their new king after Napoleon wasnt doing the right things to keep his realm together, he ruled the exact (repealed the napoleonic reforms of 1812) same way before Napoleon while people wanted some change. Spain, Sicily and Naples all rebelled and a foreign army (french) was needed to restore order for the crown which in turn made their American colonies fed up and fight for their own autonomy and independence. Its was basically 2 decades of war and misery for the Spanish mainland and southern Italy that made them lose their overseas holdings in America.
@@niluscvp Also because the US served a symbol to other American Colonies that they could successfully rebel and become independent. Its no coincidence that a huge wave of rebellions started after the US Revolution
@@jatzi1526 Yeah and the combination of factors and timing couldn't be any worse for Spain. Experienced generals/admirals from the Napoleonic era were still able to serve and fought for former colonies (Bolivar, Cochrane, O'Higgins), a wartorn Spain ruled by a uncompromising absolutist king. No nation in Europe was interested to fight a large war in 1820 and was unsure what to really do in international matters with all the new borders/nations. Therer was a large dip in population due to young men dying in the previous napoleonic wars (weaker military strength) along with a changing current population that desired more of things you mentioned. Napoleon and US brought "liberte, egalite and fraternite" and that you should able to self-govern because of "no taxation without representation".
Not to mention that Spain was already not doing well at all before the revolutionary wars, it was a country that was going through a pretty rough spot that kept on going worse and worse for them
This was absolutely fascinating. I learnt so much. And 1000% yes I want to see videos about those other maps! Pssst you missed Comoros and Madagascar, and probably others, but those are the only ones I noticed.
Spanish historian here. Basically, the summary of Spain in the XIX century is: 1 Fight of the french occupation 2 Three civil wars (carlists wars) 3 First unstable republic 4 Independence of its colonies in America 5 Second tier industrial revolution, mainly focused in Catalonia and the Basque Country. It had some "ok" periods, specially the last two decades of the XIX century, but in 1935 the Second Spanish Republic was too unstable and the national/catholic/fascist part of the army brought a much worse civil war than the three previous ones. It was a second tier contender for the race for the colonisation of Africa at best.
Hey, Franco was probably the best outcome Spain could've hoped for at that time. Even Orwell, who fought alongside the Republicans, hated them. They're what inspired him to write Animal Farm, Homage to Catalonia, and 1984.
@@Skeloperch The two other outcomes would have been: become an USSR satellite (quite difficult, being bordered by NATO countries) and become a common burgoise republic like most of western europe. Both would have been better than a fascist-like regime which couldn't grow the economy until more than a decade and a half after the war was finished and which oppresed all of the historical nations of the country.
Let me rearrange and extend the History: 1 Fight vs the French occupation, and resulting devastation of Spain 2 Independence struggle of most of its colonies in America, and loss of mine$ there 3 Three civil wars (carlists wars) 4 War with USA and loss of rest of American and Asian Colonies. 5 First unstable republic 6 Second tier industrial revolution, mainly focused in Catalonia and the Basque Country.
@@tommy-er6hh Let me rearrange that again: - War against Portugal alongside France ("guerra de las naranjas") - France (Napoleon) put Joseph I as king of Spain: "Peninsular War". - 1st stage of American colonies' independence wars ("we're not fighting Spain, we don't want the French King... nor the Spanish civil servants") - France out, Fernando VII absolute king: several liberal ("democratic", sort of) coups and uprisings. - 2nd stage of American Independence Wars - Fernando VII is forced to sign the liberal Constitution - Mexico declares its independence -previous attempts were thwarted- because "those bloody Spaniards are too liberal for us" - Pre-carilist absolutist/conservative uprising ("Regencia de Urgel") - Ferdinand VII dies, Isabella II is sworn queen: 1st Carlist war - Several coups and uprising between liberal and conservative ("we want a constitution", "no you don't") - 2nd carlist War -to some historians, and mere regional uprising in Catalonia ("for the right Spain", mind you) - Isabella II is ousted by "democratic" forces ("Revolución Gloriosa") - Amadeo of Savoy is made King of Spain ---> 3rd ("2nd") Carlist war -the one they were closer to win. - First Republic: serious infighting with "federal" and "unitarian" republican forces - Cuban independence war(s) (backed by the US, in some form or another) - Alfonso XII -son of Isabella- is proclaimed king of Spain. - More Cuban uprising. Also Filipino uprising. - Spanish-American War - "Well, now that we don't have American colonies, what abut Africa? What's left?"
by 1935 the Scramble was long over... that's a 1875-1890 thing with Berlin happening sometime in the 1880s. 86 or 88 i can't remember. And hadn't there just been another dispute about sucession after the end of the Bourbons or something by 1875? leaving them with a shaky government and thoroughly bled out military?
Love it. More of this please. Constructive Feedback: there were time when the music audios bass would drown out your voice. Love this direction and hope to see more
For the record, Spain also claimed Equatorial Guinea in addition to Rio de Oro and Spanish Morocco. To this day, Spanish is still a national language there. EDIT: you later make this correction.
Respect for one of the most complete videos on this subject that I've seen! 🙌🏾💯 Two important additions for context : The French charge across of Mali, Niger, etc was extremely bloody, so shocking in fact, that the particular officers, (Paul Voulet and Julien Chanoine, who led massacres of the local people), were later arrested by a shocked French government. (To state the obvious, their arrests were/are never enough to ever make up for what they had done, obviously.) Credit: "How Did France Colonise Niger and West Africa?" By Firstpost ... I'm glad you took time to mention that those leaders in Francophone Africa were expelled *because they were Pro-France's extractive foreign policy* ... It's an important clarification, b/c some news outlets leave the impression that African countries just love to "coup" 🙄🙄. And finally, Botswana's current-day success cannot only be traced to Britain's less v*olent/lack of v*olent tactics in the region, (although that was a great improvement from other regions) but it's also due to the fact that three Tswana chiefs, Khama III, Bathoen I, & Sebele I travelled to London in 1895, to protest the British South Africa Company from acquiring commercial and administrative rights in Bechuanaland. (If the Chiefs had failed and this had occurred, they would've lost the rights to their natural resources, which were/are huge.) - Credit: Britannica.com They won out, and their maintaining rights over their mineral wealth 💎 is the main reason it's a stable country now. 😊
Potentially because most of these territories (like Angola & Mozambique) were colonized by Portugal centuries before the Scramble for Africa, but would be interesting to hear some thoughts nonetheless.
Angola and Moçambique, plus Guiné-Bissau, Cabo Verde, and São Tomé e Principe. And these were some of the last colonies to gain their independence, mostly in the mid 1970s.
This is probably my favorite video you've done! Physically seeing the history of Africa is the best way to have the context to understand Africa today.
Europe lost massive wealth with every single colony besides India and Egypt maybe . You needed a lot of soldiers , you needed to create and pay administration , and create the extraction infrastructure. You paid the local elite . Huge expenses in manpower and wealth to extract the work of people outside Europe. Europe had the industrial revolution so a soldier was ten times more productive in a factory in Europe compared to being stationed in a colony . Colonies were worthless vanity projects to enrich some elites .
@@hriscuvalerica4814 Colonies were vital exactly so that European industry could have material inputs, and markets to export to. They extracted a ton of wealth from their empires.
When I was young, I collected NatGeo maps. I eagerly awaited the arrival of my grandparents next issue of the magazine so I could see which part of the world would be added to my collection. I spent countless hours pouring over every line and word on these maps, imagining what these exotic lands might be like and hoping to visit all of them some day. Well, I didn't get to all of these places, but I did travel the world and spent many years living in various places absorbing the culture and enjoying my time learning about other people and their ways of living. I gained a great respect for other cultures from this exposure. I wish everybody could experience the world the way I have. I believe there would be far less conflict if we could all understand that our way of living is only one way of living among many. This all started with a young boy looking at maps. Please do continue to make more videos like this. Who knows, you might inspire world peace.
Lovely idea! It is a great tool to discuss the present with clear reference to the past, as we lost that knowledge. Present conflicts seem difficult to comprehend, even when you find maps online with old borders overlapped. Having a whole old map of the time makes it much more clear. Well done man, I really liked it! 👍
There was also Liberia which was for the most part an independent country along with togo which was split after ww1 and guinea-bissau which was a Portuguese territory@@Jay_Kry5hom
@@ThorJensen-oh5gj The region was a bit boring compared to other parts of Africa, but yeah, I wish he didn't mess up the Ethiopia thing about being the only independent country.
I believe you did the Treaty of Tordesillas dirty in your reasoning for why Spain held so few African colonies, if not for that I'd bet we would have seen a lot more extractive type colonies from them down the west coast of Africa as Portugal seemed more content to have an empire mostly based on purely trade rather than conquest. Which probably why the Scramble happened in the first place: Portugal never conquered these lands and Spain was prohibited so the rest of Europe could essentially go "It's free real estate" and yoink everything.
Again this idea is dumb. By the 1650s this treaty meant basically nothing or little. The main issue was Spain just didn’t held much power to control that much territory. Besides portions of Morocco right next door, they got the scraps b/c there empire by this point was already dwindling
It seems like you don't know much about the trade during the time of Portugal colonial expansion. There was widespread battles between the Dutch and Portuguese over colonial possessions in attempts to control trade. Portugal didn't conquer the north west coast of Africa because they weren't that valuable, but still conquered places like Angola and Mozambique which they held onto until the 1970s, and parts of Indonesia before being pushed out by the Dutch.
the reason the border between Ethiopia and Somalia was dotted was because the state of Ethiopia had been expanding its boundaries south and east since the early 1800s, mostly at the expense of nomadic somali groups who were too dispersed and divided to mount a concerted resistance. this continued after they beat back the attempted Italian invasion at the battle of Adowa in 1896. however, this region is very remote and quite barren (hence why everyone in the area was nomadic or semi-nomadic - there were no consistent sources of food or water) so while Ethiopia claimed vast swathes of territory, they didn't necessarily have full military control over them until after regaining independence after WWII. it doesn't have all that much to do with Italy, except that Italy's brutal conquest of Ethiopia under Mussolini in 1935 meant the European powers had a lot of sympathy for Ethiopians in the post-war negotiations and gave them more or less everything they wanted. Ethiopia's continued control over this area and Somalia's dissatisfaction with this led directly to several wars between them in the 1960s and 70s and led directly to the Somali state falling apart towards the end of the Cold War.
@@billpugh58 Ethiopia is now in the middle of Civil War …. FANO group… TPLF… TDF…OLF … Beni Shangul ….many more will join soon 🤣🤣 Keep on fighting and killing each other. Abbiy Ahmed Oromumu is doing a good job 👍 👍👍👍
Consider getting a pair of archival document handling gloves for things like this, to protect the very absorbent paper from the oils on your fingers. Also highly recommend an archival framing of this piece. They can likely iron out the creases and put it behind glass that protects from damage from light including UV rays.
This isnt some valuable antique, its an old classroom map that you could have bought spotless for 12 dollars on ebay (literally), its pretty cool but he hardly needs gloves to touch it, especially with all the other wear and tear.
@@Aaaaaaarrrpirate Agreed. Maps of Africa on this scale and detail can be found for about every year between the 1850s and 1950s on Wiki Commons, and some of _those_ are archival relics. But with a nicer frame, he can prevent more wear and tear to accumulate. Although, if he then hangs it on a wall, it _will_ bleach out quickly.
Dude. get a grip. This is a give-away map from National Geographic. Would you use gloves on a Texaco road map of New Jersey? No. You would order fried chicken and wipe your fingers on it. like Bruce Springsteen did.
@Redmenace96 In historical preservation and archeology, 50 years old is considered eligible for preservation efforts. Just because it's a once-common artifact does not diminish its significance as an artifact, just makes it so that, *if preserved* it can be more widely observed and the information used. Besides, who knows if the electronic storage of these things we have now will last, and in what forms. We preserve what we have in physical form, lest it be lost through our own devaluation in times of plenty.
By 1935, the Iberian countries were no longer influential colonizers". Both had already experienced independence of their former colonies and lost. For these two countries their "empire" days were all gone, maybe this explains the lack of expansionist intentions from Spain. According to Tordesilhas they knew they weren't supposed to be there in first place and, although the treaty had no value by this time, maybe it had some historical influence. For Portugal, the situation wasn't that different. After the "lost" of Brazil, all they had were their oldest colonies in Africa. First Portugal tried to connect West coast to East coast of Africa, between Angola and Mozambique, but British expansionism ruined Portuguese plans at the infamous Berlin Conference. This ultimately led to a regicide in Portugal and the end of Monarchy. Yes, this map explains so much about how different each colonising project was and how it influenced today conflicts.
Your video made me scramble to my National Geographic collection to see if I had this 1935 map of Africa. To my delight, I did! I probably haven’t looked at it for 30 years, and it’s still in pristine condition. Glad to get your explanations of why the borders are where they are in 1935, and how that affects geopolitics today!
11:55 as a Libyan I want to tell you that this view of the war is completely false. It does seem like that but this is the few wars where both sides are identical and the war is fought simply for power. There isn’t even an ounce of wanting to separate the country. Also this war is very mild, in wiriting this from the “frontline” but there’s no issue in me walking to the “other side” other then which army controls it. Not a regional war.
That may be, but I'm listening at just prior to the 4-minute mark and he says, "Together, these are the ONLY two Spanish possessions on the WHOLE continent." That's what's known as BAD EDITING.
@vEvelugu he could have corrected it in the video right then and there. A quick dub of "oh, I forgot Spanish Guinea and Ifni, but I touch on them later" while showing the same pans he uses later when he does address them would have quickly solved the issue. Instead he says what he says and carries on, leaving many of us to believe that he forgot about them for 20+ minutes, or even wouldn't address them. Or he could have edited out the part where he says they were the only two Spanish colonies, and clipped the Ifni/Spanish Guinea bits there to lump them together instead of keeping them apart. I know he's a geographer, not a professional video director, but at some point the idea of ease of transfer of information should carry over from one to the other.
Mate you got it wrong about the history of somaliland somalia. The colonial power introduced the so called greater somalia but never divided them. SOMALILAND British (Formerly known as Adel Sultanate) never shared an administrations even history prior to the arrival of the colonial powers. The only reason British Somaliland and Somalia united in 1960 was to claim back the Somaliland territories occupied by the Ethiopians.
Saudações do Brasil. França, UK e Alemanha"doaram" o Congo ao Rei Leopoldo, da Bélgica. Propriedade particular do rei. Doaram ser serem proprietarios (coisas da meretriz Europa).O mundo ainda está por conhecer as atrocidades que foram praticadas pelos Belgas no Congo. Milhões foram assassinados. E, pior, eram mutilados ANTES de serem mortos. Somente quando essa história podre for ensinada nas Escolas é que o mundo vai saber como uma "merreca" de País como a Bélgica pôde agir livremente com tal brutalidade contra os Congoleses. Saudações do Brasil. Aqui também a Europa roubou e assassinou durante mais de 300 anos.
When I was a little kid in the early 1960's, living in Nigeria, we visited an open air market in Dahomey (Benin) and all the meat for sale in the market place (except for one kind) was sold with a bit of hide on it to identify the animal from whence it came. I asked my Father why one of the hanging meats had no hide and he said "that is long pig". I asked him "what is long pig" and he told me that it was human meat. As a diplomat at the time he (my Father) was hosted at an official dinner at which he was served long pig (which he had to eat so as not to insult the hosts). He said it tasted like pork. The explanation of the name "long pig" is that human meat tastes like pork but the bones are longer. So that was happening in Benin in 1962-1963. A lot of westerners today have no idea that Africans sold other Africans ito the Europeans (with doesn't make that right either). Mostly the Ghananians enslaved other tribes and sold some to any who would buy them. In Belgian Congo, the Belgians would brutally punish any slaves who failed to fill thier quota of rubber production. Hands and even feet were unceremoniously cut off "as a warning" to those who failed to meet their production quotas. Extremely heinous I would say.
the term "long pig" is authentic, but stems from the Pacific Islands... and probably a bit of reputation assassination by european reports about the local population there. so no, it was not given to him in Africa as common term there, he told you a scary story
The percentage of African kings and Heads of State that sold African prisoners to White men is so small it cannot be quantified. Why did you even bring that up? Guilty conscience?
As a Nigerian, I get that we as Africans have shot ourselves in the foot with poor governance and constantly fighting each other, but you seriously can’t argue that Europeans didn’t contribute to the mess we’re in with those horribly drawn borders
The fact that there’s actual real human beings in the replies trying to justify and undermine colonialism is unfathomable. I can’t believe it
Don’t worry, everyone except far-right Europeans knows the damage we did. Apologies mate
so what you're sais you are as groups so infantile that you are incapable of solving those border disputes yourselves, duly noted
They did a lot more than just draw bad borders. They exploited our land and people. But they think it’s okay because they built a few railroad tracks and supposedly brought civilisation to us 😂
I don't think it is just horribly drawn borders that cause the mess.
In fairness, I would say that just about every human civilization throughout history has had plenty of poor governance and wars and violence. In fact, that was the basis of the EU. After two world wars, economic interdependence was considered a more than reasonable alternative to constant violence. Now one big party that helped draw terrible lines on maps was the UK. The idea of divide and conquer. Carve apart populations and then put a minority population in charge. They then need help against the majority population and then in comes the UK to offer... services. Now the UK has been in decline for a long time. Last few decades they were economically propped up by joining the EU. However, they only wanted the economic benefits of the EU and still felt superior. So they did brexit. Have you ever heard of the word schadenfreude?
I love old maps. When cartography was as much artistry as map making, the smell of the old maps and the feel of the delicate paper.
Map Reading and Topographic Navigation is a lost art only for those who practice it regularly. I'm grateful to be in the Xennial generation growing up in my early teens before the internet. Learning to read maps, navigating by landmarks, topography and even a small part cartography creating maps to reference later.
@@InconsistentManner I don't understand how somebody couldn't read a map. Just READ the map!
My father subscribed to National Geographic when I was a kid. I always pulled the map out first when a new issue arrived!
the way he opened and treated this map gave me demarcation lines
@@InconsistentManner Yes, and these little maps on our phones drive me nuts! I want to know where I´ve been, where I´m going and what´s around. Street maps are becoming scarce.
Deserves a part 2 just regarding the Portuguese colonies and how Portugal colonised pretty much every coastal region in the Atlantic and Indian oceans.
That’s a 2 part history of portguesse colonization.
And made the transatlantic slave trade to the New World.
@@LCCWPresentsis not colonization is slavery portuguese people enslaved Africans from Angola, Mozambique etc portuguese started the slavery.
I should point out that Tanganyika didn't just "change" its name. It combined with Zanzibar, the archipelago off the coast, and both names were combined to create Tanzania.
Wow!
Tan - Tanganyika
Zania - Zanzibar
As a historian I absolutely love these kind of videos! The combination of history and geography is amazing for understanding the world
I have a pre 1936 14" globe my grandmother used in her class room. It's a treasure.
I used to have a globe with elevation I wish I had held on to. Keep it safe!
no it's just printed paper
We had one in small Illinois classroom. It was pre-Tangyanika. I was ADHD and in the back row. That globe gave me something to do.
@@obinator9065 Beware people, we have an edgelord here.
I have a globe from the 1960’s that I still have in my possession. It’s interesting to look at.
Considering how brittle the map is, I'm guessing it would be a really good idea to get it framed.
Yeah but does this white boy reeaally want a framed map of colonial Africa in his place? Probs wouldn't look too good lol
Would Def make a good decoration
Or digitized.
Aren't you sharp as a tack. Must be a mathlete or som.
the way he opened and treated this map gave me demarcation lines
I was always told that Spain didn't have so many colonies in Africa because of the Treaty of Tordesillas. Which is why Portugal had only Brazil in the Americas.
Why everyone rembers the name of this treaty! 😂
I feel a bit dumb now
"only" for a country that takes up half the South American subcontinent is an interesting way of accounting 😄
I was surprised he didn't know this when making a video about colonization.
@@unvergebeneidBrazil was not always that big.
The simple answer is that in the 19th century spain was in no position to do anything. They fought 5 civil wars: the peninsular war, 3 carlist wars and the glorious revolution. Two years later there was a restoration coup, which was one of the 12 succesful coups in that period. When this map was made in the 1930s, the monarchy was once again ousted and a new civil war was brewing.
This is all because spain didn't manage their colonial economy well. They destroyed america for endless silver mining, which only caused inflation in the homeland.
As a Burundian, who grew up in many countries in East and West Africa, and long time subscriber to this channel, you never cease to amaze me with how well researched your videos are and how much you excel at carrying your passion for maps.
Thank you very much, I am incredibly thankful to have people like you on UA-cam.
But their past and present combativeness prevent any room for friendship.We got no friends till the hunted tell their story.How we ended up this way...
Stop worshiping a colonizer 🤮
Thanks for sharing your map of Africa. I was born in the then Southern Rhodesia which was part of the Federation of S.Rhodesia, N.Rhodesia and Nyasaland. After the dissolution of that Federation and emancipation of N.Rhodesia and Nyasaland those two countries were renamed Zambia and Malawi, leaving just Rhodesia where Cecil John Rhodes is buried.
Rhodesia finally became Zimbabwe.
For those who take pride in “Rhodes Scholar” please bear in mind that Cecil John Rhodes, who made a considerable fortune in Southern Africa, died without heirs and bequeathed his fortune to Oxford University to finance very academically outstanding students.
Blood money,eh?
I could write a book just
on the history of Southern Africa. My maternal grandparents are a small but significant part of that history.
You should write that book.
@12fretsteven
You forgot to mention Ian Smith (not that Cricketer now), who wanted to make it a white supremacist country like South Africa, then.
Spanish control of Rio de Oro was less about supporting/protecting the Canary Islands and more about the absolutely vast phosphate reserves in the area. It's why they built the world's longest conveyor belt there
I thought the same
For a channel with over 1 million subscribers, this guy seems to be very poorly informed
Rio de Oro as well as the plazas of Melilla, Ceuta, and many other small islands as Chaferinas were established in the African coast to prevent the Muslim invasion after the Reconquista in 1492. Las Canarias were part of the kingdom of Castille since the 14th century therefore a small Rio de Oro territory as Melilla would have not been enough to secure it.
@@RealMajoraprobably wasn't on Wikipedia
@@RealMajoraMaybe, but not as poorly informed as the rest of the world, he's doing good work bringing this history to light.
One thing you got wrong is that Tanganyika didn't just turn into Tanzania; the modern country is made up of two ex-colonies who unified upon their independence: Tanzania = Tanganyika + Zanzibar (a set of islands off the coast, including the major city of Dar es Salaam). Similar to Senegambia, only it stuck around much more permanently
it stuck because of a genocide in Zanzibar against the Arab (former slave trader) population, making the country more ethnically homogenious.
Dar es Salaam wasn't Zanzibar though at that time. It was a part of Tanganyika and before that German East Africa
the way he opened and treated this map gave me demarcation lines
@@ekesandras1481at least one African country did the right and smart thing
Nothing about Angola,shame.
This deserves a continuation to the south of Africa in a part II.
I would count on it. With a correction about the Treaty of Tordesillas too. Plenty to talk about in a part 2.
He didn't even mention Angola, South Africa and Madagascar.
Or most of West Africa.
@@gabor6259 He didn't mention Angola, Mozambique, Guiné Bissau, Cap Vert and S. Tomé and Prince. The Portugueses colonies.
Your videos about old maps are my favorite! Please make more! Love watching the maps up close and learning about their history and how the world has changed and continues to evolve ❤
Is it available and how can one get it.
Thank you for sharing this historical information!! It is through our past we can better understand our present.
The fact that this maps explains things that happen today proves how important history is to understand the modern world
Indeed! and yet we repeat our struggles every generation. The older I get, the more I understand that's just how life and humanity exist. We're meant to be happy and threatened and fight and love and do horrible things to various groups at times while bringing new life into the world because it's how each new wave of people learns about our social co-existence, our humanity. It also means we have positive and negative experiences; I'd be bored stiff in a Utopia!
Having said that, the decolonisation 'trend' of the last 60+years is probably (?) a good thing, assuming newly independent nations can sort their sh*t out. Can older tribal borders be renegotiated in Africa? Ideally
@@chlorineismyperfume They can't be because rabid nato states defend the 'sanctity' of borders because peaceful negotiation would cause all of their land grabs to leave, starting with Scots, Welsh, Irish, Basques, Bretons, Sardinians, Corsicans, etc, etc, etc. Serbia was willing to let south Kosovo go, nato invaded to steal whole province because old internal borders set hundreds of years ago are holy or something, never mind Serbs are absolute majority in north Kosovo and east Bosnia, west will never let them rejoin Serbia and will instead try to ethnically cleanse them away. Ditto with Crimea, it voted to join Russia dozens of times since 1991, but nato wanted bases there so they started first illegal coup then war, and now are trying to paint Russia's intervention to save Crimeans and Donbass from nato sponsored genocide and ethnic cleansing identical to Gaza one as "invasion"...
Most of the current border conflicts were the remnants of lines drawn by disinterested bureaucrats on a map, dividing the world willy nilly.
@@112313 I always thought Europe divided Africa based on resources?
I concur
Botswana didn't change its name, it changed only the way to write it. But Bechuana and Botswana are pronounced almost the same.
Some of the pronunciation in the video was not super-accurate. He isn't an expert, though, just excited about what he learned from the old map.
He missed that the name was English and pronounced it Bequanaland
If these names are pronounced the same, the modern name should be Botshwana to make it clearer. Until now, I always made the mistake to call it Bots-Wana.
Just like I learned only some years ago: that Angola is rather pronounced 'Ngola. And European names don't start with Ng or Nt or Ns, so they added a vocal in front.
That's not strictly true.... Botswana means the land of the Tswana people, or Tswana tribe.
The Batswana are the people who inhabit Botswana.
The language they speak is simply Tswana.
There is no sh sound.
And in many southern African black languages, the emphasis on almost always on the second last syllable.
@@handyvickers The language is Setswana if you really want to be correct. It is not really “just Tswana” though in English one can refer to it as such.
Similarly, Lesotho is the land of the Basotho, who speak Sesotho. (Sesotho and Setswana are closely related languages, which is why the prefixes are the same).
The name of the language used to be spelled Sechuana. There is no “sh” sound but it was the spelling that was used.
"Ivory Coast", "Gold Coast" and "Slave Coast" (I had never heard of "Grain Coast" until this video) were names originally given by Portuguese explorers/merchants. In this way of identifying a territory by its main "commodity", they are the predecessors of the American "Belts".
It annoys me that now we're supposed to say "Cote d'Ivoire" rather than "Ivory Coast". Like, dude, it means the same. But in French. Why should I suddenly start speaking French? Same with Eswatini, which just means Swaziland, but at least that's in the local language, not bloody French. Easier to say, too, actually. And I don't even find French that hard to pronounce.
The Grain Coast refers to grains of paradise, a spice that was highly valued in Europe and the Mediterranean.
@@CoolGuy-th7bl I had never seen that phrase either. I looked it up: in Portuguese we just call it "pimenta-da-Guiné" (i.e., "Guinea's pepper") or "malagueta".
@@PiousMoltar What do you mean with 'we are supposed to say'? As a non-native English speaker, most well known geographical locations have different pronunciations in different languages, so does Ivory coast/coté d'Ivoire/Ivoorkust? Same with the US/Etas-Unis/Vereinigte Staaten ect.
@@PiousMoltar We're not "supposed" to say "Côte d'Ivoire". That country's government pushed for that name on all international venues, but foreigners are free to use what they see fit. (No one ever asked the Deutsch is they like that their country is called Germany, Niemcy or Alemanha by foreigners.)
Of course, one principle of diplomacy is not annoying your counterpart for no good reason - but I'm a random guy, not a diplomat, so I don't care one second what the government from the Ivory Coast wants...
(BTW, the first time I was aware of that Côte d'Ivoire thing was in the early 1990's, when Portugal organised FIFA's under-21 World Cup. All titles for those games appeared in Portuguese (go figure...), so when Ivory Coast played it said "Costa do Marfim". Their team protested and they called a press conference, stating something like, "By decree of our President, "Côte d'Ivoire" is untranslatable in all languages" - to which a Portuguese journalist quipped, "Your President has no authority over the Portuguese language...".
I also couldn't care less about that "Türkiye" think. For me, it's Turkey when I'm speaking English, it's "Turquia" when I'm speaking Portuguese.
(Fun fact: in Portuguese, the delicious bird know as "turkey" is actually called "peru" - yes, also a misnomer, but related to the South American country of Peru.)
Love your content. Im obsessed with maps too
This is fascinating, looking at history through maps of the time.
There was so much on this 1936 map, you could make a second video. But, I'm all for you continuing this as a series.
💜🌎🌍🌏✊
I really love your videos, I genuinely think it’s some of the best videos being made on UA-cam. I it’s always a joy to see you have uploaded a new video 😁
28:30. Well, Ivory Coast _does_ appear on maps today, but as "Côte d'Ivoire," which means "Ivory Coast" in French. Although the nation refuses to recognize any translations of its name from French to other languages in its international dealings, some English language entities persist in calling it "(the) Ivory Coast."
I say Ivory Coast, but only because I cannot for the life of me pronounce the French version. I think it would be strange if the USA or UK insisted on the rest of the world saying their name in English when other languages might have a hard time pronouncing it.
Note: I used to say the French version but I was very bluntly informed that I was butchering it. So I kind of just admitted defeat.
in italian we say the name in italian ofc, not in french or english. but is the same name. costa d'avorio
@@gumloproductionstry this: coat dee var. It's not *quite* correct, but in terms of easily pronounceable for English speakers, it's close enough to be functional.
If you want to get even closer, it's a lot more like "vwar" instead of "var," and you want to say "coat" with a softer ending, so just don't emphasize the "t" so much. And then just say it all together, almost like it's one word. "Coa(t)-DEE-vwar"
@@gumloproductions It probably doesn't matter, unless you are speaking to an Ivorian (who would probably appreciate you making your best effort). Following the advice of @natahliazaring5291 (particularly the second paragraph) will serve you well.
In Spanish we translate it as well lol. Is Costa de Marfil (ivory coast)
You don't know how happy I am for an upload. I've been checking your channel for the last month
I loved this video! I appreciate your hard work put into this and also other your videos. I would love to see a whole series presenting the historical maps you bought.
I loved this episode and would love for you to go through the other maps in similar thoroughness
There was an order from the pope that Spain stayed west of the line of demarcation while the Portuguese stayed to the east. The line went through part of the south American continent and that's why Portugal colonized Brazil and had more African holdings compared to Spain in the Americas.
That was my thought, treaty of Tordesillas in 1494
@@abcde_5949 I'm glad you could remember what it was called exactly! I knew what the line was but couldn't remember the treaty. Thanks for helping!
This is such basic history that it makes me question his credibility on any other historical explanation.
He does pay lip service to it when he mentions Rio Muni, but I seriously question why he left it out when discussing the Spanish territories
@@firenterbecause he has mentioned it in other videos.
I'll add that Spain was wrecked by the time the scramble for Africa had started
They had minimal political power compared to France and Britain, fought of Napoleon but 20 years prior in a brutal guerilla campaign, then lost Mexico soon after, followed by losing a war to the US
Spain was spent!
you mean 55 Years earlier... the Scramble began about 1875 with the conference of Berlin in 1885 or 1888 settling the disputes "finally"... JUST Spain had gone immediately prior through a Rebellion against queen Isabella II and a bloody restoration of King Alfonso XII after 6 years of "republic", it was in no state to lay claim to overseas territories even if after all those wars, losing most its american colonies in the 1820s and still suffering from the backend of tanking their own economy by importing way tooo much gold and silver from the new world in the early 1700s, they could have afforded it.
The scramble for Africa started because of development in medicine made inland Africa survivable. Spain was done as a superpower halfway the 1600's, when inland Africa would shorten the average life span of a European to 11 months.
Treaty of Tordesillas
The Treaty of Tordesillas of 7 June 1494 involves agreements between King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile and King John II of Portugal establishing a new demarcation line between the two crowns, running from pole to pole, 370 leagues to the west of Cape Verde islands. The Treaty was finally signed following complex diplomatic negotiations between ambassadors and barristers from both Kingdoms. Modification of a demarcation line dividing the world between Spain and Portugal resulted in the birth of Brazil as its eastern end fell within the Portuguese zone. This document is essential if we are to understand American history and economic and cultural relations between Europe and America. Therefore the treaty became an important reference not only to the Atlantic Ocean history but also to the memory of the world allowing the meeting of continents and civilizations separated by unknown oceans.
This gave me so much more insight. Thank you for making this video en putting it out there.
I'm a native motswana so I say this with care but it's not 'be-co-wana-land,' it is 'bee-ch-wana-land,'(the ch is the same one as in sandwich) but the rest of the pronunciations are spot on
Boers is not correct. It should be "boo - rz" instead of "bo ahs"
Atlas Pro, thanks for this. It really helps me understand their difficulties.
Thank you for talking us through this important historical source.
I really like your videos and as a history teacher this one is really special, because usually students only see a map - but every map produced by humans tells a story. So thank you for that!
On another note...it's really hard following you sometimes because the music so much louder than your voice. That puts a little damper on the otherwise enjoyable videos!
This is and was such a fascinating analysis thank you SO MUCH for taking the time !!!
Regarding Spain and Africa you need to look to the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. This treaty was an arbitrated agreement between Spain and Portugal modifying a Papal Bull by Pope Alexander VI that basically divided the world between Spain and Portugal. It gave most of the Americas to Spain with the exception of a small piece of what became Brazil and it gave most of Africa to Portugal. Portugal was the first colonial power to claim parts of Africa, other countries came later and Spain would only get a small portion on the northwest coast and a little enclave that is today Equatorial Guinea.
Did he just skip over all the Portuguese colonies or did I miss something? I mean, he mentioned even the former German ones but not the ones Portugal kept until 1975?
I also noticed that!
Not only that, but Portugal was about the earliest player in the whole "game". Long before Spain, that was what should have been mentioned. That should have been in the script, I guess.
Nobody gets it. Read the comments.
Some mentioned at 27:45
Consider applying wide strips of clear packing tape to the backs of the folds, gently, as the map is opened, in order to support the likeliest places for deterioration to cause tears in old, folded maps.
At that time, the Spanish colonies also included the territories of Río Muni and the island of Fernando Poo (that they bought to Portugal), present day Equatorial Guinea (in the Gulf of Guinea).
Lol. Poo 💩
Came here to say this! Yeah, he says at 3:47 that the 2 colonies in the Northwest corner are the only two on the entire continent... Equatorial Guinea is waaay too strange a country to forget about
100%
@@OrinBoborin Been there to both parts - still bear the mental scars.
As a series on your channel i would love more historical map deep dives like this one!
I love maps and history. This was a great exploration.
Spain ended up with few colonies in Africa for a few reasons. First off, by the time Spain unified and started exploring, it was already all-in on the Americas. The gold and silver from places like Mexico and Peru kept Spain focused on the New World, while other European powers like Britain and France jumped on Africa. Plus, Spain wasn’t doing too great economically by the 19th century when the "Scramble for Africa" really kicked off, so it couldn’t compete with stronger nations. Also, Africa just didn’t seem as strategically important to Spain compared to closer areas like the Canary Islands, Ceuta, and Melilla. By then, Spain was already losing most of its colonies, so it didn’t have the resources or motivation to get much land in Africa.
Spain didn’t get much of Africa, but it did grab a few key spots. In Morocco, Spain ended up with territories like Ceuta and Melilla, partly because of its proximity to Spain and strategic value across the Strait of Gibraltar. They also took control of the northern Rif region and parts of Western Sahara through treaties with France in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Western Sahara was held until the mid-20th century, but it’s still a contested area today. Spain also colonized Equatorial Guinea, which was one of its few actual colonies in Sub-Saharan Africa. They got it mostly because of treaties with Portugal in the late 1700s and held onto it for the resources like timber and cocoa. So even though Spain didn’t dominate Africa like other European powers, it did hold on to it arguably for longer, with it last possession not being vacated until 1975. For those in the US, this was during the Presidency of Gerald Ford, which means that when Henry Kissinger was Secretary of State, there were still Spanish colonies in the world.
Well there are to this day british, french and US american colonies in the world with arguably NZ and Australia also playing in that game, although more by accident due to the world Wars...
When I was only four-years old, in 1958, my father bought us kids a globe for Christmas that we'd keep for the next fifty-years. I loved that globe. Needless to say, Africa back then looked pretty much the same as Africa in this video's map. I just remember that French West Africa was enormous, and was colored purple, including over half a dozen of today's African nations. British colonies were a red/pink color, and they were extensive, as well.
29:36 Hahaaa yessssssss! Exactly what I was hoping for. You kept me waiting :P
Please do make more videos about it!!! I never learned African history in school, and I'm so curious about it!
I love your content and this video!!! You always manage to infuse the educational content with a lot of heart! It's a real joy to learn with you in each of these videos! That shirt looks amazing on you btw!
This is my favourite concept for a video series of all time
Its a different era that doesnt fit the video but the main reason why Spain lost its american colonies was because of the brutality of the napoleonic wars and another civil war/rebellion just a few years after the napoleonic wars. Spain resisted and fought agianst Napoleonic rule constantly with portugueze and british support and their new king after Napoleon wasnt doing the right things to keep his realm together, he ruled the exact (repealed the napoleonic reforms of 1812) same way before Napoleon while people wanted some change. Spain, Sicily and Naples all rebelled and a foreign army (french) was needed to restore order for the crown which in turn made their American colonies fed up and fight for their own autonomy and independence. Its was basically 2 decades of war and misery for the Spanish mainland and southern Italy that made them lose their overseas holdings in America.
regardless this is another very good video, nice job!
@@niluscvp Also because the US served a symbol to other American Colonies that they could successfully rebel and become independent. Its no coincidence that a huge wave of rebellions started after the US Revolution
@@jatzi1526 Yeah and the combination of factors and timing couldn't be any worse for Spain. Experienced generals/admirals from the Napoleonic era were still able to serve and fought for former colonies (Bolivar, Cochrane, O'Higgins), a wartorn Spain ruled by a uncompromising absolutist king. No nation in Europe was interested to fight a large war in 1820 and was unsure what to really do in international matters with all the new borders/nations. Therer was a large dip in population due to young men dying in the previous napoleonic wars (weaker military strength) along with a changing current population that desired more of things you mentioned. Napoleon and US brought "liberte, egalite and fraternite" and that you should able to self-govern because of "no taxation without representation".
Not to mention that Spain was already not doing well at all before the revolutionary wars, it was a country that was going through a pretty rough spot that kept on going worse and worse for them
This was absolutely fascinating. I learnt so much. And 1000% yes I want to see videos about those other maps! Pssst you missed Comoros and Madagascar, and probably others, but those are the only ones I noticed.
I have just subscribed to your channel due to your unbiased analysis
Really great video! Keep them coming - we love to learn!
Spanish historian here. Basically, the summary of Spain in the XIX century is:
1 Fight of the french occupation
2 Three civil wars (carlists wars)
3 First unstable republic
4 Independence of its colonies in America
5 Second tier industrial revolution, mainly focused in Catalonia and the Basque Country.
It had some "ok" periods, specially the last two decades of the XIX century, but in 1935 the Second Spanish Republic was too unstable and the national/catholic/fascist part of the army brought a much worse civil war than the three previous ones. It was a second tier contender for the race for the colonisation of Africa at best.
Hey, Franco was probably the best outcome Spain could've hoped for at that time. Even Orwell, who fought alongside the Republicans, hated them. They're what inspired him to write Animal Farm, Homage to Catalonia, and 1984.
@@Skeloperch The two other outcomes would have been: become an USSR satellite (quite difficult, being bordered by NATO countries) and become a common burgoise republic like most of western europe. Both would have been better than a fascist-like regime which couldn't grow the economy until more than a decade and a half after the war was finished and which oppresed all of the historical nations of the country.
Let me rearrange and extend the History:
1 Fight vs the French occupation, and resulting devastation of Spain
2 Independence struggle of most of its colonies in America, and loss of mine$ there
3 Three civil wars (carlists wars)
4 War with USA and loss of rest of American and Asian Colonies.
5 First unstable republic
6 Second tier industrial revolution, mainly focused in Catalonia and the Basque Country.
@@tommy-er6hh
Let me rearrange that again:
- War against Portugal alongside France ("guerra de las naranjas")
- France (Napoleon) put Joseph I as king of Spain: "Peninsular War".
- 1st stage of American colonies' independence wars ("we're not fighting Spain, we don't want the French King... nor the Spanish civil servants")
- France out, Fernando VII absolute king: several liberal ("democratic", sort of) coups and uprisings.
- 2nd stage of American Independence Wars
- Fernando VII is forced to sign the liberal Constitution
- Mexico declares its independence -previous attempts were thwarted- because "those bloody Spaniards are too liberal for us"
- Pre-carilist absolutist/conservative uprising ("Regencia de Urgel")
- Ferdinand VII dies, Isabella II is sworn queen: 1st Carlist war
- Several coups and uprising between liberal and conservative ("we want a constitution", "no you don't")
- 2nd carlist War -to some historians, and mere regional uprising in Catalonia ("for the right Spain", mind you)
- Isabella II is ousted by "democratic" forces ("Revolución Gloriosa")
- Amadeo of Savoy is made King of Spain ---> 3rd ("2nd") Carlist war -the one they were closer to win.
- First Republic: serious infighting with "federal" and "unitarian" republican forces
- Cuban independence war(s) (backed by the US, in some form or another)
- Alfonso XII -son of Isabella- is proclaimed king of Spain.
- More Cuban uprising. Also Filipino uprising.
- Spanish-American War
- "Well, now that we don't have American colonies, what abut Africa? What's left?"
by 1935 the Scramble was long over... that's a 1875-1890 thing with Berlin happening sometime in the 1880s. 86 or 88 i can't remember. And hadn't there just been another dispute about sucession after the end of the Bourbons or something by 1875? leaving them with a shaky government and thoroughly bled out military?
Love it. More of this please.
Constructive Feedback: there were time when the music audios bass would drown out your voice.
Love this direction and hope to see more
For the record, Spain also claimed Equatorial Guinea in addition to Rio de Oro and Spanish Morocco. To this day, Spanish is still a national language there. EDIT: you later make this correction.
That's why u should always watch the full video before comment any. So Idiót
@@De_Séchelles No, this is why a channel should take the time to properly edit a video and fact check before they upload
Are you proud to have been a colonizer and want more credit, so sad!
Great work! Using the map as a wonderful stepping off place for a great historical/cultural lesson!
I love maps and what old ones tell us about our history. This was highly educational for me. Thanks.
I eagerly await the other videos on the other maps!!!!
He missed Equatorial Guinea as a Spanish colony on Africa.
Respect for one of the most complete videos on this subject that I've seen! 🙌🏾💯
Two important additions for context :
The French charge across of Mali, Niger, etc was extremely bloody, so shocking in fact, that the particular officers, (Paul Voulet and Julien Chanoine, who led massacres of the local people), were later arrested by a shocked French government. (To state the obvious, their arrests were/are never enough to ever make up for what they had done, obviously.)
Credit: "How Did France Colonise Niger and West Africa?" By Firstpost
... I'm glad you took time to mention that those leaders in Francophone Africa were expelled *because they were Pro-France's extractive foreign policy* ... It's an important clarification, b/c some news outlets leave the impression that African countries just love to "coup" 🙄🙄.
And finally, Botswana's current-day success cannot only be traced to Britain's less v*olent/lack of v*olent tactics in the region, (although that was a great improvement from other regions) but it's also due to the fact that three Tswana chiefs, Khama III, Bathoen I, & Sebele I travelled to London in 1895, to protest the British South Africa Company from acquiring commercial and administrative rights in Bechuanaland. (If the Chiefs had failed and this had occurred, they would've lost the rights to their natural resources, which were/are huge.)
- Credit: Britannica.com
They won out, and their maintaining rights over their mineral wealth 💎 is the main reason it's a stable country now. 😊
The untold story of Africa is the greatest of any story ever to be told 👍
❤
4:00 as mentioned, there's also the treaty of Tordesillas. But i believe Equatorial Guinea was also a Spanish possession at the time
27:43 there it is
Partly why Spain never ventured into africa is the Treaty of Tordesillas with portugal
I was just missing this channel yesterday.
It is funny that he talks about almost all of the African territories but skips all Portuguese colonoies completely XD
Potentially because most of these territories (like Angola & Mozambique) were colonized by Portugal centuries before the Scramble for Africa, but would be interesting to hear some thoughts nonetheless.
Angola and Moçambique, plus Guiné-Bissau, Cabo Verde, and São Tomé e Principe. And these were some of the last colonies to gain their independence, mostly in the mid 1970s.
And used images of Madeira Island when talking about Spanish territories in North Africa...
Maybe because their borders and names haven't changed as much as most of the other countries?
Oh you mean that weird European part of Brazil that had colonies everywhere?
another great video love history and maps that why your one of my favorite youtube channels
Amazing content! Please do more like this
I’ma need you to reupload that WV video
fun fact. boers is the dutch word for farmers
Not quite. Boer is singular and boeren is plural. It's a Dutch word with an English plural exit.
@@theaxer3751 nee joh echt waar🙄
We prefer to be called Afrikaners.
@@Helgardt6189, absoluut!!
Die Britte kon ne glo dat n klomp "barbare" hulle vir 3 jaar kon besig hou nie
@@Helgardt6189 , is Elon Musk one.
You could write a whole book centered around analyzing a map like this!
This is probably my favorite video you've done! Physically seeing the history of Africa is the best way to have the context to understand Africa today.
As always we love the content. Keep it up!!
They will tell you they "know" about the Treaty of Tordesillas but still don't know understand why Spain had so little african possessions.
That and saying colonies weren't profitable. Silly part of the video.
Europe lost massive wealth with every single colony besides India and Egypt maybe . You needed a lot of soldiers , you needed to create and pay administration , and create the extraction infrastructure. You paid the local elite . Huge expenses in manpower and wealth to extract the work of people outside Europe. Europe had the industrial revolution so a soldier was ten times more productive in a factory in Europe compared to being stationed in a colony . Colonies were worthless vanity projects to enrich some elites .
@@hriscuvalerica4814 Colonies were vital exactly so that European industry could have material inputs, and markets to export to. They extracted a ton of wealth from their empires.
@@hriscuvalerica4814 african colonies for the most part yes,
That treaty meant very little at that point
When I was young, I collected NatGeo maps. I eagerly awaited the arrival of my grandparents next issue of the magazine so I could see which part of the world would be added to my collection. I spent countless hours pouring over every line and word on these maps, imagining what these exotic lands might be like and hoping to visit all of them some day. Well, I didn't get to all of these places, but I did travel the world and spent many years living in various places absorbing the culture and enjoying my time learning about other people and their ways of living. I gained a great respect for other cultures from this exposure. I wish everybody could experience the world the way I have. I believe there would be far less conflict if we could all understand that our way of living is only one way of living among many.
This all started with a young boy looking at maps. Please do continue to make more videos like this. Who knows, you might inspire world peace.
Lovely idea! It is a great tool to discuss the present with clear reference to the past, as we lost that knowledge. Present conflicts seem difficult to comprehend, even when you find maps online with old borders overlapped. Having a whole old map of the time makes it much more clear. Well done man, I really liked it! 👍
Really interesting stuff. Would love to see more such videos
Oh you tease, i would love to see a continued series on your new collection of old maps!
Wished you talked more about West Africa
Why would he it was mostly French territory
There was also Liberia which was for the most part an independent country along with togo which was split after ww1 and guinea-bissau which was a Portuguese territory@@Jay_Kry5hom
@@ThorJensen-oh5gj The region was a bit boring compared to other parts of Africa, but yeah, I wish he didn't mess up the Ethiopia thing about being the only independent country.
03:46 Not true. Spanish Guinea (nowadays Equatorial Guinea) was a colony of Spain in Africa as well.
I believe you did the Treaty of Tordesillas dirty in your reasoning for why Spain held so few African colonies, if not for that I'd bet we would have seen a lot more extractive type colonies from them down the west coast of Africa as Portugal seemed more content to have an empire mostly based on purely trade rather than conquest. Which probably why the Scramble happened in the first place: Portugal never conquered these lands and Spain was prohibited so the rest of Europe could essentially go "It's free real estate" and yoink everything.
Again this idea is dumb. By the 1650s this treaty meant basically nothing or little. The main issue was Spain just didn’t held much power to control that much territory. Besides portions of Morocco right next door, they got the scraps b/c there empire by this point was already dwindling
@@board-qu9iuagain? Was there a whole convo that got deleted??
@@ASlickNamedPimpback no
It seems like you don't know much about the trade during the time of Portugal colonial expansion. There was widespread battles between the Dutch and Portuguese over colonial possessions in attempts to control trade. Portugal didn't conquer the north west coast of Africa because they weren't that valuable, but still conquered places like Angola and Mozambique which they held onto until the 1970s, and parts of Indonesia before being pushed out by the Dutch.
I'm sure he'll see the comment section and will check it out. It may even prompt another video. We all win.
this was brilliant, such an interesting map, need to see the others you got!
Love the video, can't wait for the others maps
the reason the border between Ethiopia and Somalia was dotted was because the state of Ethiopia had been expanding its boundaries south and east since the early 1800s, mostly at the expense of nomadic somali groups who were too dispersed and divided to mount a concerted resistance. this continued after they beat back the attempted Italian invasion at the battle of Adowa in 1896. however, this region is very remote and quite barren (hence why everyone in the area was nomadic or semi-nomadic - there were no consistent sources of food or water) so while Ethiopia claimed vast swathes of territory, they didn't necessarily have full military control over them until after regaining independence after WWII. it doesn't have all that much to do with Italy, except that Italy's brutal conquest of Ethiopia under Mussolini in 1935 meant the European powers had a lot of sympathy for Ethiopians in the post-war negotiations and gave them more or less everything they wanted. Ethiopia's continued control over this area and Somalia's dissatisfaction with this led directly to several wars between them in the 1960s and 70s and led directly to the Somali state falling apart towards the end of the Cold War.
Are you trying to denying the rightful owners of this Ogaden land ? It’s inhabitants are Somali people and it belongs to Somalia soon 🇸🇴🇸🇴🇸🇴
@@raghedanan3959keep on fighting each other, we are keeping out of it.
@@billpugh58 Ethiopia is now in the middle of Civil War …. FANO group… TPLF… TDF…OLF … Beni Shangul ….many more will join soon 🤣🤣 Keep on fighting and killing each other. Abbiy Ahmed Oromumu is doing a good job 👍 👍👍👍
That means Italians did good for you okay. You don`t have the complete history for that please read the history of ETHIOPIA.
@@abelsilas6474 What are you talking about ? Can you put a light on it please ?
Consider getting a pair of archival document handling gloves for things like this, to protect the very absorbent paper from the oils on your fingers. Also highly recommend an archival framing of this piece. They can likely iron out the creases and put it behind glass that protects from damage from light including UV rays.
This isnt some valuable antique, its an old classroom map that you could have bought spotless for 12 dollars on ebay (literally), its pretty cool but he hardly needs gloves to touch it, especially with all the other wear and tear.
@@Aaaaaaarrrpirate Agreed. Maps of Africa on this scale and detail can be found for about every year between the 1850s and 1950s on Wiki Commons, and some of _those_ are archival relics.
But with a nicer frame, he can prevent more wear and tear to accumulate. Although, if he then hangs it on a wall, it _will_ bleach out quickly.
Dude. get a grip. This is a give-away map from National Geographic.
Would you use gloves on a Texaco road map of New Jersey? No. You would order fried chicken and wipe your fingers on it. like Bruce Springsteen did.
@Redmenace96 In historical preservation and archeology, 50 years old is considered eligible for preservation efforts. Just because it's a once-common artifact does not diminish its significance as an artifact, just makes it so that, *if preserved* it can be more widely observed and the information used. Besides, who knows if the electronic storage of these things we have now will last, and in what forms. We preserve what we have in physical form, lest it be lost through our own devaluation in times of plenty.
By 1935, the Iberian countries were no longer influential colonizers". Both had already experienced independence of their former colonies and lost. For these two countries their "empire" days were all gone, maybe this explains the lack of expansionist intentions from Spain. According to Tordesilhas they knew they weren't supposed to be there in first place and, although the treaty had no value by this time, maybe it had some historical influence.
For Portugal, the situation wasn't that different. After the "lost" of Brazil, all they had were their oldest colonies in Africa. First Portugal tried to connect West coast to East coast of Africa, between Angola and Mozambique, but British expansionism ruined Portuguese plans at the infamous Berlin Conference. This ultimately led to a regicide in Portugal and the end of Monarchy.
Yes, this map explains so much about how different each colonising project was and how it influenced today conflicts.
Your video made me scramble to my National Geographic collection to see if I had this 1935 map of Africa. To my delight, I did! I probably haven’t looked at it for 30 years, and it’s still in pristine condition. Glad to get your explanations of why the borders are where they are in 1935, and how that affects geopolitics today!
Great video. Thank you for sharing!
I suggest maybe lamenting these priceless maps! Great find from that antique shop by the way!
One factor in Spain's lack of territory in African is the Treaty of Tordesillas, where Spain and Portugal split the world "in half".
11:55 as a Libyan I want to tell you that this view of the war is completely false. It does seem like that but this is the few wars where both sides are identical and the war is fought simply for power. There isn’t even an ounce of wanting to separate the country. Also this war is very mild, in wiriting this from the “frontline” but there’s no issue in me walking to the “other side” other then which army controls it. Not a regional war.
All these guys commenting that he missed Spanish Guinea have a short attention span. He mentions it later in the video lol
That may be, but I'm listening at just prior to the 4-minute mark and he says, "Together, these are the ONLY two Spanish possessions on the WHOLE continent." That's what's known as BAD EDITING.
@@josephwest124 still they could wait to see if he corrects it in the video.
Well you could just add a short text saying he will mention Equatorial Guinea
Most likely people commented before the video was over. We've at all done it.
@vEvelugu he could have corrected it in the video right then and there. A quick dub of "oh, I forgot Spanish Guinea and Ifni, but I touch on them later" while showing the same pans he uses later when he does address them would have quickly solved the issue. Instead he says what he says and carries on, leaving many of us to believe that he forgot about them for 20+ minutes, or even wouldn't address them.
Or he could have edited out the part where he says they were the only two Spanish colonies, and clipped the Ifni/Spanish Guinea bits there to lump them together instead of keeping them apart.
I know he's a geographer, not a professional video director, but at some point the idea of ease of transfer of information should carry over from one to the other.
I love maps and the changes that they go through.
Good insights, broadened my point of view. Great work!
Mate you got it wrong about the history of somaliland somalia. The colonial power introduced the so called greater somalia but never divided them. SOMALILAND British (Formerly known as Adel Sultanate) never shared an administrations even history prior to the arrival of the colonial powers. The only reason British Somaliland and Somalia united in 1960 was to claim back the Somaliland territories occupied by the Ethiopians.
I love an Atlas Pro video at 5 in the morning
I loved this video!! I would love to see more videos like this with the other maps!
TY-I love old maps, like many here, and they can answer questions about today's issues.
Great content. Old maps are a useful way of uncovering interesting historical facts.
Shocking how cruel Belgium was to the Africans.
Saudações do Brasil. França, UK e Alemanha"doaram" o Congo ao Rei Leopoldo, da Bélgica. Propriedade particular do rei. Doaram ser serem proprietarios (coisas da meretriz Europa).O mundo ainda está por conhecer as atrocidades que foram praticadas pelos Belgas no Congo. Milhões foram assassinados. E, pior, eram mutilados ANTES de serem mortos. Somente quando essa história podre for ensinada nas Escolas é que o mundo vai saber como uma "merreca" de País como a Bélgica pôde agir livremente com tal brutalidade contra os Congoleses. Saudações do Brasil. Aqui também a Europa roubou e assassinou durante mais de 300 anos.
When I was a little kid in the early 1960's, living in Nigeria, we visited an open air market in Dahomey (Benin) and all the meat for sale in the market place (except for one kind) was sold with a bit of hide on it to identify the animal from whence it came. I asked my Father why one of the hanging meats had no hide and he said "that is long pig".
I asked him "what is long pig" and he told me that it was human meat.
As a diplomat at the time he (my Father) was hosted at an official dinner at which he was served long pig (which he had to eat so as not to insult the hosts). He said it tasted like pork.
The explanation of the name "long pig" is that human meat tastes like pork but the bones are longer.
So that was happening in Benin in 1962-1963.
A lot of westerners today have no idea that Africans sold other Africans ito the Europeans (with doesn't make that right either).
Mostly the Ghananians enslaved other tribes and sold some to any who would buy them.
In Belgian Congo, the Belgians would brutally punish any slaves who failed to fill thier quota of rubber production. Hands and even feet were unceremoniously cut off "as a warning" to those who failed to meet their production quotas. Extremely heinous I would say.
Your father told you a story he dreamt about👌🏾
@aviastro2162 it's documented.
So basically your father was a cannibal by accident?
the term "long pig" is authentic, but stems from the Pacific Islands... and probably a bit of reputation assassination by european reports about the local population there.
so no, it was not given to him in Africa as common term there, he told you a scary story
The percentage of African kings and Heads of State that sold African prisoners to White men is so small it cannot be quantified. Why did you even bring that up? Guilty conscience?
Why didn’t you cover the erstwhile Portuguese colonies in Africa like Mozambique, Angola and Cape Verde?
I really enjoyed this Video - Knowing the Past helps us Understand what's going on on Today issues. Please continue
i really hope we get more of these old map breakdowns