General Gordon of Khartoum Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

General Gordon of Khartoum - Essay Example The Arab and African merchants handled the inland trade of commodities and slaves. After the abolition of the slave trade by the British in 1807, they started patrolling the coasts, seizing other countries’ slave ships. Within the last twenty years of the 19th century, rivalries and conflicts in Europe started affecting individuals in Africa directly. Over the last years of the 19th century (1880’s), the European powers shared African territories among themselves without the consent or will of the people living there. They had partial understanding of the land they had acquired (BBC 2013, p1). Political rivalry, commercial greed, and territorial ambition all instigated the European scramble for Africa. This climaxed in the Africa’s partition during the 1884-5 Berlin Conference. The whole process that is the partitioning of Africa became famously identified as the scramble for Africa. In the last half of the 19th century, the disjointed patchwork of trading coloni es, understandings, protectorates, and alliances yielded to sweeping transformations enforced by the Europeans. The French and the British were determined to make things right and institute a clear administrative hierarchy composed of the Europeans (at the top) and Africans (at the bottom) (BBC 2013, p1). On the other hand, a number of the oldest trading countries in Europe left Africa and the other set of players emerged. The Danes and the Dutch abandoned the continent while Belgium, Italy, and Germany moved into the continent. Elsewhere the mineral riches of Africa dazzled and fixated European adventures. However, casual commercial connections were replaced by methodical control and exploitation. At the beginning of the 19th century, the European hold of the African geography was restricted mainly to the coastal regions. However, before the end of the century, Europeans were spanning the continent with roads and railways. Now it was easy to take control of the continent both comme rcially and politically (BBC 2013, p1). The Scramble for Africa â€Å"had the effect of defusing and displacing tensions between the European powers in Europe, but eventually the tradeoffs and alliances could not disguise the fact that Imperial Germany was on a collision course with Britain and France† (BBC 2013, p1). For the first time, the African people found themselves pulled into conflicts, which had its sources in London and Berlin war rooms. The moral bravado of the European powers, purportedly representing reconciliation and order, civilization, and wisdom, soon broke into the destruction, death, and chaos of World War I (BBC 2013, p1). It is important to note that, in Africa, the Europeans were strangers but by aggression, settlement, and trade they became by different levels part of the inside (Connah 2004, p175). General Charles George Gordon’s Experience in Khartoum Sudan In the year 1882, Mohamed Ahmed (also referred to himself as Messiah or Mahdi) invited all the true believers to join in the holy war against Christians. Most people especially wild tribesman heeded to his call, and in the following, he conquered an army of close to eleven thousand Egyptians and English that had tried to subdue the revolt. England was forced to leave the province. However, thousands of Europeans who had sought asylum in Khartoum and other towns had to be rescued from their

Social Contract Theory of John Locke Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Social Contract Theory of John Locke - Essay Example It works in a way so that no one can deny that a rule is unjust because the rules are made when all members of the society agree to them. John Locke, one of the greatest eighteenth century theorists, also put forward the idea of natural rights and property, which formed the basis for his social contract theory. However, this is opposed to the central idea of egalitarianism – all people have an equal right and claim on the resources of the society. The social contract theory negates this concept and relies solely on individual rights rather than communal rights. Also, some perceive this negatively and argue that Locke’s studies tend to be more conservative in nature compared to other theorists of the social contract theory and included only the males and the educated and propertied class of the society (Cohen, 1986). Pollock (2006) explains that the Lockean ‘contract’ is one where individuals give up the freedom to aggress against others in return for their own safety. The government or any law-enforcing authority rests upon the principles of quid pro quo which means that we give the government the power to protect us, in full recognition of the fact that this power may be used against us. However, this ‘contract’ with the government comes with a set of principles. Locke rejects the notion of an unconditional duty of obedience: ‘For him the legitimacy of political authority depends upon the end for which it was instituted, namely, the preservation of the natural rights to life, liberty, and estate. If these rights are infringed, the trust between the community and the magistrate (government) is canceled, and the people have a right to appeal to heaven (revolution) to establish a new legislative body.’ (Gray, 1999). Therefore, Lockean version of the social c ontract theory allows the members of the society to initiate a revolution if the social contract’s