History of Africa

Man on the Spot Theory

Between roughly 1875 to the outbreak of WWI in 1914, British relations and interests in Africa grew from a few small merchant capital to a large informal influence and finally into a huge official empire.[1] As their ‘legitimate’ trade of commodities, meaning the trade of raw materials instead of the trade of African peoples, began to flourish, they needed to protect their profitable assets. During this time period, as the ‘scramble’ and partition of Africa continued, the British profited greatly from the markets of raw materials like palm oil.[2] They were threatened by the expansion of various European nations and this threat made it essential for the British government to have a form of protecting these markets.[3] Due to the fear of losing these valuable and profitable commodities, the British government put into place the so called ‘men on the spot’.[4] The main reasoning behind this form of protection and the British government’s feeling of necessity to block other European nations from expanding within Africa was to protect their economic assets.[5]

These men-on-the-spot developed 'British' assets and helped assist the British companies and traders in maintaining their dominance within the region.[6] Many of these men coming as either merchants or missionaries, worked to control the areas by indirect rule.[7] These British local political representatives, “men on the spot,” had the responsibility to secure physical safety and access to commodities for the European traders and when conflicts arose in the area this would seem as a endangerment of these objectives.[8] Thus, the man on the spot intervened militarily with the backing of British officals.[9] With their impressive ability to throughly protect the British markets, the actions of these ‘men on the spot’, inspired the European rivals, triggering nationalist uprisings and ultimately deepening an interest in the European exploitation of Africa. The man on the spot was a...