Rhodes: The Race for Africa

by Antony Thomas

A biography of Africa's conqueror takes the reader into the life of Cecil Rhodes, an English patriot and racist who, by the age of thirty-four, had added a million square miles to Britain's empire and who set the stage for apartheid. 20,000 first printing.

Genres: Africa, Nonfiction, Biography, History, British Literature

368 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve always wanted to know about this man, who had two countries named after him and who set up an exclusive academic scholarship program still producing “elite” members of world society. This book covers much of the history of South Africa and neighboring regions as well as Cecil Rhodes. Perhaps it falls short of my hopes because Rhodes had his papers burned after his death but I did not get as full a picture as I wanted. Still it is a good account worthy of 3 Gold Stars, encrusted with DeBeers diamonds.

Rhodes is certainly a Giant astride this age but not a “Great Man”. He set his sights high and proceeds to accomplish them. In the beginning he would work with anyone, as long as they could help him. He goes to Oxford, not so much to learn anything but to make friends and acquaintances of the men who will eventually assume positions of power in the British Empire. Smart move and it pays off later. He envisions the Rhodes Scholar program at a young age as a secret society of British Empire advocates at schools, universities, legislatures and other places of education and power. The goal was to put down dissent and prevent the breakup of the Empire. He believed the destiny of the British Empire was to rule the uncivilized world and bring them out of darkness. He added an immense area of Africa to the British crown. He gained the diamond monopoly, made another fortune in gold and was a key reason for the Second Boer War.

Rhodes gets a lot of blame for the eventual apartheid program but the Afrikaners are equally to blame. At the beginning of the diamond rush, blacks, mixed race and whites are all working in the fields. They all had claims but eventually the blacks are seen as a labor resource but not as legitimate diamond miners. The blacks are accused of illegal diamond trade, are restricted and placed under severe curfews and restricted movement. Sir Richard Southey is a momentary heroic figure as he arrives to take over the lieutenant governorship of the Cape Colony and restores rights and privileges to the black population. It doesn’t last. Racism rears its head again. A passage worthy of the Jim Crow Democrat South expresses the views of the South African whites:

As the atmosphere thickened, racist propaganda took a broader sweep. With or without the Illegal Diamond Buying slur, blacks were damned as dangerous and inferior beings:

“Ruin, financial ruin for the whites, moral ruin for the natives, these are the results of the attempt to elevate in one day the servant to an equality with his master. Class legislation, restrictive laws and the holding in check of the native races, till by education they are fit to be our equals is the only policy that finds favour here.”

While Rhodes may not have been the only cause of apartheid, his DeBeers Mining Company has a harsh regimen:

From photographs and contemporary accounts we gain a clear impression of the ‘native’ compound, as perfected by Rhodes’s De Beers Mining Company. Over 11,000 African labourers were housed 20-25 to a room in corrugated-iron barracks, set out in a square and surrounded by a 12-foot fence, which was patrolled by company police with dogs. The whole area was roofed over by double-meshed wire netting and guard towers with searchlights were placed at each corner. At the centre of the compound there was a cook-house, consisting of four strips of tin roofing supported by wooden posts. A concrete pool was provided for communal bathing.

When the workers returned to the compound at the end of their shifts, they had to discard the sacks they wore in the mine and file naked into a tin shed, where they were subjected to a full body search:

“The guards ran fingers through their woolly hair, pressed their flat nostrils, felt inside their mouths, under their tongues, in the ears, and up their rectums. Then the native had to lift his arms, stretch apart his fingers, and ‘jigger’ (jump), so that any diamonds concealed by muscular contraction would drop on the floor.“

At the end of their terms of contract, the workers were shut in a ‘detention house’ where they remained ‘in a perfectly nude condition, save for a pair of fingerless leathern gloves, which were padlocked to their hands, for some ten days.’ Their excrement was collected and examined daily.

In spite of the emphasis on theft prevention, the underlying importance of the Diamond Trades Act was its provision of the first systematic disciplining of a large black labour force, enforced by law. It also offered a model for future industrial and agricultural employment in South Africa. Closed compounds, pass laws, fixed periods of contract, strict disciplines and controls would become common features of an economy increasingly dependent on black labour as it expanded and diversified.

In a short, 30 year period from his 18th birthday to his death at 48, Rhodes made his mark on the world. At the time of his death, he was one of the most famous people in the world. Huge processions and memorials were held. Today he is like Ozymandias, long forgotten. I wonder how long now before the current raging Stalinist Revisionism of the left condemns the Rhodes Scholar program for its association with its namesake and calls for its dissolution and erasure from history. Probably not long now.

[GoldGato · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Boer War attracted me to this book as I tried, once again, to understand why a particular war took place that didn't seem to need to take place, if you get my drift. Mr. Cecil Rhodes was the colossal figure behind Great Britain's grab for land and power in South Africa, and he established the nation of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) through cunning, illicit means, and the type of outright land grabbing that would make the Americans of Manifest Destiny cringe in horror.

His story is extraordinary. After suffering illness as a teenager (a literal hole in the heart), Rhodes realized he had but one short life to live and he set out to become a Great Man. He chose the Cape Colony and soon was a multimillionaire, thanks to hard work and ferocious business dealings in diamonds and gold. Rhodes tricked the Matabele into losing their land and their king, while he dreamed of a British Empire running from Capetown to Nairobi.

I walked between earth and sky, and when I looked down I said, 'This earth should be English,' and when I looked up, I said, 'The English should rule the earth'.

The Boer War actually comes toward the end of the book and one does not feel sorry for either side, as the Afrikaners and the British both took that which did not belong to them. I feel the book did its duty and portrayed a man in depth, but the author puts the full blame for the later system of apartheid on to Rhodes' shoulders, which is a bit of a reach. Yes, he changed from a man who felt everyone should have the same opportunity to a man focused on empire-building, but the Boers were far more obsessed with racial superiority than Rhodes seemed to be. South Africa produced Rhodes and Mandela, two incredible bookends. Smashing country.

One imagines how Rhodes would have fit into the world of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison, Mark Zuckerberg, or Jeff Bezos. I think he would have been a Tech Titan with a private space fleet and a hankering for the colonization of Mars.

Book Season = Spring (when the winds blow fresh across the Cape)

[Raj Sinha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somewhere at the start of this book the author writes -

"The Rhodes scholarships are his only lasting memorial, but these have been awarded to students he would not have endorsed and for purposes quite different from those he intended. In all other respects we have disengaged from him and moved on. But do we have the right to disengage so easily? Is it wise?"

It is not wise.

Because it's time we truly understood the horror that was British Imperialism. And John Cecil Rhodes was definitely one of its flag bearers. What he did to the African continent (Southern Africa) Robert Clive did to India at more or less the same time in the sordid history of the British Empire.

Because Rhodes was such a reprehensible man! He was a downright racist and ruthless businessman who used British Imperialism and personal greed alternatively and as per his convenience, because such were his extraordinary talents.

It's astonishing to note that whereas it was Britain that seized India from the East India Company and Robert Clive's guilt finally drove him to suicide, in Southern Africa it was Rhodes who almost single handedly established a country in his own name (Rhodesia). He used the British Parliament as his personal playground as and when he wished till the very end. He died almost literally sitting on his throne with his pride and disdain intact! He was just 48 years old.

He controlled the world's diamond trade and he owned gold mines. He was King like no other who thumbed his nose at his own Queen (Victoria)!

"In this incredible year of 1890, he could lay claim to a belt of territory stretching almost the whole way across Africa from the Indian Ocean to within 200 miles of the Atlantic coast, and from the Limpopo northwards to the African lakes. He was also prime minister of the Cape, chairman of De Beers and Gold Fields and managing director of the British South Africa Company."

The world is painfully aware of the term 'concentration camps' because of Adolf Hitler. This book makes you discover to your horror that it was Rhodes who is the father of both this concept and its inhuman implementation.

It's heartening to note that there were a handful of whites who were not charmed by this man's charisma and saw the monster that lurked. They stood up to him but they were no match to Rhode's devious machinations. The following extract from the book is astonishing in its foresight.

"‘We fight Rhodes because he means so much of oppression, injustice and moral degradation in South Africa; But if he passed away tomorrow there still remains the terrible fact that something in our society has formed the matrix, which has fed, nourished, and built up such a man. It is the far future of Africa... which depresses me... I believe we are standing on top of a long downward slope. We shall reach the bottom, at last, probably amid the upheaval of a war with our Native races (then not the poor, savage, but generous races whom we might have bound to ourselves by a little generosity and sympathy, but a fierce and half-educated, much brutalized race who will have come into their own). The men to come after us will reap the fruits of our ‘Native Policy’... Olive Schreiner"

Rhodes died in 1902. In 80 years or so his name was removed from the map of Africa (when Zimbabwe came into being) and in about 92 years (i.e in 1994) Nelson Mandela became the first democratically elected black president of a non racial South Africa.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This happens to be a “current “ topic ! And a reading of this mans life has helped me to fix some ideas . I have to admit beforehand that my view previous was that Rhodes statue should remain at Oriel facing out. I now feel perhaps he should be turned 90 or 180 degrees !

For he was a tower of a man who made many white men rich and who made many black men miserable . His overriding position throughout his life seems to have been that the end justifies the means. The end was a monumental imperial land grab from the cape to the shores of lake tangyanika . Everything - natural justice included - would be subordinate to this cause

His most appalling actions were -

The hoodwinking of the Matabele chief Lobegula so that he could lay claim to Rhodesia , land and resources , emasculating the honourable king and his people in the process.

The land act by which a large swathe of Black Africans were deprived of their property and liberty and settled in a reduced and poor area of land where they were obliged to provide labour for Rhodes diamond and gold mining activities - the Glen Grey act which predated the later Apartheid regime .

There were astonishing achievements of course ; but I feel these pale into insignificance in relation to the scale of the missed opportunity- the opportunity in 1880 -90 to create a prosperous and dynamic society in South Africa for all men .

Turn him sideways I think

[Yvon Maurice · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book not only gives a thorough insight on the brilliant yet highly controversial figure who was Cecil J. Rhodes, but it also provides a detailed account of the history of southern Africa during the very pivotal last 30 years of the 19th century. The British Empire underwent a major expansion at that time, at the cost of thousands of human lives and highly reprehensible political and business practices including the use of a quasi-enslaved labour force, across the board conflicts of interest, illegal appropriation of native lands, warfare for the wrong reasons, bribery and thievery openly practised by the upper echelons of society, including most Cape and British government officials, without the slightest remorse. The book is an eye opener on how colonial Africa was established through atrocities of all kinds. One aspect that I found particularly interesting is the detailed description of how DeBeers and the diamond industry got started, from the discovery of the first diamonds to the totally disorganized mining of the open pits and how the diamond monopoly controlled by DeBeers got established.  Rhodes died in 1902 and that's where the story ends in the book. It brought an end to an era of turmoil – and glory – but it took many more years for the dark continent to recover from its bloody past and, in many ways it has not recovered, even now in the second decade of the 21st century. Coincidentally, I am writing these lines the same week as Robert Mugabe was deposed in Zimbabwe, a land which until 1970 was the British colony of Southern Rhodesia, and Matabeleland before that, where much of the action described in the book took place. Perhaps the population of Zimbabwe can begin to look forward to a brighter future starting next week, or maybe not; the future will tell. But in any case, no matter how Zimbabwe turns out, most of Africa will still be light years from achieving a decent level of civility without corruption, terrorism, diseases, hunger and overwhelming poverty.

[David Lodge · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would have been interesting for someone who had read several more Cecil Rhodes biographies, many times the size of this book. As it is, I just read a Billy Penn bio about the same size. It was short sweet, covered all the details possible, and didn't meander.

This book contains even personal information about the author and the author's opinion, stated explicitly as the author's opinion. At least do us the favor of trying to be subtle. The book meanders throughout the history, sometimes abstract, and sometimes reads like Rhode's personal journal. There are better bios... I just wanted to know more about this guy, and this book failed by being an editorial of other bios.

[John E · Rating 5 out of 5]

An outstanding book. I recommend it to anyone interested in psychology, politics, capitalism, imperialism, South Africa, or crowd control.

[Al Berry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid biography on Cecil Rhodes

[Tara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unless you are a history buff, you probably will be bored with this one. But there are certain gems - the treatment of blacks in the diamond mines and connections to apartheid, the idea that the British needed the Africans to sell their labor and therefore taxed them so they would have to work to have money to pay the taxes, and a few funny stories, such as Barney Barnato's "they're after me!" overboard suicide. For one who is traveling to South Africa, this helped me understand the history much more but the extra details and play by play on business transactions and war stuff had me skimming many parts.

[Rick Vickers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book about the man who's Impact on Africa is still felt today

[David Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

History has not been kind to Cecil Rhodes. His primary motivation, the expansion of empire and the pursuit of power, often to the detriment of native inhabitants, is anathema to modern moral compasses. Indeed it is hard to think of a current corollary to a man who "conquered" all of modern Zimbabwe and Zambia and a large part of South Africa. We see vestiges of Rhodes-like ambition in the mining and oil companies that operate in developing countries, the obscure ill-gotten minerals that comprise components of our smart phones, the persistent globalization of Chinese influence, and the greed of dictators who war and ignore the needs of their people. While our modern world no longer accommodates men like Rhodes, he has much to teach about the compromising limits of the pursuit of wealth and power.

[Stephen Tuck · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book for background on the causes of the Second Anglo-Boer War. It‘s a well researched, solid and unsentimental outline of Rhodes‘ career and times. One is left with a clear picture of Rhodes‘ achievements and the willpower that created them, without idolizing the man: one‘s impression is of an ruthless manipulator of people, moral enough to be aware of the nature of his actions but nauseatingly skilled at justifying them.

A good insight into the dirty work that, for better or worse, forged the British Empire.

[Mark Singer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mediocre history written as a tie-in to a television series. I tried to read this but gave up about halfway through. Save your money and read "The Founder" by Robert I. Rotberg