Unit 10: Paper 3 — History of Africa and the Middle East (HL)
Topic 10.5: European imperialism and the partition of Africa (c.1840–1920) Questions
Practice 20 exam-style questions for IB History (2028) Topic 10.5. Review the question stems below, then unlock the full Question Bank to access markschemes, model answers, and AI grading.
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Choose the resistance leader who fought the French in West Africa for sixteen years (1882–1898) using guerrilla tactics, a scorched-earth retreat strategy, and a domestic arms industry, before being captured and exiled.
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Britain's 1882 occupation of Egypt was triggered directly by a revolt led by which Egyptian nationalist officer against foreign financial control?
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The 1884–85 Berlin Conference established which rule, requiring powers to show actual control or treaties before their claim to African territory would be recognised?
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Choose the rebellion in German East Africa (1905–1907) in which fighters believed magic water (maji) would turn German bullets to water, and which was crushed by a scorched-earth famine campaign killing an estimated 250,000–300,000 people.
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Choose the African leader who defeated an invading Italian army at the Battle of Adwa in 1896, preserving Ethiopian independence.
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Choose the ruler who travelled to Britain in 1895 to negotiate directly, securing greater self-government for Bechuanaland (modern Botswana) than most colonised territories achieved.
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Which principle, agreed at the Berlin Conference, stated that a European power could only claim African territory it actually controlled and administered on the ground?
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Which chartered company collected numerous treaties from local rulers in the Niger Delta region, later used by Britain as legal proof of its claim to Nigeria?
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Which event in 1898 saw French forces confront British forces in Sudan, with France ultimately backing down rather than risk war?
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Choose the ruler who cooperated with British merchants in the Niger Delta to control the palm oil trade, but was exiled by Britain in 1887 once his independence became inconvenient.
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Which development created a power vacuum in North Africa, allowing local rulers such as Egypt's Muhammad Ali to govern almost independently while borrowing heavily from European banks?
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To what extent do you agree that South Africa's importance to Britain before 1900 was primarily strategic rather than economic?
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Discuss the view that Britain's occupation of Egypt in 1882 was primarily an act of strategic necessity rather than economic self-interest.
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To what extent do you agree with the claim that technological change, rather than human decisions, was the main reason Europeans were able to penetrate and control Africa's interior between c.1840 and 1900?
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To what extent do you agree with the claim that rivalry between European powers, rather than African weakness, determined the specific shape of the partitioned map of Africa?
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Evaluate the claim that economic motives were the most important reason for the growth of European imperialism in Africa between c.1870 and 1900.
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Evaluate the claim that African political disunity was more important than military weakness in enabling the success of the Scramble for Africa.
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To what extent do you agree that political rivalry between the Great Powers, rather than genuine belief in a 'civilizing mission,' explains European justifications for imperialism in Africa?
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Discuss the view that African rulers who signed treaties with European powers were simply naive victims rather than rational strategic actors.
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To what extent do you agree with the claim that African military weakness was the main reason European powers were able to conquer the continent so rapidly during the Scramble for Africa?
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