Editing British Empire (section)

=== Cape to Cairo ===
{{Main|History of South Africa (1815–1910)|History of Egypt under the British|Scramble for Africa}}
[[File:Punch Rhodes Colossus.png|thumb|''[[The Rhodes Colossus]]''—[[Cecil Rhodes]] spanning "Cape to Cairo"]]

The Dutch East India Company had founded the [[Dutch Cape Colony]] on the [[Cape of Good Hope|southern tip of Africa]] in 1652 as a way station for its ships travelling to and from its colonies in the [[Indies|East Indies]]. Britain formally acquired the colony, and its large [[Afrikaner]] (or [[Boer]]) population in 1806, having occupied it in 1795 to prevent its falling into French hands during the [[Low Countries theatre of the War of the First Coalition|Flanders Campaign]].{{Sfn|Smith|1998|p=85}} British immigration to the [[Cape Colony]] began to rise after 1820, and pushed thousands of [[Boers]], resentful of British rule, northwards to found their own—mostly short-lived—[[Boer republics|independent republics]], during the [[Great Trek]] of the late 1830s and early 1840s.{{Sfn|Smith|1998|pp=85–86}} In the process the [[Voortrekkers]] clashed repeatedly with the British, who had their own agenda with regard to colonial expansion in South Africa and to the various native African polities, including those of the [[Sotho people]] and the [[Zulu Kingdom]]. Eventually, the Boers established two republics that had a longer lifespan: the [[South African Republic]] or Transvaal Republic (1852–1877; 1881–1902) and the [[Orange Free State]] (1854–1902).{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|pp=168, 186, 243}} In 1902 Britain occupied both republics, concluding a treaty with the two [[Boer Republics]] following the [[Second Boer War]] (1899–1902).{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=255}}

In 1869 the [[Suez Canal]] opened under [[Napoleon III of France|Napoleon III]], [[Indo-Mediterranean|linking]] the [[Mediterranean Sea]] with the [[Indian Ocean]]. Initially the Canal was opposed by the British;{{Sfn|Tilby|2009|p=256}} but once opened, its strategic value was quickly recognised and became the "jugular vein of the Empire".{{Sfn|Louis|1986|p=718}} In 1875, the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] government of [[Benjamin Disraeli]] bought the indebted Egyptian ruler [[Isma'il Pasha]]'s 44 per cent shareholding in the Suez Canal for £4&nbsp;million (equivalent to £{{Format price|{{Inflation|UK|4000000|1875|r=-7}}}} in {{Inflation/year|index=UK}}). Although this did not grant outright control of the strategic waterway, it did give Britain leverage. Joint Anglo-French financial control over Egypt ended in outright British occupation in 1882.{{Sfn|Ferguson|2002|pp=230–233}} Although Britain controlled the [[Khedivate of Egypt]] into the 20th century, it was officially a [[Vassal and tributary states of the Ottoman Empire|vassal state of the Ottoman Empire]] and not part of the British Empire. The French were still majority shareholders and attempted to weaken the British position,{{Sfn|James|2001|p=274}} but a compromise was reached with the 1888 [[Convention of Constantinople]], which made the Canal officially neutral territory.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Treaties |url=http://www.mfa.gov.eg/MFA_Portal/en-GB/Foreign_Policy/Treaties/Convention+Respecting+the+Free+Navigation+of+the+Suez+Maritime+Canal.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100915095412/http://www.mfa.gov.eg/MFA_Portal/en-GB/Foreign_Policy/Treaties/CONVENTION%2BRESPECTING%2BTHE%2BFREE%2BNAVIGATION%2BOF%2BTHE%2BSUEZ%2BMARITIME%2BCANAL.htm |archive-date=15 September 2010 |access-date=20 October 2010 |publisher=Egypt Ministry of Foreign Affairs}}</ref>

With competitive French, [[Belgian colonial empire|Belgian]] and Portuguese activity in the lower [[Congo River]] region undermining orderly colonisation of tropical Africa, the [[Berlin Conference]] of 1884–85 was held to regulate the competition between the European powers in what was called the "[[Scramble for Africa]]" by defining "effective occupation" as the criterion for international recognition of territorial claims.{{Sfn|Herbst|2000|pp=71–72}} The scramble continued into the 1890s, and caused Britain to reconsider its decision in 1885 to withdraw from [[Sudan]]. A joint force of British and Egyptian troops defeated the [[Mahdist War|Mahdist Army]] in 1896 and rebuffed an attempted French invasion [[Fashoda Incident|at Fashoda]] in 1898. Sudan was nominally made an [[Anglo-Egyptian Sudan|Anglo-Egyptian condominium]], but a British colony in reality.{{Sfn|Vandervort|1998|pp=169–183}}

British gains in Southern and East Africa prompted [[Cecil Rhodes]], pioneer of British expansion in [[Southern Africa]], to urge a "[[Cape to Cairo Railway|Cape to Cairo]]" railway linking the strategically important Suez Canal to the mineral-rich south of the continent.{{Sfn|James|2001|p=298}} During the 1880s and 1890s, Rhodes, with his privately owned [[British South Africa Company]], [[company rule in Rhodesia|occupied and annexed]] territories named after him, [[Rhodesia (name)|Rhodesia]].{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=215}}