White Africans of European ancestry

White Africans of European ancestry refers to citizens or residents in Africa who can trace full or partial ancestry to Europe. They are distinguished from indigenous North African people who are sometimes identified as white but not European.^[1] In 1989, there were an estimated 4.6 million white people with European ancestry on the African continent. ^[2]

Most are of Dutch, Portuguese, British, German and French origin; to a lesser extent, there are also those who descended from Italians, Spaniards, Greeks, and Scandinavians. The majority once lived along the Mediterranean coast or in Southern Africa.^[2]

The earliest permanent European communities in Africa during the Age of Discovery were formed at the Cape of Good Hope;^[3] Luanda, in Angola; São Tomé Island; and Santiago, Cape Verde^[4] through the introduction of Portuguese and Dutch traders or military personnel. Other groups of white settlers arrived in newly established French, German, Belgian, and British settlements in Africa over the course of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Before regional decolonisation, whites of European ancestry may have numbered up to 6 million persons at their peak^[5] and were represented in every part of the continent.^[6]

An exodus of colonists accompanied independence in most African nations.^[7] Over half the Portuguese Mozambican population, which numbered about 200,000 in 1975,^[8] departed en masse because of discriminatory economic policies directed against them.^[9] In Zimbabwe, recent white exodus was spurred by an aggressive land reform programme introduced by late President Robert Mugabe in 2000 and the parallel collapse of that country's economy.^[4] In Burundi, the local white population was blatantly expelled via a decree issued by the post-colonial government upon independence.^[10]

The African country with the largest population of European descendants both numerically and proportionally is South Africa, where white South Africans number 4.3 million people (9% of the population).^[11] The second-largest European population proportionally is in Namibia, at about 150,000 or 8%,^[12]^[13] while the second-largest European population numerically is in Angola with about 200,000 people but only comprising 1% of the population.^[14]^[15] Smaller European-descended populations exist in Madagascar, Morocco, Kenya, Senegal, Tunisia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and elsewhere. Although white minorities no longer hold exclusive political power, some continue to retain key positions in industry and commercial agriculture in a number of African states.^[16]

Overview

During the Colonisation of Africa, European settlement patterns generally favoured territories with a substantial amount of land at least 910 metres (3,000 ft) above sea level, an annual rainfall of over 510 millimetres (20 in) but not exceeding 1,020 millimetres (40 in), and relative freedom from the Tsetse fly.^[18] In contrast to Western and Central Africa, the milder, drier climates of Northern, Eastern, and Southern Africa thus attracted substantial numbers of permanent European immigrants.^[19] A modest annual rainfall of under 1020 mm was considered especially suitable for the temperate farming activities to which many were accustomed.^[18] Therefore, the first parts of Africa to be populated by Europeans were located at the northern and southern extremities of the continent; between these two extremes, disease and the tropical climate precluded most permanent European settlement until the late nineteenth century.^[20] The discovery of valuable resources in Africa's interior and the introduction of quinine as a cure for malaria altered this longstanding trend, and a new wave of European colonists arrived on the continent between 1890 and 1918.^[20]

Most European colonists granted land in African colonies cultivated cereal crops or raised cattle, which were far more popular among the immigrants rather than managing the tropical plantations aimed at producing export-oriented crops such as rubber and palm oil.^[18] A direct consequence of this preference was that the territories with a rainfall exceeding 1020 mm developed strong plantation-based economies but produced almost no food beyond what was cultivated by small-scale indigenous producers; drier territories with large white farming communities became more self-sufficient in food production.^[18] The latter often resulted in sharp friction between European colonists and black African tribes as they competed for land. By 1960, at least seven British, French, and Belgian colonies—in addition to the Union of South Africa—had passed legislation reserving a fixed percentage of land for white ownership.^[18] This allowed colonists to legitimise their land seizures and began a process that had the ultimate consequence of commodifying land in colonial Africa.^[21] Land distribution thus emerged as an extremely contentious issue in those territories with large numbers of permanent European colonists.^[22] During the 1950s, black Africans owned about 13.7% of the land in South Africa and a little under 33% of the land in Southern Rhodesia.^[22] An inevitable trend of this factor, exacerbated by high rates of population growth, was that large numbers of black farmers as well as their livestock began to be concentrated in increasingly overcrowded areas.^[22]

Before 1914, colonial governments encouraged European settlement on a grand scale, based on the assumption that this was a prerequisite to long-term development and economic growth.^[23] The concept lost popularity when it became clear that multinational corporations financed by overseas capital, coupled with cheap African labour, were far more productive and efficient at building export-oriented economies for the benefit of the metropolitan powers.^[23] During the Great Depression, locally owned, small-scale businesses managed by individual whites suffered immense losses attempting to compete with large commercial enterprises and the lower costs of black labour (South Africa being the sole exception to the rule, as its white businesses and labour were heavily subsidised by the state).^[23]

Unlike other former colonies such as those in the Americas and Australia, Europeans and their descendants on the African continent never outnumbered the indigenous people; nevertheless, they found ways to consolidate power and exert a disproportionate influence on the administrative policies of their respective metropolitan countries.^[19] Some lost their sense of identification with Europe and created their own nationalist movements, namely in South Africa and Rhodesia (now known as Zimbabwe).^[19] Permanent white residents were regarded as an increasing liability by colonial administrations as they sought to dominate their adopted African homelands.^[23] They were also likely to involve the government in conflict with Africans, which required expensive military campaigns and inextricably damaged relations between the latter and the metropolitan powers.^[23] This was a common trend throughout African colonies from the late eighteenth to early twentieth centuries. In the Dutch Cape Colony for instance, governor Joachim van Plettenberg demarcated the territory's boundaries around 1778 with approval from the Xhosa chiefdoms; the following year Dutch colonists violated the border and attacked the Xhosa, sparking the bloody Xhosa Wars.^[24] Disputes between German colonists and the Matumbi and Ngoni peoples contributed significantly to the Maji Maji Rebellion of 1905–07.^[25] During the same period, Colonial Kenya's European residents were largely responsible for provoking a revolt by the Masai.^[23]

White settlers wielded enormous influence over many colonial administrations; for example, they often occupied influential positions on elected legislatures and held most of the senior administrative posts in the civil service.^[17] Due to the relative poverty of most black Africans, whites of European ancestry also controlled the capital for development and dominated the import and export trade as well as commercial agriculture.^[17] They often represented a disproportionate percentage of the skilled workforce due to much higher educational attainment. This was heightened by the discriminatory practices of the colonial authorities, which devoted more public funding to their education and technical training.^[17]^[22] For example, in Tanganyika, the colonial authorities were estimated to have allocated up to twenty-six times more funding per year for white schools than black schools.^[22] In most of colonial Africa, local whites sought employment with foreign companies, often in technical or managerial positions, or with the public service.^[26] The exception were those colonies with large white farming populations, such as Kenya and Southern Rhodesia.^[26] The white residents there were likelier to form their own business communities and invest heavily in the economies of their adopted homelands.^[26]

The advent of global decolonisation ushered in a radical change of perspectives towards European settlement in Africa. Metropolitan governments began to place more emphasis on their relations with the indigenous peoples rather than the progressively independent colonist populations.^[23] In direct opposition to the growing tide of African nationalism, whites of European descent in colonies such as Algeria began to forge new nationalist identities of their own.^[27] Attitudes towards rapid decolonisation among individual white African communities were hardened by fears of irresponsible or incompetent postcolonial governments, coupled to a parallel decline in public infrastructure, service delivery, and consequently, their own standards of living.^[17]

On some occasions the granting of independence to African states under majority rule was influenced by the desire to preempt unilateral declarations of independence or secession attempts by white nationalists.^[28] Nevertheless, Rhodesia's white minority did succeed in issuing its own declaration of independence in 1965 and later retain power up until 1979.^[29] Less successful was an attempted coup d'état by white Mozambicans in 1974, which was forcibly crushed by Portuguese troops.^[30]^[31] White rule in South Africa ended with the country's first non-racial elections in 1994.^[32]

A white flight phenomenon accompanied regional decolonisation and to a lesser extent, the termination of white minority rule in Rhodesia and South Africa.^[33] A considerable reverse exodus of former colonials returning to Western Europe occurred; because they had controlled key sectors of many African economies prior to independence, their abrupt departure often resulted in devastating economic repercussions for the emerging states.^[34] Consequently, some African governments have made a concerted attempt to retain sizable white communities in the interests of preserving their capital and much-needed technical skills.^[35]

A few colonies had no permanent white populations at all, and in such cases the European powers preferred to construct forts and trading posts rather than large settlements accordingly.^[21] Transient administrators and soldiers were posted there initially as deterrents to rival governments attempting to effectuate treaties concerning land and other resources with local African populations.^[21] Their numbers were sometimes bolstered by civilian expatriates employed as missionaries, public servants, or employees of large transnational companies with headquarters located aside the African continent.^[26] Few of these expatriates came to immigrate permanently, and typically worked in the colonies for a short period before returning to Europe.^[26] This made them less embedded in the economy and social structure, less interested in influencing local politics, and less likely to form cohesive communities than the colonist populations elsewhere.^[26]

Demographics

Historical population

European percentage peaks from total population during the colonial era:^[36]^[37]
- South Africa: 21%^[36]
- French Algeria: 16%^[36]
- South-West Africa (current Namibia): 14%^[36]
- Italian Libya: 13%^[36]
- Tunisia Protectorate: 10%^[36]
- Southern Rhodesia (current Zimbabwe): 8%^[36]^[38]
- Spanish Morocco: 5–10%^[36]
- Portuguese Angola: 6.6%^[36]^[39]
- French Morocco: 1–5%^[36]
- Swaziland Protectorate: 1–5%^[36]
- Spanish Sahara (current Western Sahara): 1–5%^[36]
- Northern Rhodesia (current Zambia): 2%^[36]^[40]
- Kenya: 1%
- Rest of Africa: <1%

In most of colonial Africa, Europeans accounted for under 1% of the population,^[41]^[36] except for the colonies in Northern and Southern Africa, which had the highest proportion of European colonists.^[36]

Current population

There are 4.5 million white South Africans. Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Namibia all have white communities numbering in the tens of thousands, and thousands more are scattered among Angola, Zambia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Congo, Senegal, Gabon, and beyond. Many hold onto their British, Portuguese, German, French or Italian citizenships, but most have been on this continent all their lives.
— Christian Science Monitor correspondent Danna Harman, on Africa's white population of European descent in 2003.^[42]

It is impossible to verify the number of white Africans of European ancestry, as a number of African nations do not publish census data on race or ethnic origin.^[43] In 1989, the Encyclopædia Britannica editorial team estimated the size of Africa's total white population of European descent at 4.6 million, with the vast majority residing in coastal regions of North Africa or in the Republic of South Africa.^[2]

The white population of Zimbabwe was much higher in the 1960s and 1970s (when the country was known as Rhodesia); about 296,000 in 1975.^[44] This peak of around 4.3% of the population in 1975^[45] dropped to possibly 120,000 in 1999, and had fallen to under 50,000 people by 2002.^[46]

Afrikaners

South Africa

In the late sixteenth century, the Dutch East India Company (known more formally as the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, or VOC) began routinely searching for sites on the African continent where its trading fleets could obtain fresh water and other supplies while en route to the Orient.^[47]^[48] Dutch ships began calling at the Cape of Good Hope as early as 1595, since the shoreline was not treacherous and fresh water could be easily obtained by landing parties without venturing too far inland.^[49] In 1651, the company built a storage facility and watering station, which included a vegetable garden to resupply its passing ships, at the Cape.^[49] Under the direction of Jan van Riebeeck, a small Dutch party also constructed a fort known as the Castle of Good Hope.^[49] Van Riebeeck obtained permission to bring Dutch immigrants to the Cape, and resettle former company employees there as farmers.^[49] The colonists were known as "vrijlieden", also denoted as vrijburgers (free citizens), to differentiate them from bonded VOC employees still serving on contracts.^[50] Since the primary purpose of the Cape colony at the time was to stock provisions for passing Dutch ships, the VOC offered grants of farmland to the vrijburgers on the condition they would cultivate crops for company warehouses.^[51] The vrijburgers were granted tax-exempt status for twelve years and loaned all the necessary seeds and farming implements they requested.^[52]

The VOC initially had strict requirements which the prospective vrijburgers had to fulfill: they were to be married Dutch citizens, of good character, and had to undertake to spend twenty years at the Cape.^[51] During the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, however, many foreigners were amongst those who boarded ships in the Netherlands to settle in the Dutch sphere.^[53] As a result, by 1691 a third of the vrijburger population of the fledgling colony was not ethnically Dutch. The heterogeneous European community included large numbers of German military recruits in the service of the VOC, as well as French Huguenot refugees driven into overseas exile by the Edict of Fontainebleau.^[53]^[54] As the size of the vrijburger population expanded, the colonists began expanding deeper into the interior of Southern Africa; by 1800 the size of the fledgling Dutch Cape Colony was about 170,000 square kilometers; about six times the area of the Netherlands.^[47]

The vast size of the colony made it almost impossible for the VOC to control the vrijburger population, and the colonists became increasingly independent.^[49] Attempts by the company administration to reassert its authority and regulate the vrijburgers' activities was met with resistance.^[55] Successive generations of colonists born in the colony became localised in their loyalties and national identity and regarded the colonial government with a mixture of apathy and suspicion.^[55] In the early 1700s, this emerging class of people began identifying as Afrikaners, rather than Dutch subjects, after their adopted homeland.^[56] Afrikaners who settled directly on the colony's frontiers were also known collectively as Boers, to describe their agricultural way of life.^[49]

In 1769, the northward migration of Boers was met by a southward migration of Xhosa, a Bantu people which laid claim to the Cape region north of the Great Fish River.^[49] This triggered a series of bloody frontier conflicts which raged until 1879, known as the Xhosa Wars.^[49] Both the Boers and Xhosa organised raiding parties that frequently crossed the river and stole livestock from the other group.^[49] Meanwhile, the VOC had been forced to declare bankruptcy and the Dutch government assumed direct responsibility for the Cape in 1794.^[49] After Napoleon's occupation of the Netherlands during the Flanders Campaign, Great Britain captured the Cape Colony to prevent France from laying claim to its strategic harbour.^[57] Although the Dutch authorities were permitted to administer the Cape again for a brief interlude between 1803 and 1806, the British launched another invasion of the colony as a result of political developments in Europe and became permanent.^[57] Relations between the new colonial leadership and the Boers soon began to deteriorate when the British refused to subsidise the Cape Colony, insisting that it pay for itself by levying larger taxes on the white population.^[49] In addition to raising taxes, the British administration abolished the burgher senate, the only Dutch-era form of government at the Cape.^[58] It also took measures to bring the Boer population under control by establishing new courts and judiciaries along the frontier.^[58]

Boer resentment of the British peaked in 1834, when the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 was passed, outlawing slavery throughout the British Empire.^[49] All 35,000 enslaved people registered with the Cape governor were to be freed and given rights on par with other citizens, although in most cases the slavers could retain them as paid apprentices until 1838.^[59] Many Boers, especially those involved in grain and wine production, had enslaved people at the time, and the number of people they had enslaved correlated greatly to their production output.^[59] The British government offered preexisting slavers compensation for the freeing of enslaved people, but payment had to be claimed in person in London, and few Boers possessed the funds to travel there.^[49] The abolition of slavery, along with Boer grievances over taxation and the perceived Anglicisation of the Cape judiciary, triggered the Great Trek: an eastward migration of 15,000 Boers determined to escape British rule by homesteading beyond the Cape Colony's frontiers.^[49] The Great Trek brought the migrating Boers, known as voortrekkers, into direct conflict with the Zulu Empire, upon which they inflicted a decisive defeat at the Battle of Blood River in February 1838.^[60] The voortrekkers eventually established several independent Boer republics deep in the southern African interior, the most prominent of which were the Natalia Republic, the Orange Free State, and the South African Republic (also known simply as the Transvaal).^[61]

British expansion of the Cape Colony into South Africa's interior followed the Boer migration within the subsequent decades; in 1843 Britain annexed the Natalia Republic, and in 1877 it annexed the Transvaal.^[61] The Transvaal Boers subsequently went to war with the British in 1880, which became known as the First Boer War.^[61] The war was resolved with the Pretoria Convention, by which Great Britain restored independence to the Transvaal and withdrew from the territory.^[61] However, relations between the Boer republics and the British administration at the Cape remained poor, with the latter concerned that Boer independence was a lingering threat to the Cape's strategic security.^[61] In 1899, the Second Boer War broke out when the British rejected an ultimatum by the Transvaal to remove its military presence from the latter's borders.^[61] The first stages of the war consisted of several unsuccessful Boer sieges of British colonies, followed by a British push into the two Boer republics. The last stage of the war consisted of Boer guerrillas, termed "bitter-enders", who refused to lay down their arms and took several years to defeat.^[62] In early 1902, the Boers finally surrendered under the terms of the Treaty of Vereeniging, which annexed the Transvaal and Orange Free State into the Cape (forming the Union of South Africa) in exchange for allowing the former Boer republics some form of political autonomy and granting financial assistance to aid in postwar reconstruction.^[62]

The postwar years saw the dramatic rise of Afrikaner nationalism, as many of the former Boer military leaders turned to politics and came to dominate the legislatures of the Transvaal and Orange Free State.^[62] An Afrikaner party was also elected for the first time in the Cape Colony in 1908.^[63] Afrikaner politicians heavily promoted the use of Afrikaans, a language derived from the Middle Dutch dialect spoken by the colonial vrijburger population, as a fundamental part of Afrikaner identity and national consciousness.^[62] In 1908 and 1909, a constitutional convention was held for the establishment of a self-governing dominion which incorporated the old Boer republics into a unitary state with the Cape Colony and the Natal.^[63] This emerged as the Union of South Africa in 1910.^[62] Due to the fact that the electorate was limited predominantly to white South Africans, Afrikaners–which composed over half the white population at the time–quickly achieved political ascendancy.^[63] Afrikaners occupied the top political positions in South African government from 1910 until 1994, when the country held its first multiracial elections under a universal franchise.^[64] Prior to 1994, the Afrikaner ruling party with the longest tenure in South Africa was the National Party, which was noted for introducing a strict system of racial segregation known as apartheid in 1948, and declaring the country a republic in 1961.^[63]

The size of the Afrikaner population in South Africa was estimated at 2.5 million people in 1985.^[65] According to the country's 2011 census, there were about 2.7 million white South Africans who spoke Afrikaans as a first language, or slightly over 5% of the total population.^[66]

Namibia

In the mid to late 19th century and beforehand, South African trekboers found their way into Namibia (then South-West Africa) and established colonies. A significant number even penetrated as far north as Angola during the Dorsland Trek.

The South-West became a German colony during the late 19th century, and with the onset of the First World War a number of local Boers volunteered to serve with the imperial authorities against invading Allied troops.^[67] After that conflict left the territory under South African occupation, thousands of fresh Afrikaner migrants poured into the region to occupy available plots of prime stock-farming land and exploit untapped resources.^[48] Their government further encouraged new colonists by offering easy loans, necessary infrastructure, and more expropriated land to white newcomers. This policy was generally considered a success, as South-West Africa's white population more than doubled between 1913 and 1936.^[68]

Current estimates for the Afrikaner population in Namibia range from 60,000 to 120,000; they continue to make up the majority of the country's white citizens.^[48] 45% of the best ranging and agricultural land is presently owned by Namibians of European background, mostly Afrikaner ranchers.^[48]

Botswana

As early as 1815, individual Afrikaners had begun to arrive in what is today modern Botswana, mainly traders and ivory hunters from the Cape of Good Hope.^[69] By the mid nineteenth century, some of these itinerant Afrikaners had settled in Molepolole.^[69] In 1852, the Transvaal Boers organised a failed expedition against the Northern Tswana people which included several relatively large engagements such as the Battle of Dimawe.^[69] As a result of this raid, the Tswana launched a series of retaliatory raids into the northern Transvaal which forced the Boers to evacuate Swartruggens.^[69] In 1853, Transvaal President Paul Kruger signed an armistice with Tswana chief Sechele I, ending the state of war and checking further Boer expansion into Botswana for decades.^[69]

A notable voortrekker community was established inadvertently near Ghanzi in 1877.^[69] Ghanzi was settled by migrating Boers from the Dorsland Trek who had lost their wagons and supplies in the central Kalahari, and were forced to seek sanctuary near the water source there.^[16]

After the establishment of the Bechuanaland Protectorate in the 1880s, the British colonial authorities and the British South Africa Company (BSAC) designated several parts of the region as freehold farming areas, open to white farmers of any nationality.^[69] This induced hundreds of Boer migrants to resettle there.^[69]

In 1894 the BSAC made a concentrated attempt to recruit Boers from the Transvaal and Orange Free State to settle the area around Lake Ngami.^[16] This was an attempt to control the large numbers of wandering trekboers in both regions by diverting them into territory already under British control rather than risk them establishing new Boer republics further abroad.^[16] The British also hoped that a large Boer population along the frontiers of Bechuaneland would serve as a potential buffer to German colonial expansionism from the west.^[16] From 1898 until the early 1900s, a small but steady stream of Boers began trekking towards Lake Ngami from South Africa, with the vast majority concentrating around the previously established Afrikaans-speaking community at Ghanzi.^[16] In 1928, the size of Ghanzi's population was bolstered by the arrival of a number of Boer exiles from Angola, who had departed that territory due to disputes with the Portuguese colonial government there.^[16] Most of the Boers were engaged in cattle ranching, using the vast, unpopulated lands around Ghanzi as a massive range to drive their herds.^[16] For a number of years, one of Botswana's most prominent white politicians was Christian de Graaff, who represented Ghanzi's southern district in the National Assembly.^[69]

Aside from those engaged in ranching and farming, a small number of recent Afrikaner migrants have moved to Botswana in the postcolonial era to manage small businesses.^[69]

As a group, Afrikaners formed 1.2% of Botswana's total population in 2009.^[70]

Zimbabwe

While Afrikaners were always a small minority in Zimbabwe's population, some did arrive with the early pioneer columns and permanently settled, especially in the Enkeldoorn farming areas.^[71] After 1907, an increasing number of dispossessed Boers arrived in what was then the British territory of Southern Rhodesia, seeking better economic opportunities.^[72] They soon found themselves discriminated against by the other Europeans, who expressed alarm at an "invasion" of "poor Dutch" and what they described as the "human wreckage of the Union". This aversion was condemned by elements in the South African press, which charged that "the settlement of Afrikaners in Rhodesia is being emphatically worked against".^[72]

During World War I, the Maritz Rebellion in South Africa caused consternation among Rhodesian authorities, prompting them to conclude that their colony's Afrikaner inhabitants could not be relied upon against the German Empire.^[72] In the following decades a sharp cleavage continued to divide Afrikaners from their English-speaking countrymen,^[73] reflecting entrenched divisions in class and culture. The former generally earned lower incomes, and never advanced far in capital, education, and influence. They were also considered to be Rhodesia's single most conservative white community, almost unanimously opposing a multiracial school system and any concessions to black Africans regarding land apportionment.^[73]^[74]

With the ensuing Rhodesian Bush War and Zimbabwean independence under Prime Minister Robert Mugabe by 1980, over one-fifth of white Rhodesians, including most resident Afrikaners, emigrated from the country.^[75]

Kenya

During and following the Boer Wars some Afrikaners chose to leave South Africa. The first 700 Afrikaner colonists that migrated to British East Africa were supporters of the British during the various conflicts. This first wave settled in the fertile Rift Valley.^[76] The community founded the colony of Eldoret in 1903 and played an important part in establishing agriculture in the region. An additional 100 Afrikaners arrived in 1911.^[77] At the height of British rule in the colony, the population composed of several thousand Afrikaners farming 2,600 square kilometres (1,000 square miles) around Eldoret. The Mau Mau Rebellion sparked great panic among the white community in the country and much of the Afrikaner community left the country and mostly returned to South Africa. However some continued to farm in the region long after independence, and were very successful in doing so.^[77]

Angola

There were originally around 2,000 Afrikaners in Angola, descendants of those who had survived Namibia's unforgiving Dorsland Trek. For fifty years they formed a distinct enclave in the underdeveloped Portuguese territory, joined by new Afrikaner migrants in 1893 and 1905.^[78] By 1928, however, the South African authorities arranged to have 300 such households repatriated to Outjo, where they settled comfortably into farming. The few Afrikaners who remained fled their homes during Angola's subsequent colonial and civil wars.^[79]

Tanzania and elsewhere

In the early 20th century a number of Afrikaners trekked into German Tanganyika, where they were parceled land by colonial authorities then attempting to boost agricultural production. After Tanganyika became a British trust territory on Germany's defeat during World War I, London reaffirmed such grants as they existed. Few Afrikaners stayed beyond the eve of Tanzanian independence in 1961.^[80]

With the retreat of European colonialism, Afrikaner communities outside South Africa and its immediate neighbours generally diminished in size and a significant number of colonists returned to their countries of origin during the decades which followed the Second World War.^{[citation needed]}

British diaspora in Africa

South Africa and the Cape Colony

Although there were small British colonies along the West African coast from the 18th century onwards, mostly consisting of trading posts and castles, British colonisation of Africa began in earnest only at the end of the 18th century, in the Cape of Good Hope. It gained momentum following British annexation of the Cape from the Dutch East India Company, and the subsequent encouragement of migrating colonists in the Eastern Cape in an effort to consolidate the colony's eastern border.^{[citation needed]}

In the late 19th century, the discovery of gold and diamonds further encouraged colonisation of South Africa by the British. The search for gold drove expansion north into the Rhodesias (now Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi). Simultaneously, British colonists began expansion into the fertile uplands (often called the "White Highlands") of British East Africa (in Kenya). Most of these colonies were not planned by the British government, with many colonial officials concluding they upset the balance of power in the region and left the long-established British interests vulnerable.^{[citation needed]}

Cecil Rhodes utilized his wealth and connections towards organizing this ad hoc movement and colonisation into a unified British policy. This policy had as its general aim the securing of a Cairo to Cape Town railway system, and colonising the upper highlands of East Africa and the whole of Southern Africa south of the Zambezi with British colonies in a manner akin to that of North America and Australasia.^{[citation needed]}

However, prioritization of British power around the globe in the years before World War I, initially reduced the resources appropriated toward colonisation. World War I and the Great Depression and the general decline of British and European birthrates further hobbled the expected colonist numbers. Nonetheless, thousands of colonists arrived each year during the decades preceding World War II, mostly in South Africa, where the birthrates of British Africans increased suddenly. Despite a general change in British policy against supporting the establishment of European colonies in Africa, and a slow abandonment in the overall British ruling and common classes for a separate European identity, large colonial appendages of European separatist supporters of continued colonial rule were well entrenched in South Africa, Rhodesia, and Kenya.^{[citation needed]}

In keeping with the general trend toward non-European rule evident throughout most of the globe during the Cold War and the abandonment of colonial possessions in the face of American and Soviet pressure, the vestigial remnants of Cecil Rhodes' vision was abruptly ended, leaving British colonists in an exposed, isolated, and weak position. Black Nationalist guerrilla forces aided by Soviet expertise and weapons soon drove the colonists into a fortress mentality which led to the break-off of ties with perceived collaborationist governments in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth.^{[citation needed]}

The result was a series of conflicts which eventually led to a reduced presence of White Africans due to emigration and natural death.^{[citation needed]}

Since 1994

Hundreds of thousands of British-South Africans left the nation to start new lives abroad, settling in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, United States, Canada, and the Netherlands. In spite of the high emigration rates, a large number of white foreign immigrants from countries such as United Kingdom and Zimbabwe have settled in the country. For example, by 2005, an estimated 212,000 British citizens were residing in South Africa. By 2011, this number may have grown to 500,000.^[81] Since 2003, the numbers of British immigrants coming to South Africa has risen by 50%. An estimated 20,000 British immigrants moved to South Africa in 2007. South Africa is ranked as the top destination of British retirees and pensioners in Africa.

There was also a significant number of arrivals of white Zimbabweans of British ancestry, fleeing their home country in light of the economic, political problems which faced the country and persecution at the hands of the ZANU government. As well as recent arrivals, a significant number of white Zimbabweans of British descent emigrated to South Africa after the independence of Zimbabwe in 1980. The greatest white British populations in South Africa are in the KwaZulu-Natal province and in cities such as Johannesburg and Cape Town.^{[citation needed]}

By province

Zambia

At the brink of the country's independence in 1964, there were roughly 70,000 Europeans (mostly British) in Zambia (Northern Rhodesia before independence), making up roughly 2.3% of the 3 million inhabitants at the time.^[82] Zambia had a different situation compared to other African countries. It included segregation, similar to South Africa, Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and South-West Africa (Namibia); but as the Europeans constituted a smaller fraction of the population they did not dominate politics. There were a few cities in Northern Rhodesia that had British place names, but all except one (Livingstone) were changed when the country became independent or soon after. These included:

Abercorn → Mbala (1964)
Bancroft → Chililabombwe
Broken Hill → Kabwe (1966)
Feira → Luangwa (1964)
Fort Jameson → Chipata
Fort Rosebery → Mansa

Vice President Guy Scott served as acting president of Zambia after the death of Michael Sata, the first (and so far only) white head of state of an African country since FW de Klerk in 1994, and the first outside South Africa since Henry Everard in 1979.^[83]

Livingstone

A good example of segregation in Zambia before independence was in the city of Livingstone, on the border with Zimbabwe. This featured a white town, with black townships, which were also found in South Africa and Namibia. In Zambia, however, Livingstone was one of the few places in the country that used this system and was close to the Rhodesian border. British influence was reflected in town and city names. Livingstone (which is currently the only town left with a British name) was nearly changed to Maramba, but the decision was later dismissed. When Zambia became independent in 1964, the majority of white colonists left for Rhodesia, just by crossing the border. An almost identical town of Victoria Falls lies on the other side.^{[citation needed]}

Kenya

There were 60,000 mostly Anglophone white people living in Kenya in 1965. However, encouraged by the fear brought by the Mau Mau Uprising, nearly half of Kenya's European population emigrated out of the country after Kenya's independence from colonial rule.^[84] Today, they are estimated to be around 30,000.^[85] Well known white people born in Kenya include road racing cyclist Chris Froome, Richard Dawkins, and evolutionary scientist Richard Leakey.

Zimbabwe

In contrast to the rest of Central Africa, Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) was once intended to become a "white man's country" – to be settled and ruled by European colonists who would remain there permanently.^[86] Until Zimbabwean independence in 1980, White Rhodesians prevailed over the nation politically, socially, and economically. They numbered some 240,000 by late-1979.^[87] Most were fairly recent immigrants, particularly blue collar workers attracted by the promise Rhodesia's economic opportunities offered. Throughout the 1960s they were joined by White South Africans and white colonists fleeing independent colonies elsewhere.^[87]

The white population in Zimbabwe dropped from a peak of around 300,000 in 1975 to 170,000 in 1982^[87] and was estimated at no more than 50,000 in 2002, possibly much lower.^[46]

Angola

When Angola won independence from Portugal in 1975, most British people in Angola resettled in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Namibia (South-West Africa), Zimbabwe (Rhodesia), Portugal or Brazil. Meanwhile, most from Mozambique left for either Zimbabwe (Rhodesia), South Africa or the UK. However, even before 1975, the number of British people in Angola and Mozambique was small, especially compared to the inhabiting Portuguese population.^{[citation needed]}

Mozambique

When Mozambique gained independence from Portugal in 1975, most British people left for either Rhodesia or South Africa, while others resettled in Portugal and Brazil. However, just like Angola, the British population in Mozambique is/was tiny compared to both their share of the nation's population and in comparison to the Portuguese.^{[citation needed]}

Elsewhere

Sizable numbers of people of British descent are also nationals of Ghana, Namibia, Tanzania, Swaziland (3% of the population),^[88] Nigeria,^[89] and Botswana.^[90] In addition, nearly 10,000 white Ugandans of British extraction were living under the regime of Idi Amin as recorded by Time Magazine in 1972. Due to the subsequent deterioration of conditions under Amin (Including the constant threat of forced expulsion), most of the local British diaspora emigrated to the United Kingdom and South Africa.^[91] 2,500 people from the United Kingdom currently live in Uganda.^[92]

Scots in Africa

Nyasaland (Malawi)

The Scots played an enormous part in British overseas colonisation, alongside the English and Welsh. Scotland supplied colonial troops, administrators, governors, prospectors, architects, and engineers to help construct the colonies all over the world.^{[citation needed]}

From the 1870s, Scottish churches began missionary work in Nyasaland/Malawi, in the wake of their illustrious predecessor, David Livingstone. Their pressure on the British Government resulted in Nyasaland being declared a British Protectorate. A small Scottish community was established here, and other Scots immigration occurred in Southern Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, Northern Rhodesia/Zambia, and South Africa. The table below represents how small their numbers were compared to other sections of the future Central African Federation.

**Numbers of white and black inhabitants in the federation**
Year	Southern Rhodesia		Northern Rhodesia		Nyasaland
Year	White	Black	White	Black	White	Black
1927	38,200	922,000	4,000	1,000,000	1,700	1,350,000
1946	80,500	1,600,000	21,919	1,634,980	2,300	2,340,000

The largest city and commercial capital of the country, Blantyre, is named after a town in Scotland and birthplace of David Livingstone. The reason for the small number of Europeans was mainly the lack of mineral resources (Northern Rhodesia had copper and Southern Rhodesia has gold).

After Nyasaland became independent (and upon adopting a new name, Malawi), many Scots returned to Scotland or moved to South Africa or Rhodesia (formerly Southern Rhodesia and later known as Zimbabwe). Despite this, Scots had an enormous South African community (compared to that of Nyasaland).^{[citation needed]}

To this day most Scots in Africa reside in South Africa and until the 21st century, also in Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia). Most Scottish colonists from Rhodesia left for South Africa after Rhodesia's independence and after economic and political problems in 2001. Evidence of the continued Scottish influence is seen in the continuing traditions of Highland games and pipe bands, especially in Natal. Ties between Scotland and Malawi also remain strong.^{[citation needed]}

French in Africa

North Africa

Large numbers of French people settled in French North Africa from the 1840s onward. By the end of French rule in the early 1960s there were over one million European Algerians, mostly of French origin and Catholic^[93] (known as pieds noirs, or "black feet"), living in Algeria, consisting about 16% of the population in 1962.^[94]

There were 255,000 Europeans in Tunisia in 1956,^[95] while Morocco was home to half a million Europeans.^[96] French law made it easy for thousands of colons, ethnic or national French from former colonies of Africa, French India and French Indochina, to live in mainland France. After Algeria became independent in 1962, about 800,000 Pieds-Noirs of French nationality were evacuated to mainland France while about 200,000 chose to remain in Algeria. Of the latter, there were still about 100,000 in 1965 and about 50,000 by the end of the 1960s.^[97] 1.6 million European colons migrated from Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco.^[98] As of December 31, 2011, there were 94,382 French citizens in all three countries, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.

Francophone West Africa

Unlike Algeria, permanent European colonisation in most of France's tropical African colonies was not especially successful; during World War II the entire white population of French West Africa numbered only about 22,000.^[99] Immigration to French West Africa spiked after the war due to an influx of French people seeking to escape depressed economic opportunities at home.^[99] In June 1951, there were 49,904 whites of French origin in French West Africa, as well as an undetermined number of Europeans of other nationalities.^[99] The total number of white residents in these colonies never exceeded 0.3% of the population, and was predominantly urban: two-thirds of them lived in one of French West Africa's nine administrative capitals.^[99] Their most popular destination was Senegal, where over half the French-speaking whites resided.^[99] Nevertheless, French West Africa's white population remained subject to a high turnover rate; in 1951 78% of this group had been born in France, and the number of European families which had lived in Dakar for more than a generation was described as "negligible".^[99] The postwar influx also introduced the phenomenon of unemployed whites in French West Africa, who were mostly unskilled workers that secured only temporary jobs or were not engaged in any specific profession, and found themselves having to compete with a growing skilled black workforce.^[99] It also contributed to a rise in housing segregation as exclusively white neighbourhoods became more common.^[99]

Following the dissolution of French West Africa and the independence of its constituent states, sizable white minorities survived in Gabon and the Ivory Coast.^[100] 2,500 French people reside in Chad.^[101] 4,500 French soldiers reside in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.^[102] 3,000 French reside in Mali and 1,000 French soldiers reside in Niger.^[103]

Djibouti

In 1917, Djibouti (then French Somaliland) had a European population of 294, of which 107 were French.^[104] In 1974, 10,255 Europeans lived in the colony, which gained independence just 3 years later.^[105]

Madagascar

A sizeable number of French people reside in Madagascar, many of whom trace their ties to Madagascar back to the colonial period. An estimated 20,000 French citizens lived and worked in Madagascar in 2011.^[106] The numbers make Madagascar the home of the largest ethnic French population in terms of absolute numbers in Sub-Saharan Africa, other than the French département Réunion.

Mauritius

Franco-Mauritians account for approximately 2% of the population of Mauritius.^[107]

Mayotte

Réunion

In Réunion, a French island in the Indian Ocean, white islanders, mostly of ethnic French origin, are estimated to make up approximately 30% of the population.^[108] 260,000 white people live in Réunion.