Cape To Cairo Railway - Reasons For Failure To Complete

Reasons For Failure To Complete

British interests had to overcome not only the formidable obstacles posed by geography and climate, but also interfering ambitions by other powers, the Fashoda incident, and the Portuguese ambition to link Angola and Mozambique - known as the Pink Map. Opposition to British rule in South Africa was settled after the First and Second Boer Wars. Germany had secured a critical piece of territory in East Africa that precluded completion of the north-south link. However, with the defeat of Germany in 1918, most of this territory fell into British hands and politically the link was closed. After 1918, the British Empire possessed the political power to complete the Cape-Cairo Railway, but economic issues precluded its completion between the world wars. After World War II, the national struggles of the African peoples and the demise of colonialism removed the foundations for its completion.

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